End of Life for Cisco CMR-Hybrid

Cisco is announcing the End of Life of Cisco Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) -Hybrid effective on February 28th, 2021. After 02/28/2021, CMR Hybrid service will continue till April 2021 (EOL) and at that point, CMR Hybrid customers will be auto-migrated to the latest version of CMR Cloud. Cisco is making this announcement to simplify and offer a consistent cloud video offer globally. Your Cisco Webex subscription is not changing.
No changes for customers using Webex with CMR Cloud (video integration) with this announcement.

CMR-Hybrid, a pre-cursor to CMR Cloud, is Webex meetings with on-prem TelePresence Server (or MCU) cascaded together for a single meeting. Users schedule a meeting using Webex Productivity Tools with the TelePresence side panel to add on-premise video conferences.

Any customers with active use of CMR-Hybrid starting in April 2020, will have their Webex site auto-migrated to the latest version of Webex with the ability for endpoints to join directly to the cloud. Cascading meetings to TP Server or MCU will no longer be supported/possible after this date.

After the site is migrated to video platform 2 and Control Hub access is available, customers can choose to deploy Video Mesh to allow video endpoints to join a meeting using local resources instead of all joining individuals to the Webex cloud. More information on Video Mesh is here: https://help.webex.com/nm1m8zv/Get-Started-with-Cisco-Webex-Hybrid-Services

What this means for you as an Admin

Determine how many users are actively using CMR Hybrid and make plans to change user's scheduling experience. Existing meetings can continue till Feb 28. 2021. After this date, existing meetings need to be rescheduled without the on-prem TelePresence Server for video bridging.

For your Webex site(s) configured for CMR-Hybrid, prior to the end of Feb 2021 you should follow these steps:

Determine how many Webex hosts have Session type “TelePresence” configured
- https://help.webex.com/acyd33/Manage-Session-Types-in-Webex-Site-Administration
From these users, plan to change their scheduling to no longer use CMR-Hybrid.
Existing scheduled meetings can continue till March 31, 2021.
Change hosts to no longer have TelePresence/Video session type. (https://help.webex.com/16lhxu/Manage-Session-Types-in-Cisco-Webex-Control-Hub#id_128597)
Re-install Productivity Tools to remove the TelePresence side panel: https://help.webex.com/nby4rwy/Install-and-Set-Up-Webex-Productivity-Tools-for-Windows
Continue with existing scheduled meetings till March 2021.
Newly scheduled meetings would be on Webex only (Platform 2).
Once all scheduling is removed and no new meetings scheduled, you can migrate the Webex site to video platform 2 if not already, including Webex Teams and other services available.

Any existing scheduled meetings after March 31 will need to be rebooked without the TelePresence Server URI address. The easiest method is for each meeting in someone’s calendar, after re-install of Productivity Tools without TP Session Type, opening the meeting, removing existing how-to-join info, and adding some text “New video address” for example, then sending the invite. Productivity Tools should then rebook this meeting with a new URI for video devices with a Webex site domain. This process should be tested prior.

Your on-premises TelePresence Server and/or MCU can continue to be used for premise-only meetings without cascading links to Webex.

What this means for your users

Changes in scheduling for users

Webex has a few different methods for scheduling meetings:

Webex app
Webex Productivity Tool plug-in for Outlook
Hybrid Calendar Service
Webex site web-scheduler

These above work with your existing TMS/XE in providing One button to push for conference rooms

Webex Productivity Tools add-in for Outlook (does not currently support TMS/XE for OBTP)

When scheduling using the latest productivity tools client, instead of the side panel to select add a video to the meeting, the host will get the standard Webex PT options for the meeting. Joining by video endpoint is included with every meeting, the host does not need to configure it. How to join, instructions from video endpoints, will auto-be included in the invite sent to all participants.

If you have Conference rooms with One-button-to-press (OBTP) via TMS today, on updating scheduling to the latest Productivity Tools client, TMS/XE will get the required URI info to set OBTP as before. The meeting has to be booked with PT without the side panel for any meetings scheduled to start after March 31, 2021.

Joining a meeting manually

Video endpoints join meetings dialing direct to Webex cloud (or Video Mesh node locally if deployed instead TP Server).

The SIP URI will have a new domain, usually in the format of <meeting_ID>@<Webex_site_name>.webex.com. Any meetings with the domain for TP Server/MCU on the customer's on-prem domain need to be rescheduled.

In-meeting experience changes for users

Video endpoints will have features (layouts and controls) based on Webex built-in video bridge, replacing TP Server layouts and controls. Most users should not see any meaningful change, below is a list of features available with Webex for video devices:

Users on Webex clients will now see individual videos from users on video conferencing systems, instead of being restricted to just seeing the active speaker.
Users on video conferencing systems will now see individual videos from users on Webex clients, instead of being restricted to just seeing the active speaker.
Up to 200 video conferencing system users will now be able to join your meetings.
Users on video conferencing systems will now have access to a visual lobby experience, instead of seeing a black screen with an audio-only experience.
Users on Cisco video conferencing systems will be able to see the full list of participants on their Touch devices.
Users on dual-screen Cisco video conferencing systems will be able to see participant videos on both screens.
Users on video conferencing systems will now be able to control the meeting using numeric key commands, e.g., lock and unlock the meeting, mute all participants, and record a meeting.
Users on video conferencing systems will be able to join Webex Events as panelists.
Users on whiteboard-capable Cisco video systems will be able to share their whiteboards.
Users on Webex clients will be able to share video-optimized content with audio with users on video conferencing systems.
Improved security, where users on video conferencing systems can wait in the lobby until they are admitted into the meeting by the host.
Improved security and ease of use, where users on video conferencing systems that belong to your organization can join meetings directly.

Please do note the following known behaviors with Video Platform Version 2:

There is no support for video conferencing systems that utilize the H.263 video codec. If you join meetings with one of those systems, shared content will be embedded inside the main video feed, together with other participants’ videos. (Suggest using Expressway to convert to SIP)
There is no support for EOL video conferencing systems from Cisco, including CTS-series systems.
There is no support for another conferencing bridge calling into a Webex meeting. In those instances, content-sharing experience integrity cannot be guaranteed.

Any questions on this, contact Personalmultiparty@cisco.com