Enterprise networking major Cisco Systems will add Microsoft’s Teams messaging app to its meeting devices, offering users an alternative to its own Webex video conferencing app.
Cisco’s Jeetu Patel, head of Security & Collaboration, said the company aims to be the hardware platform for a wide range of conferencing software platforms.
“There’s going to be times that people want to jump on a Microsoft Teams call, they want to jump on a Zoom call, they want to jump on a Google call.”
Webex, once a widely used conferencing platform, has lost out to several newcomers including Zoom Video Communications. Zoom was founded by an early Webex engineer and grabbed a large share of the market during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ilya Bukshteyn, vice president of Microsoft Teams Calling and Devices, told Reuters the Teams Room software already runs on several other hardware devices and will be available on Cisco devices from the first quarter of next year.
Microsoft made the announcement at its annual Ignite conference.
