Cisco Unveils Visual Collaboration Solutions in the Post-PC Era
Cisco Unveils Visual Collaboration Solutions in the Post-PC Era by Paul Robinson
Extends Reach of TelePresence with New Mobile-to-Immersive Offerings
Responding to the fact that the business environment is becoming ever more mobile, social, pervasively visual and cloud-based, Cisco announced its TX9000 Series TelePresence systems and new mobile Cisco Jabber collaboration applications at Enterprise Connect on March 27. Cisco sees these offerings as providing necessary tools for organizations to unlock the potential for growth in business agility and competitiveness in their chosen markets. These tools were positioned as responsive to world where the new collaboration workspace moves away from the virtual desktop to the virtual workspace.
Included in the TX9000 Series are two products: the one-row TX9000 system, which seats up to six people and the two-row TX9200 system for up to 18 people.
The following features help users to focus on their meetings, rather than on the technology:
- Three 65-inch screens are positioned to reduce camera intrusion while maintaining eye gaze
- A state-of-the-art, three-camera cluster allows for greater eye contact and a continuous whole-room experience with no field-of-view overlap
- Uniquely designed, one-inch thin light reflector provides integrated lighting with reduced glare; light reflector can be wall-mounted or free-standing
- Integrated microphones provide better frequency pick-up and shielding to block mobile and wireless device interference
- The Cisco TelePresence Touch 12 panel allows users to initiate and manage meetings with “one-button” simplicity
Compared with its predecessors, the TX9000 Series offers:
- A 20% reduction in bandwidth consumption for exceptional video quality
- A 50% increase in the number of speakers and improved speaker placement for three-channel spatial audio
- The systems are capable of supporting 1080p, 60 frames per second (fps); functionality to be delivered in a future software release
The TX9000 series is targeted to begin shipping in the second quarter of calendar year 2012, with the advanced collaboration and content sharing features targeted for availability later in the calendar year. List pricing in the United States starts at $299,000.
Besides the feature richness which should stimulate customer interest, customers will see significant improvements in installation lead times with start up in as little as two days. Nonetheless, there are many new low cost video solutions now available, and Cisco and its partners will have to show the value of expensive telepresence systems compared with these lower cost options.
Jabber is Cisco’s unified UC client application provides the end user one place to go to be able to access a range of communication and collaboration tools including high-definition video, voice, presence, IM (point to point, group, persistent chat) desktop sharing and web conferencing, and visual voicemail access. The enhancement expands Jabber functionality to both Apple iOS and Windows devices, adding to its existing support for Android, Mac, BlackBerry and Cisco Cius tablets. Cisco Jabber releases for Windows and iPad can be used with on-premises and cloud-based deployment options. Cisco Jabber for Windows integrates an engine to deliver H.264 HD quality video to the desktop. Target availability for Jabber for Windows and Jabber for iPad is in the second quarter of calendar year 2012. Cisco Jabber for iPad, Jabber for Windows and related server software are included as part of Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing.
While Cisco has had UC&C products for a few years, most of Cisco’s offerings, such as WebEx Connect, Show and Share and Quad, were non-integrated silos. Based on its Jabber acquisition, Cisco is actively investing and marketing its new Jabber client, which is the confluence of Cisco's Jabber acquisition, Quad social workspace, and WebEx Connect. Cisco’s integrated go-to-market push behind enterprise social collaboration began in 4Q11.
Cisco’s Enterprise Connect announcement shows that it is continuing to put muscle into its strategic push to gain product and thought leadership in enterprise social collaboration by selling pervasive video, extending collaboration to midsized organizations and transitioning sales discussions from the virtual desktop to the new virtual workspace. This is a market that has long been dominated by Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and others (as shown in the leaders quadrants of Gartner Magic Quadrants for Enterprise Content Management and for Social Software for the Workplace).
This is a good thing for its partners, but there is a sense of nervousness out there. Cisco’s collaboration offer, recent emphasis on software through its Cisco Development Network and Cisco Jabber Software Development Kit (SDK), enabling application developers to incorporate Cisco collaboration capabilities into web applications, is a plus for ISVs and SIs, but is getting traditional reseller and VAR partners uncomfortable with their hardware and hardware support-focused business models.
Partners need to be made aware that by focusing on collaboration they are taking part in the investment opportunity of the decade to increase their relevance with customers, and drive significant incremental bookings and pull-through from all areas of their customers’ business. The roadblock in getting there is lies in partner practice building in terms of business model transformation towards emphasizing the services stack and, of course, the cloud – both in terms of technical skills and sales/marketing skills as well as Cisco offering the right financial incentives to support the desire for transformation.
Channel partners also need to closely scrutinize Cisco’s go-to-market model for “goodness of fit. Clearly, a well thought out and executed vendor CRM program can mean the difference between a one-time sale and an enduring relationship between the technology provider, the channel partner and their client with all its cross-sell and up-sell opportunities. In addition, a well thought out Partner Relationship Management (PRM) program will mean faster time to decisions, less bureaucracy, and reduced channel conflict by sorting out partner-led vs. vendor-led sales situations leading to more business opportunity being driven through channel partners. Partners’ goodness of fit measurements also need to consider what they, as partners, can expect in terms of vendor support, commissions and backend rebates with attendant certification and specialization requirements.