Last Updated on April 16, 2022
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational technology corporation that focuses on networking hardware and software. It has over 75,000 employees with its headquarters in San Jose, California.
Cisco has been participating in open source development for almost 30 years including founding projects like OpenDaylight, FD.io, VPP, PNDA, SNAS, and OpenH264, and contributing to projects like OPNFV, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Maven, and many others.
Cisco has also been a key contributor to the Linux kernel over the years, accounting for about 0.5% of total kernel commits, and is a Platinum Member of the Linux Foundation and Premium Sponsor of the Open Source Initiative.
From a software perspective, Cisco’s main focus is developing proprietary programs. In this series we look at free and open source alternatives to their products.
Webex offers calling, meetings, and messaging in the cloud for teams of all sizes. It offers a way of collaborating that focuses around the work you do, not your location — whether it’s in the office, at home, or somewhere else.
Webex is not available for Linux and it’s proprietary software. What are the best free and open source alternatives?
1. Jitsi
Jitsi is a set of open-source projects that allows you to easily build and deploy secure videoconferencing solutions. It’s privacy focused, compatible with WebRTC, and supports advanced video routing concepts such as simulcast, bandwidth estimations, and scalable video coding.
2. Element
Element (formerly known as Riot and Vector) is a free and open-source software instant messaging client implementing the Matrix protocol. It offers end-to-end encrypted messaging with voice and video support.
3. qTox
qTox is a chat, voice, video, and file transfer IM client using the encrypted peer-to-peer Tox protocol. It follows the Tox design guidelines.
Tox is a peer-to-peer instant-messaging and video-calling protocol that offers end-to-end encryption.
4. Wire
Wire is a cross-platform, encrypted instant messaging client. It allows users to exchange text, voice, photo, video and music messages. The application also supports group messaging.
All articles in this series:
| Alternatives to Cisco's Products | |
|---|---|
 | AnyConnect SSL VPN gives users secure access to the enterprise network, from any device, at any time, in any location. |
 | DNA Center is a centralized automation and management platform for the entire network. |
 | Secure Firewall is a complete security portfolio that protects your applications and users. It includes a Snort 3 next-generation intrusion prevention system. |
 | Secure IDS is a network-based intrusion detection system that uses a signature database to trigger intrusion alarms. The major components are a sensor platform and a director platform. |
| Webex offers calling, meetings, and messaging in the cloud for teams of all sizes. It offers a way of collaborating that focuses around the work you do, not your location. |