You can now use third-party SIP-based video conferencing hardware with RingCentral Room Connector | #customersupport #supporticket

Highlights:

• Switching video conferencing hardware is often costly and time-consuming, and IT decision-makers want to maximize their existing hardware investments.
• Room Connector allows businesses to use existing third-party video conferencing hardware with RingCentral video meetings.

Hybrid and remote work are on the rise—which means meeting rooms have a new purpose: facilitate teamwork between office and remote workers. Luckily, video conferencing systems in meeting rooms are designed for this very purpose.

There’s just one problem: organizations that already own video conferencing hardware might not want to purchase and deploy another set of hardware just to switch meeting providers. IT decision-makers want to keep their existing solutions for as long as possible to maximize their ROI.

We’re all about giving you flexibility with your solutions. That’s why we’re excited to announce that RingCentral users can now use existing third-party SIP-based hardware with RingCentral video meetings.

What is RingCentral Room Connector? What is it used for?

Room Connector is a new add-on license that enables you to connect legacy meeting room hardware from companies such as Cisco, Poly, and others to our RingCentral video meeting platform. 

The new Room Connector allows customers to extend the life of their existing third-party SIP equipment, by allowing it to connect to RingCentral Video meetings, alongside Rooms, web, desktop and mobile users.

Room Connector also includes secure meeting controls such as waiting rooms, HD 1080p video (on supported devices), HD audio, and the same familiar unified RingCentral experience we provide across devices, whether you’re using the RingCentral app on desktop, mobile, or in a meeting room.

 

What’s the difference between Room Connector and RingCentral Rooms? 

Both RingCentral Rooms and Room Connector are add-on licenses that allow businesses to enable video conferencing in their meeting rooms. 

However, they both have unique use cases. You may need one or the other (or even both) depending on the current hardware setup in your meeting rooms. 

So which license(s) is best for you?

RingCentral Rooms

RingCentral Rooms is a natural extension of our MVP solution that’s specifically for meeting rooms. It comes pre-installed in a variety of room hardware kits—suitable for meeting spaces of all sizes—from leading vendors such as Logitech, Poly, and Yealink.

All-in-one video conferencing hardware made for your meeting rooms

RingCentral Rooms offers the same simple and intuitive UI in the meeting room setup, on the video meeting, as well as the host controls. It also offers advanced end-user and management features, such as touchless meeting controls using voice command or the meeting host’s own mobile device, proximity share, and the ability to switch from mobile to Room.

Room Connector

Room Connector, on the other hand, helps organizations extend their investments on existing SIP-based hardware by providing them a way to connect to RingCentral video meetings using the room conferencing user interface of their existing hardware. 

The Room Connector allows a meeting to join via a SIP URI, but can only join meetings as a participant and cannot host a meeting directly.

 

Get connected now

Room Connector means that businesses with existing meeting room hardware don’t have to invest in new devices to connect to video. And we’ll be supporting even more features with Room Connector in the coming months. 

Want to know more? Contact your account executive or purchase Room Connector directly from the Admin Portal.

Originally published Nov 21, 2021, updated Nov 22, 2021