Cisco Systems is looking to grow the capabilities of its collaboration offerings--including WebEx and Jabber to address the mobile trends of what company executives agree is the post-PC era.
At the Cisco Collaboration Summit 2011 event in Miami Nov. 16, company officials announced enhancements to WebEx and Jabber to enable users to leverage the new technologies--from the deluge of mobile devices to the growth of cloud-based applications--that are coming into the enterprise. The enhancements are in line with where interest in the business and tech worlds in heading, according to Michael Smith, director of collaboration product marketing at Cisco.
"The innovation is much more in mobile and cloud," Smith told eWEEK, adding that the focus of communications is becoming less about the PC and more about people and their devices.
With WebEx, Cisco is looking to expand its reach beyond just the online meeting itself, and into a technology that touches the entire lifecycle of a meeting--from the preparation leading up to it, to the meeting itself, to follow-up tasks afterward, according to Raj Gossain, vice president of product management for the Collaboration Software Group at Cisco.
Through the enhanced WebEx Meetings spaces, users can collaborate on files and presentations in a real-time fashion from their mobile devices or PCs, see who is available to meet and communicate with them through instant messaging to prepare for a meeting, conduct it and then follow up, according to Cisco. Users also can schedule meetings and share documentation--from agendas to notes to recordings--before, during and after the meeting.
Cisco also is adding support for its own Cius tablet and Apple's iPhone to WebEx (which already supports Apple's iPad). Voice over IP also is now available on the iPhone and iPad. WebEx employees using the Cius or Apple devices also can now more easily connect to meetings that are using Cisco s TelePresence immersive video conferencing technologies by pushing a single button. Further integration will include Jabber and Cisco's Quad enterprise social networking platform, and common APIs will allow for integration of third-party applications such as CRM.
The beta version of the enhanced WebEx offering will begin in December, with general availability scheduled for the first quarter of 2012, according to Cisco.
To read the original eWeek article, click here:
Cisco Readies WebEx, Jabber for 'Post-PC' Era
