Cisco Cisco WebEx Meeting Center WBS29.8 White Paper
September 23, 2016
4 TalkingPointz
employees and externally with customers, pros-
pects, and business partners. And Cisco’s presence
in the market is growing, with revenues from its
web conferencing increasing 15% in the past year,
and overall market share increasing by nearly 3%.
pects, and business partners. And Cisco’s presence
in the market is growing, with revenues from its
web conferencing increasing 15% in the past year,
and overall market share increasing by nearly 3%.
Microsoft is much newer to the space, but has
grown tremendously. Lync, introduced in 2010,
featured conferencing as a key service. Over the
years, Lync was relaunched as Skype for Business
and now includes an extensive set of conferenc-
ing features available as a service within Office
365. Skype for Business has less than a 12% web
conferencing market share – a much smaller figure
than Cisco’s share, though one that’s growing.
grown tremendously. Lync, introduced in 2010,
featured conferencing as a key service. Over the
years, Lync was relaunched as Skype for Business
and now includes an extensive set of conferenc-
ing features available as a service within Office
365. Skype for Business has less than a 12% web
conferencing market share – a much smaller figure
than Cisco’s share, though one that’s growing.
Cisco WebEx
WebEx was founded in 1996 and acquired by
Cisco in 2007. It is among the most established,
most mature conferencing solutions on the market,
and a call-out growth element for the Cisco
Collaboration business unit. WebEx is primarily
Cisco in 2007. It is among the most established,
most mature conferencing solutions on the market,
and a call-out growth element for the Cisco
Collaboration business unit. WebEx is primarily
known as a cloud-delivered service, and Cisco
takes a cloud-first approach to its development.
WebEx Meeting Center provides video interoper-
ability for standards-based and Skype for
Business systems.
takes a cloud-first approach to its development.
WebEx Meeting Center provides video interoper-
ability for standards-based and Skype for
Business systems.
As enterprises actively move business applications
to the cloud, they require well-established services
with a proven record of being mature, reliable,
and highly available. Many organizations also
require specialized implementations for training,
events, and support. WebEx presents precisely
these qualities to enterprises seeking to deploy
web and integrated video conferencing as a
cost-effective, cloud-based service.
to the cloud, they require well-established services
with a proven record of being mature, reliable,
and highly available. Many organizations also
require specialized implementations for training,
events, and support. WebEx presents precisely
these qualities to enterprises seeking to deploy
web and integrated video conferencing as a
cost-effective, cloud-based service.
WebEx is purpose-built for web and video
conferencing. It does support messaging among
meeting participants, but it was designed as a
conferencing service. As such, Cisco’s develop-
ment efforts are focused around improving its
ability to provide effective online meetings.
conferencing. It does support messaging among
meeting participants, but it was designed as a
conferencing service. As such, Cisco’s develop-
ment efforts are focused around improving its
ability to provide effective online meetings.
None
13%
Few
14%
Some
20%
Most
27%
All
26%
53.1%
Cisco
21.9%
Citrix
12.4%
Microsoft
12.6%
Other
Worldwide Web
Conferencing Share
by Revenue Q2-2016
Source: Synergy Research, Cloud SaaS Services market share
and forecast, Q2 2016