Google teams up with Cisco WebEx to make videoconferences easier

With corporate workforces still reliant on virtual meetings -- and the Delta variant delaying a return to the office -- videoconferencing rivals Google Meet and Cisco WebEx hope to make the process of logging in a little easier. 

Google, part of Alphabet Inc., has agreed to support interoperability with Cisco Systems Inc. hardware devices. That means customers will be able to log into a Google meeting on a Cisco device and vice versa, Google said Wednesday in a blog post. The pact will help businesses that use multiple hosting platforms or have switched from one to the other.  The agreement suggests the start of a more cooperative era in the cutthroat conferencing market, where software providers have spent the last 18 months trying to undercut rivals in the hunt for more corporate users. Surging coronavirus cases due to the delta variant have foiled companies’ return-to-office plans, with some workers back in their cubicles and others logging in from home.