Microsoft Webex

Back at Microsoft Ignite 2019, Microsoft showcased to the world a new feature called Guest Join Access for Webex and Zoom on the Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) systems. Full overview here. Fast forward six months and we now have the Webex version that was in testing and now released.

Using Microsoft Surface Hub to start a Webex meeting Good afternoon I work to a department of the Regional Gouvernment of Madeira (Portugal) and this department had recently bought a equipment for videconferencing, Microsoft Surface Hub. Webex is your one easy-to-use and secure app to call, message, meet and get work done. Meet Host video conferences with HD video, audio and screen sharing. Sign in to Webex for group chat, video calling, and sharing documents with your team. It's all backed by Cisco security and reliability. (Preview) Cisco Webex Meetings provides cost-effective enterprise solutions for virtual meetings. Host highly secure and scalable web meetings from the Cisco Webex cloud.

We recommend that Webex site admins install and deploy the Webex Scheduler from Microsoft AppSource because the app will automatically update to the latest version of the add-in.

Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Exchange on-premises admins can install and deploy the Webex Scheduler from Microsoft AppSource.

Microsoft Webex Alternative

1	Go to Microsoft AppSource.
2	Search for the Cisco Webex Scheduler app.
3	Select Get it now and follow the on-screen instrucitons.

Install the Webex Scheduler from a Local Manifest File

If you are unable to access Microsoft AppSource, you can also download and deploy the Webex Scheduler from a local manifest file. However, installing and deploying the scheduler from a local manifest file is static. Any future updates to the scheduler will require that you reinstall and redeploy the Webex Scheduler from the manifest file.

Microsoft Webex Meeting

Navigate to Settings > Integrated apps and select Upload custom app > Provide link to manifest file.

Enter https://meetings-api.webex.com/wbxaddin/normal/manifest_official.xml and click Validate.

When entering the URL, it must include the https extension.

Choose user assignments and deployment method and then select Deploy.

After selecting Deploy, the Cisco Webex Scheduler add-in will be available to the assigned users when they open the Outlook app and schedule a meeting.

Webex Meeting App Download Windows 10

Using Microsoft Teams Room for Webex Meetings

8/31/2020

In the July update for Microsoft Teams Room version 4.5.35.0, a new feature known as Direct Guest Join was released that allows MTR devices to join Cisco Webex meetings directly without any gateway or cloud interop service. This feature expands the capabilities of Teams Room Devices and allows interoperability with Cisco Webex meetings with one-click join functionality. In this blog post we explore the required steps to enable Direct Guest Join on MTR and the overall meeting experience and current limitations. In the future, we can expect MTR to support additional meeting ecosystems in the same way as well. Direct Guest Join leverages WebRTC technologies to allow MTR to join meetings hosted in CIsco Webex and other future meeting platforms.

In order to enable the Direct Guest Join feature on MTR we need to make sure the MTR us running the latest version which at the time of this writing is actually 4.5.37.0. As mentioned in a previous article, there are several ways to update the version and the easiest is via the Microsoft Store. Simply login as administrator on the MTR system and launch the Microsoft Store app and check for updates. Any newer version of the Teams app, a.k.a. 'Skype Room System' will be displayed allowing you to start an update after which you should reboot the system. The picture below shows the recently updated apps which includes the 4.5.37 version of the Teams Room app:

Once the system is rebooted and logged in as the regular room account, we can go to the settings page and navigate to the About section to verify the MTR version as shown below:

Next we navigate to the 'Meetings' section and under the 'Third party meetings' section, we note that Cisco Webex is available for us to switch on as shown below:

As a side discussion, there's also a page called 'Coordinated meetings' which allows the MTR system to work well with other room devices such as the Microsoft Surface Hub 2, so that when users start a meeting on the MTR, it will also give the opportunity to add a nearby Surface Hub2 device for collaboration. We can turn this feature on and select whether this device's microphone, camera and whiteboarding are turned off or on during the coordinated join as shown in the diagram below:

Before we can get the MTR system to recognize and display Webex meeting invitations that are sent to it, we have to configure the Exchange tenant as mentioned in the Microsoft documentation. This is simply an Exchange online powershell cmdlet:
Set-CalendarProcessing -Identity polymtr01 -ProcessExternalMeetingMessages $true
Which will enable the MTR's Exchange mailbox account to process external meeting messages and display a Join button on the home screen as shown below:

Now we're ready to the Webex meeting from the MTR. Simply hit the 'Join' button and the MTR will connect to Cisco Webex to join the meeting. The MTR controller will show that the system is in the Webex Meeting along with the meeting subject. Meeting controls such as volume control, mute/unmuate, camera on/off and Leave are all available. However, its notable that content sharing from MTR is not available at this time. Other than that, the audio quality and video resolution seen on both the MTR and the Webex client are great:

We can also initiate content sharing from the Webex client in which case the content will be displayed in the main area and videos of participants will be moved to to the right and resized to be smaller as shown below:

Finally, an interesting capability that can be used during the meeting is to turn on the button on the botton left of the MTR controller labled as 'Show meeting on this device'. This will mirror the MTR's main display onto the MTR's touch controller as shown below:

One example of using this feature is that it allows the content to be displayed closer to for participants that may be further away from the main display. in conclusion, Microsoft keeps adding new capabilities to the MTR system and we have now the ability to join Cisco Webex meetings directly from the MTR without any interop service. One may expect that there will be other meeting platforms that will be added in the future as well. Until then, enjoy the MTR and rest easy in the fact the MTR is a safe investment that will serve your meeting rooms well into the foreseeable future.

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