Cisco TelePresence Management Suite (TMS) and TMSXE replacement

TMS and TMSXE replacement planning cannot wait

Cisco TelePresence Management Suite and Cisco TelePresence Management Suite Extension for Microsoft Exchange, commonly known as TMS and TMSXE, have been used for years to manage video conferencing environments, calendars and meeting workflows.

The immediate issue is not just that TMS and TMSXE are aging. It is that many organizations still depend on them for workflows that affect room booking, Cisco Meeting Server meetings, one button to push, endpoint behavior and operational support.

By now, the sales and maintenance milestones have largely passed. The key planning window is the period before final support ends in 2027.

Important for device refresh projects

Cisco has also stated that TMS will not receive support for new video device types starting in 2025. Organizations planning room upgrades, endpoint refreshes or broader collaboration changes should treat TMS migration as part of that plan. 

What customers are really replacing

TMS and TMSXE replacement is not only a product swap. For many Cisco customers, the migration has to preserve a set of business-critical workflows:

• Calendar processing and room booking from Exchange, Microsoft 365 or Google Calendar.
• One button to push on supported Cisco endpoints.
• Cisco Meeting Server provisioning and meeting information handling.
• Cisco endpoint workflows, phonebooks, reporting and meeting lifecycle management.
• The ability to join external meetings hosted on Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex and other services.
• Operational visibility for executive, government, healthcare or mission-critical meetings.

That is why the best replacement strategy is usually not to rip out the Cisco estate. It is to modernize the workflow layer around it.

How Synergy SKY fits into a TMS and TMSXE migration

Synergy SKY helps organizations preserve familiar Cisco and calendar workflows while extending them for today's multi-platform meeting environment. The solution is typically built around two product areas:

Preserve the scheduling experience users already know

One of the most important parts of a TMSXE migration is preserving the user experience. Users should not have to learn a separate video scheduling portal simply because the back-end scheduling system is changing.

With Synergy SKY, users can continue scheduling from Microsoft Outlook, Exchange, Microsoft 365 or Google Calendar, depending on the selected deployment model and calendar environment. Synergy SKY processes the invitation, identifies the meeting destination and prepares the correct joining workflow for supported Cisco endpoints.

Extend Cisco Meeting Server with automated one-time meeting spaces

Cisco Meeting Server remains important for organizations that need sovereign, on-premises or customer-controlled conferencing. But CMS customers often need more automation around the meeting lifecycle than TMSXE can provide.

Synergy SKY can examine a meeting invitation and determine whether it contains a Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, FaceTime or other supported meeting destination. If an external meeting platform is detected, the meeting can be routed to the correct interoperability workflow.

If no external meeting platform is found, Management Suite can automatically create a unique, one-time meeting space on Cisco Meeting Server. This workflow can:

• Provision the CMS meeting space.
• Generate host and guest PINs.
• Add joining information to the original invitation or send configurable meeting details.
• Send meeting information automatically to all meeting invitees, either as separate emails or injected into the invite.
• Present a ready-to-join meeting on supported Cisco endpoints.
• Reduce the risk of unrelated meetings accidentally sharing the same personal VMR.
• Cisco Meeting Server.
• Cisco room devices and supported legacy Cisco endpoints.
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager.
• Cisco Expressway or VCS.
• Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365 and Google Calendar.
• Existing SIP infrastructure.
• Established room scheduling and join workflows.
• TMS and TMSXE functions currently in use.
• Calendar integrations and room booking workflows.
• Cisco Meeting Server dependencies and current VMR practices.
• Endpoint models, firmware versions and registration platforms.
• CUCM, VCS, Expressway and SIP routing dependencies.
• Phonebook, directory and reporting requirements.
• External meeting platforms such as Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex and FaceTime.
• Government, restricted cloud, sovereignty or data-residency requirements.
• White-glove meeting operations, monitoring and reporting needs.

Connect Cisco and SIP rooms to external meetings

Modern meeting rooms need to join meetings hosted by customers, suppliers, agencies, partners and other external organizations. Those meetings are increasingly hosted on different platforms.

Synergy SKY CONNECT provides standards-based interoperability between SIP video systems and major cloud meeting platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, FaceTime and other supported destinations. Supported Cisco and Poly devices can receive one-touch join experiences for scheduled meetings, while other SIP devices can use supported join methods such as Join by ID where applicable.

Support richer meeting experiences from existing rooms

Basic connectivity is not always enough. Users also need to see content, understand who is speaking and interact with the meeting. Synergy SKY TrueView and TrueView Engage can help preserve native meeting layouts and provide interaction options such as participant lists, chat, raise hand, captions, reactions, layout selection and dual-screen support on supported platforms and devices.

Feature availability varies by meeting platform, deployment model and endpoint. This is important to communicate clearly during migration planning so that each room type receives the right workflow.

Operate important meetings with Management Suite CONTROL capabilities

Some organizations need more than scheduling and joining. Executive briefings, government meetings, healthcare sessions and mission-critical communications may need active support from an operations team.

CONTROL capabilities within Management Suite give authorized operators tools to launch, monitor, manage, assist and report on meetings, including meetings hosted on Cisco Meeting Server. This helps reduce uncertainty, support escalations and manual troubleshooting during important meetings.

Choose a deployment model that matches security requirements

A TMS and TMSXE replacement must fit the organization's security model, calendar environment, Cisco infrastructure and meeting platform requirements. Synergy SKY supports several deployment patterns:

What you do not have to replace

Replacing TMS or TMSXE does not necessarily mean replacing the broader Cisco estate. Depending on the architecture, organizations may be able to continue using:

The value of the migration is not just continuity. It is continuity plus modernization: one workflow for scheduling, routing, CMS provisioning, endpoint join and operational control.

Migration planning checklist

Before choosing a replacement architecture, document the workflows TMS and TMSXE support today. A practical assessment should include:

Plan your Cisco TMS and TMSXE replacement with Synergy SKY

The organizations searching for a TMS or TMSXE replacement before 2027 are usually not looking for a generic video tool. They are looking for a way to preserve Cisco investments while modernizing meeting workflows.

With Management Suite and CONNECT, Synergy SKY can help organizations preserve familiar calendar workflows, automate Cisco Meeting Server provisioning, provide one-touch joining on supported devices, connect SIP rooms to major cloud meeting platforms, support cloud, hybrid or customer-controlled deployments and operate important meetings with greater confidence.

If your organization still relies on Cisco TMS or TMSXE, now is the time to assess the current environment, identify which workflows must be preserved and choose the right replacement architecture before support ends in 2027.

Also read: 

• "Synergy SKY is a Cisco Solutions Plus partner"

• "Join any Microsoft Teams meetings on Cisco Webex devices with WebRTC"