Feature Story

September 24, 2003

By Stacy Williams, News@Cisco

From applications that audibly notify visually impaired users of calling party ID to time and attendance solutions appropriate to many lines of business, the depth and breadth of converged applications for Cisco IP Phones has reached critical mass, thanks to the expertise of Cisco partners within specific industry segments and application areas.

The innovation of Cisco partners shone through at the Cisco Innovation Through Convergence (ITC) Expo 2003. "Each year at ITC Expo, it becomes increasingly clear that Cisco partners really understand their respective markets," says Richard McLeod, Cisco director of IP communication, worldwide channels. "This insight helps Cisco bring valuable applications to market and maintain our leadership position in converged IP communications."

Converged IP solutions are garnering increased awareness and demand, largely because organizations of all kinds are realizing exceptional value. For example, one of the first companies to use ExtendTime from Vytek in San Diego, Calif., a time and attendance solution that leverages Cisco IP phones instead of traditional time clocks, enjoyed a 450 percent annual return-on-investment, according to Richard Accordino, director of IP telephony sales for Vytek. Momentum for IP communications has been building for several years as the maturing technology replaces traditional PBX (private branch exchange) office phone systems. The growing depth of breadth of solutions developed by Cisco partners is helping to both meet and fuel demand as the market matures.

This year's show also saw overwhelming enthusiasm for the flexible XML interface and new color LED touch screen display of the Cisco IP Phone 7970G, which enable developers to enhance the value and functionality of their applications. McLeod believes that the new Cisco color phone will be to XML (Extensible Markup Language) what Microsoft Windows and color monitors were to PCs. He says that with the addition of color displays for Cisco IP phones, developers will create converged IP communications applications that are more inviting, compelling and pervasive.

Developers at the show welcomed the availability of the Cisco IP Phone 7976G. Tempe, Arizona-based software developer Calence has developed more than 50 converged IP applications to date. "The new color-display IP phone from Cisco opens a world of opportunity for us," says Rob Pinkham, Calence executive vice president of sales and marketing. "We can add more value by custom-designing applications for individual customers. It's going to be a huge selling feature."

This year, 70 Cisco Systems partners demonstrated integrated voice and data software applications for Cisco IP Phones. Many of the independent software companies exhibiting at the show entered their XML-based, IP Phone service applications into the IP Phone Services competition-one of the show's major highlights. The Cisco IP Telephony Users Group judged each of the convergence applications and granted awards in several categories.

Among the most striking trends at this year's show was the broad array of IP telephony frameworks, development environments and prepackaged application suites for accelerating development of XML-based applications for many of the more than 2 million Cisco IP phones deployed worldwide. Companies such as Metreos Communications, Aptigen, Net6 and Norstan Communications showcased development platforms or application suites capable of simplifying development and deployment of converged communications solutions for Cisco IP phones.

For anyone attending ITC Expo 2003, it became clear that Cisco has forged a leadership position in converged IP communications. Cisco has worked hard to simplify the process of helping developers use XML to transform Cisco IP phones into multimedia information kiosks and business productivity tools.

Enabling customers to take advantage of applications immediately, without any development work whatsoever, was the mantra of Net6 Inc based in San Jose, Calif. Net6's suite of pre-packaged applications - including Visual Voice Mail, Quick Complete Directory, and Alerts - complemented the point-and-click development environment that Net6 previously introduced. Gordon Payne, chief marketing officer for Net6, says the flexibility and advanced capabilities of Cisco IP phones offer the opportunity for developers to use text, graphics, audio, alerts and now color to deliver a rich user experience.

The bottom line from this year's ITC Expo is that applications for Cisco IP phones are faster and easier to deploy, and they can deliver more value to end customers than ever before. The upshot is escalating momentum for Cisco and its partners in the exciting arena of converged IP communications.

The ITC Phone Services winners include:

Stacy Williams is a freelance journalist based in Dutch John, UT.