Cisco Systems has launched seven new Internet Protocol (IP)
telephony products for businesses, based around its Architecture
for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID) network
infrastructure.
As part of its aim to create a global voice-over IP (VoIP) network,
Cisco announced three software products aimed at increasing
personal productivity. The company also announced new call centre
software, call processing software and a new hardware switch that
can serve up to 24 IP-based phones.
The products expand on a VoIP portfolio that Cisco has been
building for the past four and a half years, said Elizabeth Ussher,
vice president of global network strategies at IT research firm
Meta Group. "We're now starting to see the smoothing out of places
that needed it," she added.
VoIP will get a big push when a significant number of early
adopters start to report back on their experiences with it, she
said. "People will start to look more closely at VoIP as the news
flashes come in," Ussher said. "The credibility comes when the
deployments are in and the return on investment is solid."
One deployment underway is Dow Chemicals, which is installing
40,000 IP-based phones. Cisco, meanwhile, expects to become "fully
IP-enabled" over the next three to four months, increasing the
number of IP phones it uses to almost 40,000 from 25,000 today,
said Bill Erdman, director of marketing for Cisco's Enterprise
Voice and Video division.
Cisco is working on a business case to present to companies who are
thinking about switching to IP-based telephony which focuses on the
technology's cost-saving benefits, he said.
The Cisco Personal Assistant, an IP-based telephony application,
interoperates with Cisco CallManager and Microsoft's Exchange to
allow users to sort through voice mail verbally and dial by name.
The software has a browser-based interface and allows users to set
up rules of call forwarding and screening calls, as well as setting
up conference calls without dialling. Cisco Personal Assistant
retails for US$4,995 (£3,500) and includes the Cisco IP Phone
Productivity Services Suite, Cisco said in a statement.
The company also launched Cisco Unity 2.46 unified messaging. The
software includes worldwide time zone and language support, as well
as localisation capabilities. The unified messaging application
works with both legacy-circuit and packet-based switches. It can
manage e-mail, voice mail and faxes through a single inbox from any
device, including IP phones, cellular phones and PCs. Unity is
interoperable with Cisco Personal Assistant and Cisco CallManager
3.1. Pricing starts at $145 per seat, the company said.
The final personal productivity application announced Monday is the
Cisco IP Phone Productivity Services (PPS) suite. The suite of
applications based on XML can effectively turn the Cisco 7960 and
7940 IP phones into Internet thin-client devices that can provide
access to corporate and Internet Web servers. The phones can then
also be used for functions like e-mail, voice mail, calendar, and
stock quotes. A development suite called the E-Service Application
Engine lets developers create applications aimed at specific
business needs. The application suite will be available in the
third quarter of this year.
For customer service in small call centres within an enterprise,
Cisco launched the IP Integrated Contact Distribution (IP-ICD). The
application includes automated call distribution and custom contact
interaction management for up to 48 agents. IP-ICD works with Cisco
IP Interactive Voice Response and IP Automated Attendant
applications. The IP-ICD is available immediately for $4,995.
Cisco also launched an updated version of CallManager, its
software-based call processing system. CallManager 3.1 adds 15 new
features, including hold music and extension mobility, which allows
an employee's phone extension to be transferred to any of Cisco's
7960 or 7940 IP phones. CallManager 3.1 is available immediately
for $5,995.
The software for making phone extensions portable is the most
compelling application launched today, Erdman said. This will make
it easier to transfer extensions and allow users to make use of any
cubicle that happens to be free, she said. The service works
anywhere so long as the user has access to an IP connection, making
it ideal for branch offices, Erdman said.
Cisco also introduced its Survivable Remote Site (SRS) Telephony
application on Monday. SRS ensures against wide area network (WAN)
failure by auto-configuring Cisco multiservice routers to provide
call-processing backup for IP phones in branch offices. When the
WAN comes back online, the system automatically shifts
call-processing functions back to the centrally located
CallManager. SRS Telephony is available now on the Cisco 2600 and
3600 series routers and the Catalyst 4224 Voice Gateway
Switch.
On the hardware side, Cisco launched the Catalyst 4224 Voice
Gateway Switch platform, an integrated Ethernet switching, IP
routing and voice gateway device targeted at small branch offices
with up to 24 users, Cisco said in a statement. The Catalyst 4224
can be used with Cisco SRS Telephony to provide backup services in
the event of a WAN failure. The Catalyst 4224 retails for
$12,995.
Douglas Gray
Visit Cisco at
http://www.cisco.com/ .