When The Who sang about going mobile, they were talking about taking a vacation with no particular destination in mind, not smartphones. But that song could be an anthem for the times: These days, just about every one of us uses a smartphone or mobile device, whether to check email, update our Facebook and Twitter accounts, and to attend teleconferences. But using your phone to attend to a videoconference? That’s the new trend.
Wait, what, mobile videoconferencing? Yes, thanks to a slew of different devices, videoconferencing on mobile devices is the next big thing—a trend that’s predicted to hit “critical mass” in 2011. Here at Cisco we recognize that mobility is a key trend—and one that unites our Collaboration, Borderless Networks, and video strategies. Essentially, we should be able to connect anytime, from anywhere, to any device.
So what’s influencing the rise in mobile videoconferencing? Here’s the rundown, as well as a list of Cisco solutions that help with videoconferencing, and an example of one the ways that one of our partners is responding to the trend.
Don’t take my word for it…how about from one of your peers?
“It was great! Perfect distillation of the CFO’s view on things put into industry analyst terms” according to one ‘satisfied’ analyst who attended the recent 90-minute session with Frank Calderoni, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Intel Developer Forum (IDF) took place last week in San Francisco—this annual event brings together developers, designers, engineers, and a host of others looking to innovate and discuss challenges, best practices, and solutions. Cisco was a Gold Sponsor this year, hosting a booth with four demo stations.
I got the chance to make the trek to IDF (not a big hike for me, since I live in San Francisco) to take a look at how Cisco got involved this year and to scope out info for partners.
First I met with Jon Markee and Rob Kypriotakis, two of Intel’s Technical Marketing Engineers, who discussed how Intel is working with Cisco and its partners to enable new technologies in networking, such as 10GB Ethernet at a low price point. I also chatted with Scott Ciccone, Cisco’s Product Marketing Manager, who talked about the complexity that virtualization has introduced, and how Cisco’s Unified Computing System addresses challenges in the data center.
In addition, Scott filled me in on Cisco’s announcement of the UCS B230 M1 Blade Server, one of the industry’s highest density systems on the market today. This two-socket, Intel-based server delivers high performance and density in a compact, half-width form factor.
Keep reading to learn about the Cius’ role at IDF as well as an innovative video contest Intel and Cisco ran at the event…
By Steven Shepard, Contributing Columnist
