5 New Cisco Webex Devices, Features Revealed This Spring

With hybrid work in full swing, Cisco isn’t hitting the brakes on Webex innovation. Here’s a roundup of the two new Webex devices revealed this week and a few recent Webex features and capabilities that solution providers should know about.

Webex on a Roll

Cisco Systems has been a collaboration juggernaut over the last two years with its popular Webex platform that’s risen to the top as one of the leading videoconferencing and collaboration solutions for businesses all over the globe when the COVID-19 pandemic changed the working life for millions of employees.

Cisco has continued to build out and improve the Webex platform with a bevy of new features, capabilities, and device options to match any employee’s needs, whether they are working from home, are back in the office, or doing a little bit of both via a hybrid working environment. The San Jose, Calif.-based company in 2021 revealed that it had unveiled more than 1,000 new Webex features and capabilities since 2020 — including some new elements that joined the portfolio via acquisition — and that wasn’t even factoring in the new hardware that Cisco had developed to complement the cloud-based collaboration platform.

Cisco partners and businesses alike have been impressed by the pace of innovation that Cisco has kept up within its collaboration segment – a pace that isn’t slowing down. Just this week, the company introduced two new Webex devices, including a camera and room bar. Cisco also announced that as of March, Webex Calling hit a record 6 million users as organizations adopt leading enterprise cloud calling to scale business globally.

Cisco is continuing to help businesses address hybrid work to keep employees collaborating and communication, regardless of location. Here’s a roundup of the two new Webex devices revealed this week and a few recent features and capabilities that Cisco has added to its Webex platform that solution providers should know about.

Webex Room Bar

Revealed on Tuesday, the Webex Room Bar, a device that can frame up each speaker in a huddle space or small-to-medium sized meeting room to give all in-office meeting participants equal footing in the call. Cisco said the device’s spatial audio makes it feel like dispersed team members are in the same room and AI-enabled background noise removal keeps distractions to a minimum. The product can work with third-party solutions, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

The Webex Room Bar was designed and is packaged with sustainability in mind. The device itself is lighter and thinner than past products and is manufactured for easy disassembly and recycling, Cisco said, adding that the device and its packaging uses significantly less materials and no box-in-the-box packaging.

Cisco Desk Camera 1080p

Also introduced on Tuesday was the Cisco Desk Camera 1080p, an option for both in-office and remote workers. The latest camera offers omni-directional microphones and face-detection for auto-focus and white balance at home or in the office. Those hot desking in the office can sign in and book an available Webex device with their Webex profile, and then have access to their calendar meetings, whiteboards, and recent calls to take their desks with them, wherever they sit, Cisco said.

This new desk camera works across Cisco‘s Desk Series portfolio, including the Webex Desk Pro and modularly through the Webex Desk Hub, the company said.

Webex Go

Cisco at Enterprise Connect 2022 in March unveiled its now ready-for-primetime solution Webex Go, an add-on to Webex Calling. Webex Go is a mobile-first capability within Webex that allows users to make and receive calls using their Webex Calling phone number or over a cellular voice network using their mobile phone’s native dialer.

The dedicated business line to a personal mobile phone offers users high quality calling and expanded collaboration features, all while ensuring calls are secure and compliant with enterprise policies such as compliance call recording, Cisco said.

Webex Go was made generally available as of March 31. Cisco announced in March that AT&T was the first mobile operator for Webex Go.

Native Webex Meeting Experience for Webex Edge for Devices

Cisco last year released Webex Edge for Devices with the CE 9.10 software release for Webex Rooms. The feature allowed administrators to link their on-premises registered devices to the Webex Platform to gain analytics and diagnostics for on-premises deployed rooms.

Announced in March was another “stepping stone” toward choice and flexibility in the cloud-based collaboration experience by way of Native Webex Meeting Experience for Webex Edge for Devices, a development that lets users enjoy features in a Webex meeting that were previously only available for devices with full cloud deployment so businesses can also protect their on-premises infrastructure investments. Users can enable Native Webex Meeting Experience for Webex Edge for Devices to gain the same features as cloud-registered devices when in Webex meeting, including multiway whiteboarding, stickies and annotation on shared content, face recognition with name labels and titles, as well as advanced host controls and mute capabilities, Cisco said.

Vidcast Updates

Vidcast is Cisco’s asynchronous video messaging solution that was announced last year and opened up for beta testing. The solution lets businesses and its employees create and share short videos in the place of meetings that are subject to time zones barriers, Cisco said.

Now generally available, Vidcast users can now import a demo recorded in Webex, edit, and share as a Vidcast for easy consumption at a time convenient for the viewer. Vidcast can also be embedded within a Slido poll for virtual check-ins or training, as well as in Webex Events, Cisco‘s event management software that businesses can use to power virtual, in-person, and hybrid events that’s based on technology the company acquired from Socio Labs in 2021.