Cisco's Webex Close to 60 Million Users, to Get New Noise-Filter Feature

Webex had recorded 324 million meeting participants in March.

By Reuters | Updated: 23 October 2020 17:00 IST

Cisco's Webex Close to 60 Million Users, to Get New Noise-Filter Feature

Cisco said that a very large percentage of usage of Webex still comes from enterprises

Highlights

Webex and Teams were initially focused on business customers
Zoom disclosed 300 million daily participants in April
Webex has new features including the ability to host a large classroom

Cisco's video-conferencing app Webex clocked 590 million participants in September and is on track to record over 600 million this month, nearly double the numbers recorded in March when countries started shutting down due to the pandemic. It also plans to roll out a feature to filter background noise, such as a barking dog or the sound of a passing car from an ongoing meeting following its acquisition of BabbleLabs in August.

"We will have it available to all Webex users from October 30 for no additional charge," Patel said, adding that Cisco remains open to more acquisitions that will add new capabilities to Webex.

After offices started to close down due to COVID-19, people switched on video-conferencing platforms to work from home, leading to swift growth in platforms, such as Webex, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

While the expansion in Webex user numbers started in March, it has not tapered off, and attendees are at all-time highs in October amid a resurgent pandemic, Jeetu Patel, Cisco's general manager for security and applications business, told Reuters.

Webex had recorded 324 million meeting participants in March. Zoom disclosed 300 million daily participants in April, and Teams in April disclosed 200 million. The numbers may not be comparable because the companies may use different methods of counting attendees and do not disclose those methods.

Zoom and Microsoft declined to give updated user numbers.

Zoom Meeting App Rolls Out New Measures as Security Fears Mount

Webex and Teams were initially focused on business customers, while Zoom cornered the market for everything from virtual classrooms to church services.

Though the meeting participants have increased more than three-fold from last year, a very large percentage of usage still comes from enterprises, Cisco said.

But Cisco is working to change that. Webex has a new product for schools that features the ability to host a large classroom, split the class into small groups, and bring it back together.

"We are focused on education very aggressively," Patel said.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

Are iPhone 12 mini, HomePod mini the Perfect Apple Devices for India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.