Mumbai : Cisco  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. 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.

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 soon extend to mobile users through the Cisco Cius™ tablet and, starting in December, 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, spanning 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 infrastructurer and medianet architecture advancements, can help customers deploy video more pervasively and solve challenges around video delivery, interoperability and quality – all critical areas, as Cisco estimates video communications traffic will increase 10-fold from 2008 to 2013.*

Virtualization Experience Infrastructure

Cisco also today 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.

Named the Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI), 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 today also introduced 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.

According to analyst estimates1, desktop virtualization can reduce per-user PC support costs by 51 percent, an item that accounts for 67 percent of PC-related IT expenses. Virtual desktops also help protect the security of corporate intellectual property by keeping information in a data center rather than on physical devices. End users also benefit by being able to choose their own devices through which to access their virtual desktop. Combining these benefits with the productivity and business agility delivered through rich media and video applications further enhance the value to the end user and the business.