VoiceCon Orlando 2009

Cisco Takes TelePresence to the Mid-market; Further Merges UC and Web Conferencing

| Apr 3, 2009 | Collaboration and Conferencing | Show Update

| Analyst: Brad Shimmin

Current Perspective: Positive Vendor Importance: High Market Impact: Moderate

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Event Summary

March 30, 2009 - Cisco announced enhancements to the company's Unified Communications system that enable mobile access, improve video collaboration and extend interoperability across applications and devices such as Cisco WebEx Connect, Cisco TelePresence, Microsoft Office Communicator and the Apple iPhone. Cisco also introduced a new suite of Cisco TelePresence products and applications that brings in-person collaboration to more users in more locations, leveraging existing video investments.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Cisco's collection of announcements at VoiceCon, as the vendor has expanded the applicability of its TelePresence family of high definition video conferencing solutions, opening up new market opportunities within the SMB space and within larger firms wishing to affordably tie remote offices into existing TelePresence deployments. Also, a number of interoperability enhancements between the company's unified communications (UC) and Web conferencing solutions strengthen the firm's ability to position itself as a business-oriented solutions provider, not just a data center and communications equipment manufacturer.

• Vendor Importance: High to Cisco, as the firm needed to expand the capabilities of its TelePresence offerings while shrinking their costs and hardware requirements. For example, the Cisco TelePresence System 1300 Series, when used in conjunction with Cisco’s TelePresence Extended Reach solution, can provide 720p resolution over a T1 line. Also, a new video recording and editing interface as well as interoperability with WebEx, helps Cisco on both of these fronts.

• Market Impact: Moderate on the Web and video conferencing markets, as these announcements first and foremost create cross and upsell opportunities for Cisco within its existing customer base. The planned introduction of the TelePresence System 1300 Series this summer, however, will put pressure on TelePresence rivals (most notably Tandberg and Polycom) through an aggressive price point (starting at $89,000). This system, coupled with the company's growing ability to tie its TelePresence and WebEx solutions will also further distance Cisco from its software-centric Web conferencing rivals such as Microsoft, IBM and Citrix in terms of coupling real-time and asynchronous collaboration.

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