By Scott Edwards, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Cisco Collaboration

A few weeks ago, I was privileged to join over 70 customers and partners who visited our Cisco office in Norway to see the incredible innovation coming out around our Webex video conferencing devices. These customers were some of the biggest names in the Fortune 100. Over the course of a few days, they got to see the technology that truly makes Cisco the leader in audio and video conferencing.

What’s the secret sauce? It really comes down to four areas:

1. How only Cisco Webex creates a simple, consistent user experience across every office space, which is seamlessly connected to purpose-built team collaboration devices.
2. How Cisco creates its industry-leading quality and design in those online meeting devices.
3. How Cisco is leading the market with IoT and analytics around office and space usage.
4. How Cisco’s open APIs and strategic partnerships paved the way for a new age of collaboration.

At the end of this event, one customer exclaimed:

“This year, I’ve toured the offices off all your biggest competitors. But this was by far and away the most impressive, eye-opening experience. No other collaboration vendor even comes close to what you guys are creating in Norway.”

There are many collaboration and video conferencing solutions in the market. But once you see how the applications of Cisco Webex Meetings (video conferencing), Cisco Webex Teams (enterprise collaboration platform), and Cisco Webex Calling all work seamlessly with Webex devices (room conferencing equipment), everything else in the market seems like child’s play. These visitors were able to witness this technology first-hand. They went from room to room, from space to space, seeing the combo of elite, AI-based hardware and software in action. And they also got to see what’s coming in the near future.

Throughout this conference, I was able to interview the top minds in Oslo who are working on these innovations. Luckily, I was able to capture these discussions on video. While going to the Cisco Norway office would indeed blow your mind, you can now at least get a view into what really happens there without having to go. Below, you can find some the video footage we captured that explains this unique story, and how it aligns to the four points I mentioned above.

#1 – Seamless video conferencing user experience—from the pocket to the boardroom

We just announced our entry to the huddle space market. We weren’t the first here, but we are coming in with guns-a-blazin’. Whether your teams need to share, communicate, or co-create, we have solutions for each use case, and all priced for the huddle experience. The Webex Share, Webex Room Kit Mini, and Webex Board 55 all provide the same experience that you’d get from joining a meeting with Cisco solutions—whether it’s from your mobile device, in mid-size rooms, large conference rooms, auditoriums, or executive board rooms.
These devices enable proximity pairing so that when you come in the room, they wake up to greet you. You’re simply one click away from starting your meeting and sharing. See how with these demos on Webex Share, Webex Board 55, and Room Kit Pro and Codec Pro:

#2 – Industry leading design and quality for video conferencing equipment

Twenty-two. That’s the number of Red Dot Awards given to the Cisco devices. To earn just one of these babies is an impressive feat. Each year, over 6,000 products from 54 countries are submitted to be judged by a panel of 40 of the best minds in design. When you are in the company of Apple, Porsche, LG, Phillips, and Rolls Royce, you know you’re in good company. In the collaboration space, no one else even comes close to the number of these awards we’ve won.

In this video, you’ll see why we place such an emphasis on design:

We also got to get a behind-the-scenes look at how quality is manufactured into these end-points. Here’s a rare look and the time and energy that goes into making amazing experiences for you.

#3 – Intelligence throughout the video conferencing hardware and software

One of the great demos I received is that of the Room Kit Mini. The video and audio quality is truly unique. You’ll see the same user experience once again, and you’ll also see some of the intelligence that this device offers. Imagine being the real estate person responsible for tracking the usage of all these huddle spaces. How do you easily do that? With sensors built right into the device. No need to buy competitive solutions (with poor audio and video quality) and then buy room sensors as well. With the Mini, you get intelligent framing, people count, noise suppression, and more. See the demo here:

#4 – Open APIs and strategic partnerships

Today’s office meeting rooms are ripe for innovation. Learn what Cisco is doing to help ensure your taxi driver picks you up after the meeting to rush to the airport, dimming the lights, and closing the blinds—all from the same touch screen interface that can be in any sized rooms. And see how we are opening this up for innovation with the developer community.

Sony & LG screens and cameras are everywhere in offices today. See how Cisco is partnering with each of them to bring high-quality video and sharing to life.

I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg as to what is happening in Oslo. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Make sure you take a few minutes to check out these interviews and demos we’ve posted here. When you’re done, see more about our Webex devices at www.webex.com/products/devices.

And don’t forget to experience Cisco Webex video conferencing for yourself. Sign up for a FREE trial at www.webex.com/pricing/free-trial.