We have lost the daily interaction with team members, co-workers and that’s when video and audio meetings came to the rescue which would help us to interact with team members who are working remotely. In the below sections, we would see a detailed explanation of two major meeting servers.
Key Takeaways
- Cisco Meeting Server is a scalable, on-premises solution for video conferencing, while Webex is a cloud-based service.
- Webex offers a more user-friendly interface and additional collaboration tools like screen sharing and messaging.
- Cisco Meeting Server provides more data security and customization control, making it suitable for larger organizations with specific requirements.
Cisco Meeting Server vs Webex
Cisco Meeting Server is a communication platform for workplaces that has the flexibility to customize the audio, layouts, etc. It has to be bought and installed on-premises for use. Webex is an enterprise communication solution with predefined features that can be used from a phone with an external dependency.
Cisco meeting server allows us to build a premise server that could interact easily and be scalable with any third-party software like Microsoft teams or skype for business, etc for an intuitive experience where we can collaborate with team members. We need to get the license from cisco to integrate it with our software where we can do load balancing as per our need.
Webex also allows us to meet over video or audio calls and collaborate with co-workers from any HD device, mobile phone, or video system however it’s cloud technology and does not allow us to have plugin features like the Cisco meeting server but using Webex we can share the screen and even give control of the laptop/computer to a remote co-worker or admin in case of emergency.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of comparison | Cisco server meeting | Webex |
|---|---|---|
| Usage | To use the cisco meeting server we need to buy and install the server on-premise | Using Webex is very easy to use wherein we can start and attend the meeting from mobile with n external dependency |
| Technology | Cisco meeting server uses the web Rtc for browsers | Webex uses the video mesh node approach |
| Launch Date | It launched on 29th July 2016 | It started in 1995 and further improvisations in it |
| Founded by | Cisco meeting server started and developed by the Cisco | It was founded by two developers name Min Zhu and Subrah Iyar |
| Pricing | It has licensing and installation cost | It’s free of cost |
What is Cisco meeting server?
Cisco company is well known for its leading technology related to networking, networking-related products, the internet, etc that helps people to connect. Cisco was founded in 1984 by two computer science graduate from Stanford University and their motive was to an easier way to connect with different types of systems like computers or any networking-related software etc.
Soon after coming into the market, it became the leader in the networking field, and in the early 2000’s they realized the internet and the internet of things are going to buzz words sooner or later, so they acquired Webex back in 2007 gave name cisco Webex to it. 85 percent of internet traffic goes through the ciscos hardware or software systems.
In 2016 Cisco started providing the on-premise meeting server as well wherein we have to buy and install the CMS ( Cisco meeting server) and according to traffic need we can restrict the number of users who can join the call which makes it cost-effective as well, however, to set it up we need skills also which is overhead for any small company.
CMS provides one of the most important features that is supporting the dual home, wherein one computer can be connected with two or more than two network interfaces, IP addresses. CMS does not support screen sharing and whiteboard content sharing but we can use it with third-party Microsoft tools like Skype for business etc.
What is Webex?
Webex was initially a video conferencing app started by two entrepreneurs, Min Zhu and Subrah Iyar, back in the 1995’s and it had its first IPO( initial public offering ) in the 2000s. It is first listed in NASDAQ national market and later in the NASDAQ Global Market in 2006.
In the initial days, all Webex application was built using the Media tone platform which was supported by the Webex interactive network which became Webex media tone network later. After the video conferencing app success they started going into instant messaging software which they added later into the Webex video conferring tool to help workers collaborate with other team members.
In 2005 Webex had acquired the intranets.com that provided an entrance for them to go into small and mid-size companies with 100 or lesser than employees wherein they provided features of document sharing, calendaring and open discussion forums but soon after cisco acquired the Webex with 57$ equity per share which came to 3.2billion $ acquisition and Webex became cisco Webex wherein it evolved over some time and now has different variants of it for the different need of an organization.
Currently, Webex by cisco provides products like Webex teams, Webex meetings, Training center, etc.
It supports all of the major platforms like browser, iOS, and Android applications. During the Pandemic Cisco CEO has made the announcement that in April they had almost 500 million meeting participants and all those meeting duration equated to 25 million minutes.
Main Differences Between Cisco meeting server and Webex
The distinguishing factor between Cisco meeting server and Webex can be summed on the following points:
- Cisco meeting server has initial setup and installation cost whereas Webex is free to use till 100 users in the meeting.
- Cisco meeting server is developed by Cisco whereas Webex started in collaboration with two entrepreneurs
- Cisco meeting server can work with 3rd party software whereas Webex is a standalone video conferencing app.
- Cisco meeting server does not have a built recording feature, so to add it we need a recorder server and licensing also whereas video recording is inbuilt with Webex.
- Cisco meeting server provides 1080p with 30 frames per second(fps) whereas Webex can 720p with 5fps.
- https://wvvw.easychair.org/publications/preprint_download/Fq7T
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3487552.3487847
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