Cisco Collaboration Doubles Down on Software and the Cloud, Making Video Collaboration More Cost-Effective While Ushering in New Era of B2B Video Software advancements enable customers to reach up to 70 percent greater efficiencies from their existing collaboration infrastructure Advancing B2B communications with WebEx and TelePresence
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 19, 2013 Cisco today announced innovations that combine the power of software with the intelligence of the network to drive video collaboration in the enterprise. The software innovations give customers new ways to manage and cost-effectively scale video and increase business-to-business (B2B) communications.
ANNOUNCEMENT HIGHLIGHTS
Breakthrough software advancements help make collaboration more cost-effective: Cisco is introducing software that recognizes the type and amount of resources (i.e., ports, bandwidth, infrastructure) needed to support a meeting based on the endpoints used, and adjusts automatically. This can help customers get up to 70 percent greater usage of their existing collaboration infrastructure and help scale video in a more cost- effective manner, without impacting the user experience.
Cisco TelePresence and Cisco WebEx developments advance B2B collaboration for millions: Cisco is using software to integrate two market-leading platforms in a way that was previously not possible, providing many users with immediate differences in how they can collaborate. On-premises customers can now extend a meeting invitation to any user outside their organization, to participate in TelePresence and WebEx meetings via their browser. This new capability extends the reach of TelePresence meetings to external users through a single WebEx link, providing new options for B2B communications in the enterprise. Additionally, through a single interface users can now schedule a combined TelePresence and WebEx meeting and share video and content to any device, including third party video endpoints, mobile phones and tablets.
Transparency into all video traffic on the network: Cisco is now giving IT managers exceptional transparency into video traffic on the network through new medianet advancements. Cisco TelePresence endpoints and Cisco Jabber clients[i] are now shipping with medianet software embedded. As part of the Cisco medianet architecture, this software automatically synchs endpoints with the network. Additionally, new medianet features enable the network to monitor video traffic from all endpoints, find potential bandwidth or quality issues, and make adjustments to ensure critical video meetings go off without a hitch.
Expanding cloud video-as-a-service options for partners: Many of Ciscos infrastructure advancements can be utilized by cloud collaboration partners to enhance service offerings. For instance, these partners can now deliver different consumption models that enable users to hold highly secure high quality video meetings without reservations by simply dialing a number and entering an access code. Users can join from a variety of networks and endpoints, from Jabber desktop video clients to standalone telepresence endpoints and immersive room systems.
This announcement comes as IT managers and network operators are looking for the most efficient ways to deploy video on their networks. In fact, according to Ciscos most recent Visual Networking Index, enterprise desktop videoconferencing globally is expected to grow from 36.4 million users in 2011 to 218.9 million users by 2016. These new software innovations from Cisco give organizations the tools needed to easily and cost-effectively scale video across their networks, while delivering a unified collaboration experience for users from any device and any collaboration application, from Jabber to WebEx to TelePresence.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Breakthrough software advancements help make collaboration more cost-effective:
Increasing network intelligence for optimal collaboration: New software, embedded into Ciscos collaboration infrastructure, including Cisco TelePresence Server and TelePresence Conductor, allows the network to customize how it delivers valuable conferencing resources such as network bandwidth, infrastructure, and video and audio ports for each meeting.
The network can set aside the precise amount of resources to support both high-definition video to an immersive TelePresence endpoint and standard-definition video to a fixed or mobile endpoint.
These new capabilities can be extended not only to Ciscos endpoints but also to any standards-compliant video endpoint, from hardware endpoints to software clients, to provide interoperability and increase the value of current and future video investments.
These software advancements, which are globally available today, enable customers to use their existing collaboration infrastructure more efficiently, without impacting the user experience.
TelePresence and WebEx developments advance B2B collaboration for millions:
New software innovations are creating a new unified conferencing experience between TelePresence and WebEx that gives users more capabilities and control.
Video Sharing: In a combined WebEx and TelePresence conference, users will now be able to see video from everyone in the meeting, whether they are joining from a TelePresence endpoint or another standards-based video endpoint, or a WebEx client on a PC or mobile device.
Content Sharing: Sharing content is a snap. Any user can easily share content from a PC or TelePresence endpoint. The software automatically delivers that data to all meeting participants, whether they are on TelePresence or WebEx on laptops or other mobile clients.
Scheduling: New features enable users to easily schedule a combined meeting through calendaring tools such as Microsoft Outlook or a browser-based application. T
