Cisco upgrades its telepresence and unified communications portfolio

Cisco last month announced a series of upgrades to its unified communications and telepresence portfolios Convergence & VoIP Alert NetworkWorld.com | VoIP & Convergence Research Center | Update Your Profile Sponsored by Citrix 4 Easy Steps to Application Delivery Learn how virtualized application delivery can meet the needs of today's distributed, global and mobile enterprise. Spotlight Story Cisco upgrades its telepresence and unified communications portfolio By Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick Cisco last month announced a series of upgrades to its unified communications and telepresence portfolios. With the unified communications upgrades, Cisco has improved mobile access, video collaboration and extended interoperability across multiple applications and devices from Cisco, Microsoft, and Apple. With its second announcement, the company extends its solution to the mid-market business with Cisco TelePresence from any conference room environment, standards-based video conferencing session or Web-based video session. Read full story Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis. Related News: Joe Schurman: Microsoft Voice and UC: A review of IP PBX systems for the SMB Joe has been testing five of the top names in IP PBXs to see which is the best fit for the smaller user. These include Fonality PBXtra, Digium / Asterisk AA60, TrixBox / Asterisk Virtual PBX, Microsoft Response Point Version 1, Service Pack 2 5 and Nortel BCM 50. Which one gives the most bang for the buck? Joe's got the scoop. Taking a stab at open source IP telephony Cisco Subnet blogger Avner Izhar reveals how AsterikNOW might not save a lot of money, but still pays off by letting you program your own code and modify the existing one. The implications of Skype's free software application for the iPhone and iPod touch This week we'll wrap up our highlights from the recent industry conferences NCTA Cable Show, VoiceCon 2009, and CTIA. Today we'll cover announcements from Sprint's VoIP upgrades benefiting its wholesale cable customers and we'll discuss the implications of Skype's free software application for the iPhone and iPod touch. Acme Packet introduces a 'right-sized' session border controller Today we'll continue with news made in connection with last week's VoiceCon 2009 conference held in Orlando: Acme Packet announced a "right-sized" session border controller (SBC) for the smaller enterprise; ShoreTel released mobile and desktop enhancements; and 8x8 launched a new enterprise version of its hosted IP-PBX. Avaya looks to simplify communications This week we'll continue discussing news from last week's CTIA and VoiceCon conferences. There were announcements from GENBAND on its Converged Gateway upgrades; from Avaya on its new Aura platform (and a related contact center solution); and from Acme Packet about a right-sized SBC for the smaller enterprise. In addition, Shoretel released mobile and desktop enhancements; and 8x8 introduced a new enterprise version of its hosted IP-PBX. Polycom enhances its telepresence support Today, we'll continue with VoiceCon Orlando highlights with announcements from Global IP Solutions and CommuniGate Systems, along with news from Polycom and Microsoft. Global IP Solutions (GIPS) announced that CommuniGate Systems has embedded GIPS VoiceEngine to power voice communications in its Pronto! client unified communications framework. Polycom has enhanced its telepresence support and in a separate announcement, said it has licensed the right to distribute Microsoft's RoundTable. OnRelay enters into a customer trial agreement with BT Global Services OnRelay, a cellular Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) software provider, last week announced they have entered into a customer trial agreement with BT Global Services. April giveaways galore Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet are giving away training courses from Global Knowledge, valued at $2,995 and $3,495, and have copies of three hot books up for grabs: CCVP CIPT2 Quick Reference by Anthony Sequeira, Microsoft Voice Unified Communications by Joe Schurman and Microsoft Office 2007 On Demand by Steve Johnson. Deadline for entries April 30. Network World on Twitter Get our tweets and stay plugged in to networking news. Eye-catching gadgets at CTIA From WiMAX hotspots to $2,000 cell phones, a look at what caught our attention at CTIA Wireless. Are you an IT geezer? Sure, the new generation knows Facebook, Android and Twitter. But what about ISDN, SNA and X.25? Take the quiz! Sponsored by Citrix 4 Easy Steps to Application Delivery Learn how virtualized application delivery can meet the needs of today's distributed, global and mobile enterprise. 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