Cisco opens Webex to Claude and Google Meet: what it means
Cisco became the first collaboration hardware vendor to support all four major platforms natively and announced AI agents that can join meetings as participants.
November 5, 2026 · 4 min read
At WebexOne 2026 in Austin (October 5-8, 2026), Cisco announced two major interoperability moves: native Google Meet support on Cisco room devices and integration with Anthropic's Claude AI agents in Webex spaces and meetings. Through partnership with Google, Cisco devices now offer fully featured Google Meet natively, joining Webex, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, making Cisco the most open collaboration hardware on the market.
One device, four platforms
For years, buying meeting room hardware meant locking into a collaboration platform. Cisco just broke that link. Their room devices now work with Webex, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet natively. No workarounds, no third-party bridges, no degraded features.
Businesses running mixed collaboration platforms can now use Cisco meeting room devices with any of the four major platforms. A company that standardized on Teams for most departments but runs Zoom in one division can equip every conference room with the same hardware. A healthcare system that uses Webex internally but joins vendor calls on Google Meet no longer needs separate devices.
This matters because most mid-sized businesses do not run one platform everywhere. Some departments pick their own tools. Some teams inherit platforms through acquisition. Some groups join customer and partner meetings on systems they do not own. Until now, that meant compromised meeting room experiences or duplicate hardware investments.
Hardware choice separated from platform choice
The four-platform promise changes how businesses evaluate collaboration systems. You can now choose your phone system, video platform, and meeting room hardware independently.
A business comparing RingCentral, Dialpad, Zoom Phone, Microsoft Teams Phone, 8x8, Nextiva, and Webex no longer needs to factor room device compatibility into the platform decision. Pick the phone system that fits your call flow and support needs. Equip rooms separately.
This also reduces switching costs. A facility that moves from one UCaaS platform to another keeps its room hardware. That matters when contracts renew and better pricing appears elsewhere.
Cisco completing four-platform support makes the multi-platform path more viable. Businesses that could not decide whether to standardize on one system or run multiple can now run multiple without losing meeting room quality.
AI agents join meetings as participants
Claude, powered by Claude Managed Agents, will be able to join Webex spaces, meetings and calls. This is different from transcription or meeting summaries. Cisco described workflows where employees could @mention an analytics agent in a Webex space to retrieve usage statistics, then ask a presentation agent to update a PowerPoint deck.
The agentic capabilities announced October 7 are designed to help AI agents use shared context and carry out multi-step tasks across collaboration and customer-service systems. Instead of a person pulling reports, summarizing them, and briefing a team, an AI agent does it in the meeting.
RoomOS 27 brings a natural-language AI assistant to the room, supporting 32 languages. Walk into a conference room, say what you need, and the room configures itself.
Most announced features are planned for early 2027, not immediately available. But the direction is clear. AI moves from passive tools that transcribe and summarize to active participants that complete tasks during meetings.
The broader platform landscape
Cisco is betting on openness while others push AI agents too. RingCentral announced October 28 new AI capabilities for RingCX that give contact centers one place to supervise, measure, and plan for AI and human agents as a single workforce. RingCentral AI Receptionist customers quadrupled to over 22,000 in Q3 as the company pushes AI voice agents.
The Gartner 2026 UCaaS Magic Quadrant shows Cisco, Microsoft, RingCentral and Zoom retain Leader status while 8x8, Dialpad and GoTo remain Visionaries. Every Leader is adding AI fast. The question is no longer whether a platform has AI features but what those features actually do and whether they fit how your team works.
RingCentral Q3 2026 earnings beat expectations with $1.33 EPS and $676.04M revenue, up 5.8% year over year. The UCaaS market is growing and platforms are competing on AI and interoperability at the same time.
Compare platforms side by side: RingCentral vs Dialpad, RingCentral vs Zoom, Microsoft Teams vs Zoom, Dialpad vs Zoom, 8x8 vs RingCentral, 8x8 vs Nextiva.
What this means for your next phone system decision
If you are evaluating phone systems or replacing a PBX, the multi-platform question just got easier. You do not have to pick one vendor for everything anymore.
A nursing home on EmpireUC that needs to join family video calls on Google Meet or state inspection calls on Teams can equip rooms with Cisco devices and handle any platform natively. A multi-family building with a leasing office on RingCentral and a management company on Zoom uses the same conference room hardware for both.
Through Empire you pay less than buying direct from any of these platforms. We set up the system on your call flow, port your numbers with no downtime, and handle support 24/7. Setup is free. See a demo this week on exactly how your facility's calls would route.
