Most of us cannot imagine our lives without our smartphones. When it comes to business, it’s no secret that most employees consider their smartphone their alternative to access work resources when away from their laptop or desktop. With this in mind, Cisco extends a number of additional services through HCS including one of the more popular collaboration features, enterprise dial, through something we’ve just added to our HCS portfolio called IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) integration.
Through this network integration of fixed to mobile, service providers offering our HCS portfolio can leverage their own infrastructure to differentiate and drive fixed mobile convergence and thus extend enterprise dial to its customers’ end users.
So what does this all mean?
Mobile Service Providers will now be enabled to deliver business call features onto all mobile devices, without being dependent upon the device being ‘smart’ or ‘client enabled’. These features include, single number reach, seamless call transfer and mid call transfer.
Another valuable benefit from IMS integration is that it facilitates access of multimedia and voice applications from wireless and wireline terminals. For example, this means if you are a smartphone and traditional mobile phone user away on business in China, and someone rings your desk-line, the call will now transcend through the network seamlessly and reach your mobile. Read More »
Last month, a colleague stopped me and said, “Kit, it’s only November. Isn’t it too early to be discussing Mobile World Congress?” My answer, as you might have guessed, was an emphatic “no!”
This will be my 11th Mobile World Congress (MWC) and, for those of us actively engaged in the mobile space, it is the event of the year. It brings over 60,000 members of the mobility community—vendors, service providers, analysts and the media—all under the same roof for four full days to innovate, collaborate and shape the future of the industry.
Sixteen teams in different locations participated in this year’s NBA Development League Draft using Cisco WebEx as their connection to players and coaches to see and be seen! From California to Texas, to Nevada to Maine, everyone was connected either by computer or mobile device to experience the excitement of the draft.
The draft was held on November 3, 2011. It was a two hour event with eight rounds and a total of 128 picks. Participants joined WebEx from their homes, office and a few were at draft parties in restaurants. Those with webcams were able to share their reactions while others could watch from their computer or mobile phones -- even iPads!
In 97 countries around the world, there are now more mobile devices than people. No wonder mobile networks are clogged with massive amounts of new traffic! Mobile operators are struggling with how to provide the mobile broadband experience customers expect, in a cost-effective, scalable, and profitable manner. I believe that Wi-Fi, the “silent sleeper” of wireless access networks, may hold the answer.
The mobile industry is on the brink of a fundamental change. Just think of some recent key developments:
There has been massive growth in Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones, tablets, cameras, and game consoles—and nearly half of network traffic growth is Wi-Fi.
The number of Wi-Fi access points is also exploding, with more and more free public access.
At the same time, economic modeling by Cisco IBSG shows that mobile operators can reduce costs and improve customer experience by offloading mobile data to Wi-Fi networks. Read More »
The Cisco 5900 Series Embedded Services Routers (ESR) are optimized for mobile and embedded networks that require IP routing and services. They can operate reliably in harsh environments, such as those subject to power surges and extreme weather conditions.
These routers are complemented by Cisco IOS Software and Cisco Mobile Ready Net capabilities. With this technology, they provide highly secure data, voice, and video communications to stationary and mobile network nodes across wired and wireless links.
FIPS-140 is a US and Canadian government standard that specifies security requirements for cryptographic modules. A cryptographic module is defined as “the set of hardware, software, and/or firmware that implements approved security functions (including cryptographic algorithms and key generation) and is contained within the cryptographic boundary.” The cryptographic module is what is being validated. The NIST website contains details on the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP).
