Cisco’s Room Bar (pictured) will be among the first of its devices to be Teams certified. | Image: Cisco
Cisco’s video conferencing hardware will be updated to let users set Microsoft Teams as the default video conferencing software, the two companies have announced. Initially six devices will be certified to work with Teams in the first half of next year, including the Cisco Room Bar (a combined speaker and webcam), the 55 and 75-inch versions of the Cisco Board Pro (a freestanding screen designed for video conferencing) and the Cisco Room Kit Pro.
Cisco’s press release stresses that its own Webex video calling software (which it paid billions for a little over a decade ago) isn’t going anywhere. “The devices will continue to support joining Webex meetings with all the features and functionality customers enjoy today,” the release notes. But building in native support for Teams and allowing it to be set as the default recognizes how many businesses are entrenched in Microsoft’s ecosystem and rely primarily on its software for video conferencing.
“Customers want collaboration to happen on their terms — regardless of device or meeting platform,” Cisco’s Jeetu Patel said in a statement. Alongside its meeting devices, Cisco peripherals like the Cisco Desk Camera 4K webcam and two upcoming headsets will also be available with support for Microsoft Teams.