Cisco Tees Up Calling Updates Ahead of Event; Lenovo Reveals Video BarCisco Tees Up Calling Updates Ahead of Event; Lenovo Reveals Video Bar
In this No Jitter Roll, we cover the latest news from Cisco and Lenovo.
June 10, 2022
Welcome to the No Jitter Roll, our regular round-up of communications and collaboration news. In today's No Jitter Roll, we look at announcements on updates to a calling service and a Windows-based collaboration bar.
Cisco Reveals Voice Updates Ahead of Cisco Live
Ahead of Cisco Live, its customer and community event, Cisco announced several updates to its Webex Calling service in a blog post. These updates include:
Updated background noise removal for Webex Calling: Cisco has updated its AI-based background noise removal capabilities, so Cisco Webex Calling users can apply the feature to external callers on a PSTN phone. Users can enable the feature within the Webex App on either their desktop or mobile device.
Webex Calling site survivability comes to multi-tenant customers: With Webex Calling site survivability, branch-site users can make and receive calls within the site and to/from the PSTN even when the branch is disconnected from the enterprise network, leveraging Cisco’s physical and virtual routers. This feature will come to preview for multi-tenant customers starting in 3Q22, , and enterprises can configure this functionality through the Cisco Control Hub.
Multi call window for Webex Calling power users: Available in July, the multi call window in Webex App will allow power users such as support or admin professionals to manage up to eight users simultaneously. These power users can also view the status of all their lines and access features like hold, transfer, and barge-in without having to change windows, as Cisco shared on the feature’s help page.
Webex Go for the UK: With Webex Go functionality, users can open an in-progress Webex Go call on their Webex mobile app and then transfer the call to another colleague. Additionally, users can add video or sharing to the phone call or elevate the call to a meeting. This functionality will be available in the U.K. market this fall.
To prepare for next week’s Cisco Live event, industry analyst Zeus Kerravala shared several of the major themes and trends he'll be looking out for in a recent No Jitter article. Top of the list is hybrid work, with Kerravala adding: "Hybrid work is about more than Webex and zero trust. It’s a fundamental rethink of what work is and how it gets done." Kerravala will also be paying close attention to Cisco's cloud networking strategy and other topics like corporate social responsibility, full-stack management capabilities, and overall innovation to the Webex platform.
Lenovo Shares Latest Collaboration Bar Device
At Infocomm, device maker Lenovo revealed the ThinkSmart One Smart Collaboration bar, a video bar that runs on Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. Designed for small to medium meeting rooms, the One Smart Collaboration bar features an eight-microphone array, an integrated high-resolution camera with a wide field of view, wall-mount options, echo and noise cancellation capabilities, and it can support Microsoft Teams Room and Zoom Rooms. Additionally, the video bar comes with a ThinkSmart Controller touchscreen device, which allows in-room meeting participants to control the meeting.
ThinkSmart One devices can be installed, managed, and customized through Lenovo's ThinkSmart Manager, and each device comes with three years of Lenovo Premier Support and one year of ThinkSmart Professional Services and ThinkSmart Manager Premium. With ThinkSmart Professional Service, Lenovo will provide first-year maintenance to help IT departments configure and integrate the existing UC platform, as well as a device redeployment option to set up the device in a new meeting space. The device will be available for $2,599 starting this October.
