Video Conferencing Solutions Explored

In anticipation of an increasing need for video conferencing at Stanford, University IT is testing Cisco WebEx for improved reliability as a possible university-wide video conferencing tool.

“We continue to see a rise in video conference usage at Stanford, and with the upcoming opening of the Redwood City campus, we expect the usage volume to surge,” said Jesse Brooks, Director of Service Strategy and Delivery for University IT's Communication Services group.

To proactively plan for the future, University IT has embarked on a multi-month pilot of Cisco WebEx, which will include 250 participants from diverse groups across campus.

Why the pilot?

Jesse Brooks, University IT

Testing Cisco WebEx will allow University IT to gather information on reliability, ease of use, and basic functionality. It will also allow us to examine how WebEx integrates with Cisco Jabber and our other Cisco infrastructure.

University IT selected participants from schools and units across campus who are power users of University IT's current video conferencing tool, BlueJeans.

Participants will be granted WebEx accounts and can leverage the tool to hold video conferences with others as they normally would during the pilot period. They will continue to have access to BlueJeans as well.

Pilot implications

The pilot does not represent a decision about University IT’s direction for videoconferencing. Once the pilot is complete, we'll assess the results and determine how to proceed.

“We’re focused on how we can improve the video conferencing experience to allow our clients to collaborate most effectively and ensuring our technologies work seamlessly together,” Brooks said.