Prior to 2018, Cisco offered two separate collaboration devices for meeting rooms: The Cisco Spark Board and the Cisco Webex Board. In 2018, Cisco made the decision to merge the Spark Board with Webex, into what is now called The Cisco Webex Board. This elevated collaboration device takes the best of both platforms and integrates enhanced features to create the most comprehensive tool for meeting rooms.
Features of The Cisco Spark Board
The Spark Board was a collaborative technology designed to allow teams to brainstorm their ideas and help team members, clients, and investors visualize their creative thoughts. The Cisco Spark Board was more than just a whiteboard and offered an abundance of features including:
- Handwriting recognition capabilities.
- 4K camera captures a high-resolution, wide-angle image of virtually the entire room. This is supported by a 12-microphone array that delivers crisp, clear audio, automatically amplifying and modulating voices.
- Ability to use the Spark app to link devices to the whiteboard.
- Use of cloud-based software to securely save data and to associate with a virtual room.
- Share presentation, locally in the room or remotely, without any need for wires, dongles, adapters, or typing in PIN codes.
- Available in two sizes – 55 inch and 70 inch.
Enhancements Made During the Spark and Webex Merge
When Cisco decided to merge the Spark with Webex to create the Webex Board, they kept all of the same features including the same Spark OS and combined it with Webex’s powerful conferencing platform for the ultimate collaboration device. Improvements made include:
- Visual updates to the share screen – Improved abilities to adjust brightness and ultrasound volume for proximity and detection
- Add meeting participants more easily – Now over 1,000 people can participate in one meeting from multiple locations around the world
- Added storage capabilities
- Improved analytics
- Increased security
- Improved VLAN voice as well
- Ability to transition from one app to another which allows users to take advantage of all Webex apps
Before the integration of the Spark Board with Webex, Spark users could only join a Spark meeting by using Spark app. Also, Webex users could only join a Webex meeting from a Webex app. And now Cisco users can enjoy all the meetings from Webex based. It is really a good news to all Webex users.
Prior to this integration, Cisco Spark had hybrid media service that allowed a user to deploy servers on premise which could be used for the audio, video and content share streams for Cisco Spark meetings. But, they worked only for Cisco Spark meetings. With this integration, these hybrid media nodes can now be used for any Webex meeting type, such as regular Webex meetings, PMR meetings, and Team meetings.
Users joining the meetings from SIP endpoints, the cloud connected video endpoints, or the Webex Teams app, will connect to the media nodes when joining any of those meetings. With this integration, it is able to rename hybrid media services to video mesh, in recognition of the truly disruptive and now broad applicability of this capability.
Moreover, both Webex and Cisco Spark had meetings capabilities, but they were quite disparate. In the back end, Webex meetings were supported by servers from the Webex data centers, and interconnected with Webex backbone IP network. And this IP network provides global transport between customer ISPs and the meeting servers. However, Cisco Spark meetings were powered by servers in public clouds, and weren’t making use of the Webex backbone.
What Can You Expect from the Cisco Webex Board?
The Cisco Webex Board is an easy-to-use, high-quality collaboration experience for every organization. Let’s take a look at what you can expect from the Cisco Webex Board.
1. 3 Sizes
The Webex Board comes in 55-inch, 70-inch, and 85-inch screen sizes to cover any size meeting, from huddles to large boardroom meetings.
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Cisco Webex Board 55 |
Cisco Webex Board 70 |
Cisco Webex Board 85 |
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Physical dimensions (H x W x D) |
50 x 32 x 1.9 in (814 x 1283 x 49 mm) |
40.7 x 64.1 x 2.4 in (1034 x 1627 x 61 mm) |
48.1 x 77.4 x 3 in (1221 x 1966 x 76 mm) |
| Weight | 87.7 lb (39.8 kg) | 141.8 lb (64.3 kg) | 220 lbs (100 kg) |
2. Optimal Storage Solutions
You can store everything you create in the Cisco’s collaboration cloud and link it to a virtual room for easy organization. Cloud-storage also means that you are able to access your files from any device in any locations.
3. Pick Up Where You Left Off
The Cisco Webex board allows team members to seamlessly pick up right where they left off from anywhere, even after they have left the meeting. Works can continue from a different location, time, or device, such as another Cisco Spark Board or any other Cisco Spark app-enabled devices (smartphones, tablets and laptops).
Moreover,Cisco Spark Board and Cisco Spark service solution together provide end-to-end encryption, so your communications and content are secure.
4. Anticipates Your Needs
The Webex Board conveniently detects when you walk in the room and wakes. It can also identify when Webex Teams app supported devices are near and suggest activities. This may include connecting with the whiteboard, wirelessly sharing a presentation, or even making a phone call.
5. Powerful Video and Audio Capabilities
Users will enjoy an incredible 4K camera with high resolution and a wide-angle image that offers an 83-degree field of view. It also embeds microphones, and a capacitive touch interface, the board brings intelligence, style, and usability to from small to large meeting rooms.
It allows wireless sharing and Wi-Fi connectivity. The system is also touch-based for easy and rich team collaboration. It is affordable to acquire and easy to install and deploy, so that it can be a fixture in all of your conference rooms.
The Webex Board is the latest addition to the portfolio of Cisco video and audio conferencing devices that register to Cisco Webex, including the Cisco Webex Room Series and DX80, the Cisco MX and SX Series, and the Cisco IP Phone 7800 and 8800 Series.
6. Two-Way Whiteboarding
The Webex Board allows users to easily create whiteboards, take advantage of two-way whiteboarding with incredible features such as pinch and zoom.
At the past, only one board could start and edit a white board. Everyone else could receive this white board as content, but no one could interact with it during the meeting. And now, it is possible for two or more boards to collaborate during a Webex meeting. A few remote sites call into a Webex meeting, a couple of boards are in these sites, and in others maybe a Webex Room Kit or any other Webex conferencing device.
One of the boards starts whiteboarding, and the second site jumps in to draw some extra information on the original drawing. There’s interaction and collaboration from those two boards, and the Room Kit receives all this as content. Users can enjoy the features of Webex devices like speaker tracking and excellent video and audio quality at the same time from different locations.
Enhance Business Functions with Collaborative Technologies
Collaborative technologies allow your team’s creative juices to flow by giving them the ability to work more freely, anytime, anywhere. Sharing ideas and working through projects with colleagues from any geographical location increases productivity and takes your company to new heights. As the leading provider of workplace technologies, Komstadt offers smart office solutions to fit your needs, no matter how small or large your company. Contact us today to find out more about how we can transform your workspace!
