Google and Cisco team up to bring WebEx to Chromebooks

Cisco is revamping their videoconferencing lineup with their new Google partnership, new products, and lower prices, the company announced at the Enterprise Connect conference. Cisco WebEx and Cisco Unified Communications are now available via Google Chromebook browsers per Informationweek. The new arrangement is part of Cisco’s ongoing strategy to help simplify collaboration among users, making corporate videoconferencing as simple to use as a commercial or personal app.

Google and Cisco are teaming up in the enterprise collaboration market, bundling WebEx with Chromebooks and integrating the Cisco Web conferencing and online meeting product with Google Apps. The companies announced on Tuesday that two of their high-ranking executives demonstrated a “proof of concept” of WebEx running on a Chromebook, something that hasn’t been possible to date. Rajen Sheth, director of product management, Chrome for Business, and Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of Cisco’s Collaboration Technology Group, also demonstrated interoperability between Google Apps and WebEx, such as the ability to join a WebEx meeting from a Google Calendar item, the companies said.