San Diego—Cisco unveiled a groundbreaking expansion of its Webex platform at WebexOne 2025 today, placing AI agents at the center of its collaboration strategy. The announcements include a new family of Webex AI agents designed to automate workflows across meetings, messaging, and contact centers, the formal release of RoomOS 26 with native AI capabilities for Cisco devices, and an ambitious framework for secure agentic collaboration that promises to reshape how teams work.

The event, held at the San Diego Convention Center, drew thousands of IT leaders, partners, and analysts. Cisco’s executives emphasized that this is not merely an incremental update but a fundamental shift toward an agent-powered workplace where AI assistants handle repetitive tasks, surface insights, and even act on behalf of employees—while respecting enterprise-grade security requirements.

Webex AI Agents: A Suite of Intelligent Assistants

The centerpiece of WebexOne is the introduction of Webex AI Agents—a range of AI-driven tools embedded directly into the Webex Suite. Unlike previous AI enhancements that focused on passive features like background noise removal or meeting highlights, these agents can actively participate in collaboration processes.

Meeting Agents

Cisco demonstrated a Meeting Agent that joins calls as a participant, listens to the conversation, and generates real-time transcriptions, smart notes, and assigned action items. At the end of a session, it distributes a detailed summary to all attendees, including a list of decisions made and next steps. The agent can also retrieve information from integrated knowledge bases (like SharePoint, ServiceNow, or Salesforce) during a meeting when prompted by users, essentially serving as an on-demand research assistant.

“We’re moving from an AI that simply records to one that understands and acts,” said Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration, during the keynote. “The Meeting Agent doesn’t just observe—it contributes, remembers context, and executes follow-up tasks.”

Messaging and Workspace Agents

Within Webex Messaging, a new Agent can monitor channels, summarize long threads, and proactively suggest responses. It integrates with Webex’s existing natural language processing to parse conversations and flag important updates. Additionally, Cisco introduced workspace agents that can automate common workflows—like scheduling cross-functional meetings, creating project spaces, or gathering status reports from team members—through simple conversational commands.

Contact Center AI Agents

Perhaps the most transformative agents are those targeted at Webex Contact Center. These AI-powered virtual agents handle routine customer inquiries—such as password resets, order status checks, or appointment bookings—in a fully autonomous manner. For more complex queries, they seamlessly hand off to human agents with full context. Moreover, Agent Assist features provide human agents with suggested responses, real-time sentiment analysis, and knowledge base articles during live conversations. Post-call, the AI automatically generates summaries and updates CRM records, cutting after-call work by an estimated 40 percent based on early customer pilots.

Cisco also announced a new AI Studio, a low-code tool that allows organizations to build custom agents tailored to their specific industry terms and workflows. The studio uses large language models under the hood but adds a layer of control to ensure responses align with company policies.

RoomOS 26: AI Comes to Cisco Devices

RoomOS 26, the latest operating system for Cisco collaboration devices (including the Desk Pro, Board Series, and Room Bar), ships with a host of AI-powered features that turn meeting rooms into intelligent spaces.

Proactive Meeting Room Experiences

Devices running RoomOS 26 now support a “Concierge Agent” that appears on the screen before meetings. It can manage check-ins, guide visitors to available seats, and even start a meeting by voice command. Through integration with workplace sensors, the system can optimize room environments—adjusting lighting or temperature when a room is booked.

AI-Enhanced Audio and Video

Cisco has brought its acclaimed hardware-based noise removal and acoustic processing into a new AI-driven audio framework called Intelligent Audio 2.0. It uses spatial awareness to focus on active speakers and suppress background noise, even in large boardrooms. On the video side, the RoomOS 26 update extends the capability of the Board Pro’s machine vision to not only track speakers but also intelligently frame the entire meeting room, ensuring both in-room and remote participants feel equally present.

Agent-Ready Rooms

Perhaps the most forward-looking announcement is what Cisco calls “Agent-Ready Rooms.” With RoomOS 26, Cisco devices can host Webex AI agents as visible participants—displaying them on screen or through a dedicated speaker so that the agent can verbally contribute to the discussion. This takes the concept of a digital assistant beyond chat and into the physical meeting environment.

Extending Agentic Collaboration to Third-Party Apps

Cisco knows that its customers operate in a multi-platform world. At WebexOne, the company announced an open API and a new App Hub for third-party developers. This allows organizations to embed Webex AI agents into popular applications such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and even customer-facing portals. Through integrations with workflow automation tools like Zapier and low-code platforms, businesses can trigger agent actions based on events in other systems.

A notable partnership with Google Cloud was revealed, enabling Webex AI agents to leverage Google’s Gemini models for tasks that require heavy natural language processing, while keeping core collaboration data within Cisco’s security perimeter. A similar integration with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service is also available for enterprises standardized on that ecosystem.

Secure Agentic Collaboration: A Cisco Hallmark

Given Cisco’s heritage in networking and security, it is no surprise that a major emphasis at the event was on the safety and compliance of AI agents. Cisco unveiled a new Agent Trust Layer that ensures all agent interactions are encrypted, auditable, and subject to data governance policies. The system allows administrators to define exactly what data an agent can access, whether it retains conversations, and how it interacts with third-party services.

“A lot of AI tools are black boxes that make IT nervous,” said Aruna Ravichandran, Cisco’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Webex. “We built Webex AI agents from the ground up to be explainable, controllable, and aligned with the strictest privacy regulations.”

The Trust Layer includes real-time compliance scanning, so agents cannot inadvertently share sensitive information outside authorized channels. For industries like healthcare and financial services, this is a make-or-break capability.

Competitive Landscape and Industry Impact

Cisco’s announcements come as the collaboration market is increasingly defined by AI arms race among major players. Microsoft 365 Copilot embedded in Teams, Zoom’s AI Companion, and Google’s Duet AI have all pushed the envelope. However, Cisco is betting on its unique hardware-plus-software plus security advantage. By owning the devices (through RoomOS), the connectivity (via network infrastructure), and the security stack, Cisco can offer an end-to-end agentic experience that rivals cannot easily replicate.

Early reaction from industry analysts present at the event was positive. “Cisco has clearly moved beyond basic AI features to an agentic approach that could fundamentally change collaboration workflows,” said Emily Cantrell, Principal Analyst at Breakthrough Research. “The deep integration into contact centers and physical devices gives them a differentiated position.”

What’s Next: General Availability and Roadmap

Cisco stated that the first batch of Webex AI agents will begin rolling out in a controlled preview starting in June 2025, with general availability expected in the third quarter. RoomOS 26 will begin shipping on new devices immediately and will be available as a free upgrade for existing compatible hardware. The AI Studio and third-party API will follow shortly after.

Pricing details were not fully disclosed, but executives hinted that many core agent functions will be included in existing Webex Suite licenses, with premium agents and custom AI Studio agents offered as add-ons. This model aims to drive adoption without immediately hiking costs for the enterprise customer base.

The company also teased a future where agents can act as delegates for lower-priority tasks—such as submitting expenses, approving routine documents, or even participating in stand-up meetings on behalf of a busy manager. While still in early research, the concept shows Cisco’s ambition to place agents at the heart of digital work.

In sum, WebexOne 2025 represents a leap forward not just for Cisco but for the entire collaboration industry. By making AI agents proactive and secure, Cisco is setting a template for the next era of work. The combination of RoomOS intelligence, broad platform integrations, and a trust-first architecture could well make Webex the go-to choice for enterprises seeking to embrace agentic collaboration without compromising on security.