Cisco's Webex records nearly 600 million participants

The video conferencing app of Cisco- Webex has recorded 590 million participants in September and is on the path of making it to 600 million this month, the number is nearly double if compared to March when countries started shutting down due to the pandemic.

Due to COVID-19, the office started closing down and people switched on video conferencing platforms to work from home. It brings growth for platforms like Webex, Zoom Video Communications Inc and Microsoft Corp's Teams.

While the expansion in Webex user numbers started in March, it has not tapered off, and attendees are at all-time highs in October amid a resurgent pandemic, Jeetu Patel, Cisco Systems Inc's General Manager for Security and Applications Business, told a news source.

Webex clocked 324 million meeting participants in March. Zoom recorded 300 million daily participants in April, and Teams in April disclosed 200 million. The numbers may not be comparable because the companies may use different methods of counting attendees and do not disclose those methods.

According to Cisco, a large percentage of the usage comes from enterprises. But Cisco is working to change that. Webex has a new product for schools that features the ability to host a large classroom, split the class into small groups, and bring it back together.

"We are focused on education very aggressively," Patel said.

Cisco also plans to roll out a feature to filter background noise such as a barking dog or the sound of a passing car from an ongoing meeting following its acquisition of BabbleLabs in August.

"We will have it available to all WebEx users from Oct. 30 for no additional charge," Patel said, adding that Cisco remains open to more acquisitions that will add new capabilities to Webex.