Cisco Drives Video in the Enterprise With 'Video on All Endpoints'

Company Introduces More Affordable Personal TelePresence Endpoints, New TelePresence Cloud Services Offering, and New WebEx High Quality Video Experience

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 2 Feb. 2011: - Cisco today unveiled a series of product introductions, innovations and service offerings designed to make Cisco TelePresence® and video collaboration more affordable, simpler to manage under a common architecture, and more available through cloud services to its customers in the GCC region. Today's announcements, which also include new immersive experiences, can help customers quickly and cost effectively take advantage of the transition to video across the enterprise. 

Cisco has also announced a comprehensive desktop virtualization system and solutions comprising collaboration, borderless networking and data center technologies from Cisco and an ecosystem of leading virtualization vendors. 

Cisco estimates video communications traffic will increase 10-fold from 2008 to 2013.* As more organizations deploy video pervasively, Cisco announced that all of Cisco's new enterprise collaboration endpoints will be video-enabled. Additionally, Cisco announced that all voice- and video-enabled offerings will interoperate natively with Cisco® Unified Communications Manager.

As companies adopt telepresence and video calling across their organizations, having a single call-control infrastructure for voice and video that runs across a single architecture can help enable simpler deployments, improved manageability and a quicker return on investment. The Cisco Unified Communications Manager call-control and processing system does just that. Already the foundation for Cisco's voice offerings and Cisco TelePresence, Cisco Unified Communications Manager makes initiating video calls a snap with one-button-to-push technology. Endpoints acquired through Tandberg will now connect to Cisco Unified Communications Manager, starting with the Cisco IP Video Phone E20 this quarter.** With this announcement, Cisco is continuing to integrate the road maps of Cisco and Tandberg while executing on a converged strategy.

Cisco made a host of other announcements focused on helping customers and partners deploy and scale video throughout their organizations while also benefiting from exceptional experiences.

• Extending the Reach of Cisco TelePresence: Cisco introduced new endpoints for desktops and offices that extend Cisco TelePresence to a wider range of users as well as to more midrange businesses. These new endpoints, the Cisco TelePresence EX60 and the Cisco TelePresence System 500 32-inch, extend the Cisco TelePresence family of personal units with smaller footprint requirements and lower price points. 

• Redefining the Web Conferencing Experience: With the launch of Cisco WebEx™ Meeting Center with high quality video, meeting participants can see other participants with exceptional clarity in full-screen video mode, turning Web conferencing into a virtual video conferencing room. This experience will extend to mobile users through the Cisco Cius™ tablet  and the Apple iPad.

• Offering More Flexible Deployment Options: Cisco also introduced the Cisco TelePresence Exchange System. This innovative telepresence service creation platform gives service providers a turnkey packaged solution that can help them easily and cost effectively deploy telepresence services such as intercompany calling. These capabilities, hosted in the partner's cloud, can help enable highly secure collaboration and conferencing services across network borders.

• Empowering Channel Partners: Cisco is introducing a video channel initiative that aligns the Cisco and Tandberg partner communities into a single channel program. The TelePresence Video Authorized Technology Provider (ATP) designation has tiered specialization levels: Express, Advanced and Masters. By incorporating the best aspects of Tandberg and Cisco channel programs, the initiative accommodates all levels of video expertise to help drive profitable growth opportunities for channel partners. 

These new services, endpoints and experiences, combined with Cisco's recently announced infrastructure and medianet architecture advancements, can help customers deploy video more pervasively and solve challenges around video delivery, interoperability and quality.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

Cisco Cius:

• Cisco has recently revealed Cisco Cius to its customers in the GCC region, a first-of-its-kind mobile collaboration business tablet that delivers virtual desktop integration with anywhere, anytime access to the full range of Cisco collaboration and communication applications, including HD video.

• Cisco Cius is an ultra-portable device weighing just 1.15lbs (0.52kg) that extends the productivity benefits of Cisco collaboration applications to a highly secure mobile platform. In addition to full telepresence interoperability, Cisco Cius offers HD video streaming and real-time video, multi-party conferencing, email, messaging, browsing, and the ability to produce, edit and share content stored locally or centrally in the cloud.

New Cisco TelePresence Endpoints:

• The Cisco TelePresence EX60 is a desktop system designed for knowledge workers. It has a smaller footprint and a list price that is approximately 30 percent lower than the popular Cisco TelePresence EX90. The smaller size and lower cost can help enable more companies to deploy telepresence at a faster rate throughout their organizations. The Cisco TelePresence EX60 is available this quarter.

• The Cisco TelePresence System 500 32-inch (CTS 500-32) is a pedestal-based endpoint designed for executives with private office environments. The system gives executives a virtual in-person experience common to the popular Cisco TelePresence System 500 37-inch, yet it has a smaller form factor and an approximate 30 percent lower list price. The CTS 500-32 is available this quarter.

Cisco WebEx Meeting Center With High-Quality Video:

• Cisco WebEx Meeting Center with high quality video, available this quarter, offers users a completely new, engaging video experience.

• In addition to seeing speakers in full-screen mode with exceptional clarity, users can share desktops simultaneously and easily connect to Cisco TelePresence meetings via Cisco WebEx One Touch.

• This Cisco WebEx offering also features ActivePresence, which shows all the meeting participants in a strip along the bottom of the screen. The active speaker is shown in full-screen mode while maintaining immersion with the active participants. Through voice activated switching, when another participant begins speaking, that person appears in full-screen mode instead. ActivePresence is also available with Cisco TelePresence endpoints.

Cisco Advancements for Cloud TelePresence Solutions:

• Cisco is introducing a telepresence service creation platform, called the Cisco TelePresence Exchange System. With this flexible solution, service providers can quickly and cost effectively build out and launch their own cloud-based telepresence exchange services for managed and hosted telepresence.

• The Cisco TelePresence Exchange System will enable service providers around the world to offer exchanges in their local areas, helping to expand the availability of hosted and managed telepresence services. 

• Cisco also released a solution that can help solve a significant barrier to intercompany telepresence adoption. The Cisco TelePresence Directory, available now, is a global directory that helps organizations and end users identify who they can call, and provides tips on scheduling intercompany telepresence meetings, while maintaining policy control, privacy and security. 

Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure:

• Virtualization Experience Infrastructure Validated Desktop Virtualization System Incorporates Best-of-Breed Technologies From Cisco, Citrix,  EMC,  NetApp, VMware and Wyse. The system addresses the current state of fragmented solutions which complicate virtual desktop deployments. It also enhances traditional desktop virtualization for rich media and video. Cisco VXI helps enterprises overcome the principal barriers preventing them from attaining the financial, data security and workforce flexibility benefits offered by desktop virtualization without compromising the user experience or the ability to integrate rich media and video collaboration capabilities. Cisco VXI also reduces the total cost of ownership of desktop virtualization solutions by significantly increasing the number of virtual desktops that can be hosted on each server.

• Cisco is also introducing two zero client devices designed to allow users to enjoy all the benefits of desktop virtualization without sacrificing the rich-media collaboration experience inherent with high-powered PCs.

• Cisco further announced that the Cisco Cius™ business tablet will be enabled to participate in virtualized desktop environments at launch via the introduction of newly designed client applications from Citrix, VMware and Wyse.

Quotes:

Wael Abdulal, collaboration manager, Cisco UAE:

"We are in the midst of a market transition to the pervasive adoption of video. Video is quickly becoming as important to the enterprise as e-business was 15 years ago. Whether it's with Cisco TelePresence, Cisco WebEx or Cisco Unified Communications, we are making investments across our medianet video architecture to make it more accessible and easier to scale, delivering the best user experience possible. Our goal is to put people back in the center of collaboration."

Additional Resources:

• Visit the Cisco Collaboration Virtual Launch Experience at www.cisco.com/go/newexperience to learn about these product announcements.   Also, hear from information technology leaders as they share their collaboration initiatives and access collaboration resources. 

• Read about the newly available Cisco Video Experience Services. These services can help customers realize the full value of their video and collaboration investments.

• For more information about Cisco's collaboration news and activities, visit the Collaboration Blog or follow us via Twitter @TelePresence or @CiscoCollab.

Technorati Tags: Cisco, video, telepresence, WebEx, high quality video, Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco TelePresence Exchange System, IP phones, ActivePresence

-Ends-

About Cisco Collaboration
From award-winning IP communications to mobility, customer care, Web conferencing, messaging, enterprise social software, and interoperable telepresence experiences, Cisco brings together integrated network-based collaboration solutions based on open standards. These solutions, as well as services from Cisco and our partners, are designed to help promote business growth, innovation, and productivity. They also designed to help accelerate team performance, protect investments, and simplify the process of finding the right people and information.

About Cisco Systems
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Press Contacts:
Jumana Akkawi
Cisco
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jakkawi@cisco.com

Analyst Contact:
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Cisco
+1 949 823 3787
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Investor Relations Contact:
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Cisco
 +1 408-526-6651
johnchoi@cisco.com

*Source: Cisco Visual Networking Index--Forecast, 2008-2013

** Cisco Q2: October-January

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco TelePresence, Cisco WebEx, Cius, Flip Video and WebEx are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Adobe and Flash are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

© Press Release 2011