News Release

Cisco Strengthens Business Collaboration by Extending Enhanced Software-as-a-Service Applications to the Enterprise Network

Cisco launches the Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud to integrate SaaS applications and enterprise network infrastructure
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Apr 21, 2009

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Collaborate with Confidence

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 21, 2009 - Cisco today unveiled a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) architecture and enhancements to its SaaS-based Cisco WebExTM collaborative applications. Cisco is now extending the cloud into the enterprise network infrastructure through the highly secure and scalable Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud and the Cisco® ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers.

Highlights / Key Facts:

  • To reinforce its pursuit of a global collaboration market opportunity estimated at $34 billion and to broaden its stature in the security market, Cisco today announced that it is leading the way toward an "everything as a service" vision and has extended Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to the enterprise. Cisco's rich collaboration and security capabilities, both in the cloud and on the enterprise network, give customers the flexibility to extend on-demand into the on-premises network, and utilize the network as the platform for highly secure collaboration.

  • Cisco today also introduced the Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud for SaaS. The Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud is a purpose-built network designed to deliver high-quality, highly secure, and reliable collaborative experiences within and between companies. It utilizes intelligent routing based on location, bandwidth and availability to provide global load balancing, and seamless global backup for data, audio and video for collaborative applications including conferencing, instant messaging and team spaces. Using eight Cisco-powered global datacenters, and offering greater than 99.99 percent uptime with a multilayered security model, the Collaboration Cloud hosts more than 200,000 WebEx® meetings every day, including CiscoWebEx Connect collaboration sessions.

  • New releases of Cisco WebEx SaaS meeting applications were announced today. Upgrades to Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, Cisco WebEx Training Center, Cisco WebEx Event Center and Cisco WebEx Support Center, are delivered through the Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud. The applications support new features for e-training, virtual events, and remote support as well as an enhanced user experience, expanded device support and expanded global reach.

  • The new Cisco WebEx Node for ASR 1000 Series, based on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series aggregation services routing platforms, was also announced today as one of Cisco's latest network innovations. The WebEx Node for ASR 1000 allows the edge router to act as a point of presence (PoP) within an enterprise network for meeting attendees on that network. This reduces bandwidth requirements, enhances video and voice over IP (VoIP) performance, while utilizing the global load balancing and availability features of the WebEx Collaboration Cloud to help ensure optimal performance for customers within the enterprise network.

  • Cisco also announced today five new additions to its comprehensive security portfolio that bolster the fundamental components of a network security infrastructure, and it introduced cloud-based security-as-a-service to help enable businesses to collaborate with greater confidence as their employees become increasingly mobile and interactive.

Links / URLs:

Much of the basis for today's announcement will be spotlighted tomorrow when Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers delivers a keynote at the RSA Conference entitled "Collaborate with Confidence," which expands on these security trends and describes his perspective on the heightened importance of network security in a collaborative world. To attend a live webcast of the keynote visit: http://www.cisco.com/offer/rsakeynote.

Quotes:

  • "As an international architecture firm, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) must rely on reliable technologies that provide a global reach for the successful design and construction of our building projects," said James Brogan, senior associate principal, firmwide technology director, KPF. "Collaboration with geographically disparate project teams is an integral aspect of our design projects. Using the hosted Cisco WebEx web collaboration and voice conferencing services, our teams share project data, review in-progress presentations, and monitor construction progress. These shared activities are fundamental to our success. As a SaaS hosted solution, WebEx provides consistent access for our global project teams, with strong, stable performance and a set of tools that work well with the workflow of our working sessions - sharing data, markup tools, applications sharing, and recording of collaborative sessions for review in the future."

  • "WebEx has enabled Spencer Fane to expand the number of client-facing opportunities at a time when other firms are cutting back on client outreach to control costs," said Jennifer Collett, director, Spencer Fane Britt and Browne. "Because of the short lead time required to schedule and execute an event, the firm has been able to respond quickly to emerging issues that are tied to the economy and to administrative change in Washington. This has allowed SFBB to capitalize on opportunities that were lost in the past. We have confidence that WebEx will handle all of the back-end details from payment processing to actual event execution so that our attorneys can concentrate on delivering of top-quality content that will directly benefit our clients."

  • "The current economic climate demands clear project priorities, cost-consciousness and the ability to be flexible as requirements change. The Cisco ASR 1000 Series enables us to meet our objectives by providing our bicoastal operations with highly secure, high-speed connectivity," said Eric Hicks, director of information technology at Burnham Institute for Medical Research. "We are constantly looking for cutting-edge technologies that provide quicker ROI, such as the WebEx Node for ASR 1000. It speeds our discovery research so that we can help devise the therapies of tomorrow faster."

  • "Adoption of SaaS and cloud services represent a growing share of finite and expensive WAN bandwidth," said Abner Germanow, director of enterprise communications infrastructure research at IDC. "Until recently, SaaS and cloud services were delivered on a best effort basis that will not be good enough to meet the business criticality, performance, and video service demands facing future waves of SaaS and cloud service maturity."

Tags / Keywords:

Cisco, collaboration, security, WebEx, Cisco WebEx, SaaS, software as a service, ASR 1000, Advanced Services Router, enterprise, on-demand, secure collaboration, online meetings, training, support, customer support, online events, applications, cloud, hosted, on premise, on premises

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