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February 19, 2008

Ideas in Motion In Barcelona and the UC Mobility Industry

Last week, 55,000 attendees and 1,300 vendors converged in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress to debate the future of mobility. In John Chambers' opening keynote, he shared Cisco’s view that “‘mobility’ is no longer about particular devices, technologies or services. It is about using any device to access any content over any network, with IP as the basis for all communication.’” The writing is on the wall - the days of just making telephone calls on cell phones are over.

Cisco and Nokia share this vision, and have been collaborating to deliver richer, more consistent experiences for mobile users in the unified workspace, as well as the connected home, for the past five years.

Building upon the Mobile Business Solution that the two companies announced last year at Mobile World Congress, Cisco has turned Nokia dual-mode mobile handsets into wireless extensions of campus IP desk phones, providing users with the same rich calling experience “on the go” as they are accustomed to enjoying at their desks. What’s even more exciting, though, is that we’ve integrated presence, conferencing and voicemail capabilities with this rich telephony experience to help customers dramatically increase workforce productivity and drive business transformation using the Cisco Mobile Communicator client for Symbian handsets.

Customers are already enabling all of these capabilities -- and more -- through Cisco’s Unified Workspace Licensing program, which includes third party phones like the Nokia E-series. Cisco, too, is reaping the benefits of these unified communications capabilities with our most mobile users, the Cisco sales force, who need and expect their mobile phones to do more than just make phone calls. Their ability to provide unparalleled customer service, drive revenues and stay connected with extended teams depends on it.

What’s next? Well, if you were fortunate enough to attend Mobile World Congress, you saw John Chamber’s demo of a Unified Communications video session, which moved seamlessly from a desk phone to a mobile device, and ultimately to a home TelePresence screen. With the network as a platform to connect different workspaces, and strong partnerships between industry leaders such as Nokia and Cisco, customers won’t have to wait long to realize the full potential of “any device, any content, any network.” Now that’s one mobile Unified Communications idea I can’t wait to see in motion.

Post by Julie O'Brien, manager of solutions marketing for Cisco Unified Communications

Posted by Cisco PR on February 19, 2008 01:08 PM