Networking company Cisco Systems launched CallManager 4.0 in London this week, introducing a range of enhancements to its converged IP communications platform, including video telephony and security.
CallManager 4.0, the latest iteration in the IP-based PBX (2.5 million units shipped), features what Cisco terms a desktop productivity solution called Cisco Video telephony Advantage (VTA), release 1.0.
"Just as you would make an ordinary telephone call, AVT is added seamlessly when you make a call between two video telephony-enabled phones," said Mark de Simeone, Cisco VP, market development, channels and alliances, in a one-on-one interview with ITWeb.
This means a "broadcast-quality" video image automatically appears on the desktop monitor when simply making a phone call. When the receiving phone is not able to add video to the mix, it remains a normal audio call. Cisco has a variety of "end-points", some of them "soft" phones ($190 per seat list price) that emulate its high-end "hard" phones (up to $797 for a colour phone).
This "cost-effective" solution (calls are free of charge on a corporate network - the solution`s only application in SA) overcomes the cost and complexity of broadcast network-based video telephony of the past, and also provides the familiar conferencing, hold and transfer functionalities of Cisco and other IP phones.
Why you need it
Cisco cites mobile phone network Orange as a case study. "Putting a face to certain core business comms improves decision-making," said Parick Raimond, Orange Caribbean CIO, in a statement. "It`s easy to use, runs on existing desktop tools and is relatively low in bandwidth consumption. The image is as clear as seeing someone in person, so it cuts travel costs significantly."
Cisco CallManager, in conjunction with VTA, works on desktops associated with an IP phone and USB camera to deliver the kind of rich media comms that Cisco says delivers productivity gains and a competitive-edge today. The system can also integrate with a Tandberg display, as well as traditional H.323 end-points, allowing customers to keep existing investments. Other products such as Cisco CMX allow, for instance, an 802.11-enabled Palm to become an IP phone.
Darren Pryke, EMEA product manager for Cisco IP comms, says all calls are encrypted, and digital certificates identify phones, to ensure rogue phones don`t listen in to conversations. Cisco`s Security Agent provides additional intrusion prevention, authentication, firewall and malicious mobile code protection.
Growth forecast
A bullish Kaan Terzogliu, MD of Advanced Technology, Cisco EMEA, says if companies improve productivity by 1% per year, they will double growth in 72 years. "If they increase it by 5%, it only takes 14 years to do the same. That is the race for the competitive-edge that Cisco talks about when it says it creates the products that ensure productivity gains for its customers."
He says companies not only need this rich media link to their customers, but also in-house, to increase their own productivity. Cisco refers to IP-linked companies which engage in application-rich communication with one another as "networked virtual organisations".
"The ability to outsource effectively depends on communications. Shared IP-networked comms is the value fabric that is the driver for future business and operational models."
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