Reimagining coworking spaces for the hybrid work era.

Even as more and more people head back to the office and in-person work, most companies recognize that hybrid work and the need to connect remotely is here to stay. But how do you make the remote experience as meaningful and productive as the in-person experience?

Perhaps nobody has taken a deeper look at this question than Rebel.

Rebel is located in Oslo, Norway, and is all about connectedness, collaboration, and the meeting experience. Rebel has taken meetings, on-site or remote, to whole new levels, providing startups and others in the tech community with cutting-edge spaces for gatherings of all sizes. Customers can select from a variety of venues—from a casual nook to an auditorium.

“Rebel is built around what kind of spaces people need to collaborate, to share knowledge, to drive innovation. We want users to be comfortable to continue the discussion into the evening, after hours, even on the weekends,” explains Rebel CEO Peter Jetzel.

Rebel’s conference rooms offer not only different sizes, but also different moods or experiences. For example, one room is called “Emmett,” after Doc Brown from the movie Back to the Future. Another is themed after actress Hedy Lamarr, who also worked with the U.S. military during WWII.

“Every room here is unique. I know how important your surroundings are in order to communicate what you need to communicate. So we tried to make very different rooms. Very different surroundings,” says Rebel co-founder Bjorn Tumyr.

Rebel built a facility that definitely scores high on the “wow factor” scale. But as we all know, we can’t judge a book solely by its cover—and Rebel doesn’t disappoint. In addition to looking great, every room leverages the latest Webex tech to provide an amazing remote meeting experience.

“We designed the building around the concept of hybrid work—even before the pandemic. The pandemic only accelerated our thoughts around what we needed to do, and how we wanted to partner with Cisco and Webex to bring it all to life,” says Jetzel. “We constantly tweaked things so that no matter where you have a meeting, you have the technology to let you connect and share your ideas.”

And the technology had to be functional, yet intuitive to use. “When our users come here, it’s important that they don’t have to think about the technology. They just get into a room and just do their thing. They get in there and just get the job done. And we needed the technology that could do that,” Tumyr explains.

Given the stunning surroundings that Rebel has created for on-site collaboration, the team needed to find a remote collaboration platform that could offer equally amazing virtual collaboration experiences. Rebel selected Webex, and it has been a perfect fit.

“We talk about leaving no one behind. We need to accommodate people who cannot travel, or who do not want to travel, for whatever reason,” says Jetzel. “The goal is to make the experience for those who are remote, as good or even better than being in person.”

Rebel needed the right tech to ensure everyone has a great meeting experience no matter where they’re joining from and what meeting platform they're using. Cisco devices offered the ideal solution. Built on an open platform, the Webex video conferencing equipment allows Rebel users to easily join any meeting such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet. Meeting participants can still enjoy features available directly from Cisco devices  such as best overview, noise cancellation, virtual backgrounds, and Webex Assistant—regardless of the meeting platform being used. This is critical in an environment like Rebel that serves a diverse range of clients, who themselves are collaborating with people around the world.With their robust interoperability, Cisco devices offer everyone a streamlined, sophisticated meeting experience and help make coworking more inclusive and interactive.

In addition to their interoperability, Cisco devices provide a myriad of other benefits to help make time spent in the Rebel building as frictionless and productive as possible. Rebel has outfitted its meeting spaces with an array of Webex video conferencing equipment and other collaboration devices. Rebel deployed Cisco Room Kits, from integrated, codec-powered video bars, including the Cisco Room Kit Mini, in their huddle spaces  and medium conference rooms, to modular, reference design collaboration kits connected to external displays in its larger spaces and training rooms.

In large rooms they leverage Room Kit Plus and Room Kit Pro, combined with intelligent pan-tilt-zoom cameras in certain spaces to provide higher AV performance, sophisticated presenter tracking capability, and flexible camera placement to support hybrid trainings, workshops, and conferences. These solutions replicate traditional in-person meeting experiences. Everyone can be seen and heard even at the farthest edges of the room.

“We rigged the meeting rooms with Cisco Room Kits—and we got extremely good feedback on how these devices help include people from different countries and with different languages. We want to expand on that,” Jetzel says.

The Cisco Room Navigator touch panel has also proven to be of great value, enabling seamless meeting and room controls, such as joining a meeting with a single tap, changing video layouts, and even room booking.

Additionally, Rebel has deployed Cisco Board Series endpoints to equip their ideation spaces with interactive, digital whiteboards that not only support ad-hoc, local brainstorming and design workshops but also enable hybrid video meetings and connected workflows. With the Cisco Boards, dispersed team members can exchange ideas and co-create on a shared canvas.

And when it comes to augmented desktop collaboration and hot desking, Rebel leaves no one behind. Using all-in-one collaboration devices from the Cisco Desk Series, such as the Desk Pro, anyone visiting Rebel's co-working spaces  can amplify their experience with a first-class desk device that includes a touch screen, a camera, speakers, and microphones. Instead of hunching over their tiny laptop screens, Rebel visitors can leverage the Desk Pros as a second screen, turning standard laptop workflows into more immersive and inclusive collaboration.

With more than 120 startups and tech communities using its facility, Rebel has a diverse group of people coworking. Rebel has created a unique and dynamic environment, but in the true Rebel spirit the team's work is not complete.

“Technology continually changes and we need to adapt, and Webex is the right partner to grow with,” says Tumyr. “We have a long way to go, but we want to make hybrid events as good as a physical meeting. That will demand a lot from the organizers as well as from the technology, but the future is exciting.”