With the launch of bi-directional and interoperability support, Google signals a push towards unified communication, collaboration and meetings platforms and devices. Interoperability is the future of desktops, laptops, mobile phones and tablets as manufacturers keep finding innovative ways to integrate different products.
Google announced that Zoom Rooms can now join Google Meet meetings with the help of a simple API. A Google Meet device will now be able to connect to a Room directly from the calendar, just by entering a meeting code.
Google has already launched bi-directional interoperability between Cisco Webex devices and the new Google Meet devices. They say that they’ll continue to support Pexip for the existing Google Meet software, so users can use it to join meetings from a variety of third-party videoconferencing solutions.
The announcement comes the same week as Cisco announced an integration with Microsoft Teams that enables the Teams Rooms experience on Webex devices. Cisco is now a Team Rooms certified partner, meaning that Teams meetings will be available natively across certified Cisco meeting devices. This allows users to configure Teams as the default meeting experience.
You can expect Zoom Meet to integrate with Google Meet, enabling verified devices to join meetings on a platform screen or participate in sessions or conferences. Administrators will also be able to turn on the interop for trusted devices by their organization. It was also mentioned that currently scheduled meetings will continue as normal, without any interruptions, according to Zoom.
With Microsoft Teams, you’ll have a tight integration with online meeting platforms such as Webex and Zoom. Like other built-in options, Microsoft Teams users can join third-party meeting tools via Direct Guest Join. Currently, Teams Rooms can also connect to meetings hosted on those platforms.
Teams is one of Microsoft’s latest collaboration tools, but according to Microsoft, it has some gaps when it comes to interop. The service currently lets users schedule a meeting from Google Workspace, but there are other features that haven’t been optimized yet.
Meanwhile, Webex can interface with many other applications, including Zoom, Teams and Google Meet.
The company released a study that found that 72% of organizations currently support between three and nine activity monitoring tools. This figure is up 9% from last year, with the research showing that 85% of organizations use more than one meeting platform to communicate.
Google is expanding its videoconferencing devices beyond the ChromeOS platforms, with Poly and Logitech as the first two partners to join in on.
According to Google, this will enable customers to buy a device from Poly or Logitech that will run Meet, or another third-party conferencing platform, based on admin configuration. Customers with existing Poly or Logitech Android-based devices will be able to leverage their investment and move to Meet by just adding a Meet license for these devices.
The Poly X family of Android-based videoconferencing bars will be available in early 2023. In addition, Logitech’s lineup of Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini will also be available next year.
With more teams collaborating, it’s now more important than ever to close the gaps between people and within offices. Dave Citron, director of product for Google Workspace, explains what organizations are doing to excel in hybrid work.
Citron says these new collaborations with Google and our partners can help further break down the barriers between conferencing platforms and make it easier for our customers to select from a wide range of options.