There is no gain-saying the fact thattechnology now defines strength or weakness of any economy. And for economies and businesses that wish to keep their relevance in the present and the future the thought line is 'we cannot not innovate.'This was the crux of the Cisco Expo 2011 that held in Sun City, South Africa, last week having in attendance experts and delegates from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and other participants from other parts of the globe.On Wednesday after the expo had kicked off with a welcome address by Mr Reshaad Sha, Director, Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco South Africa, Mr David Meads, MD, South Africa, Cisco, took the participants through the history of one of the foremost IT companies in the world which has gained its current weight through innovation and acquisition.Focusing on the transformation of the company, he said 'it's been definitely an exciting time in technology, not only globally, but also in South Africa, and for Cisco, as we adopt and integrate new technology into our portfolio of offerings and drive into new markets.'He said the company had demonstrated understanding in collaboration and partnership.Mr Meads ran through the history of Cisco's focus, acquisition and transformation, noting that a greater percentage of the acquisitions had resulted in successes that had moved Cisco to its current status. 'It started with routing, went on to switching, then to voice, a natural direction given convergence of voice and data'. He said Cisco moved into video and telepresence about six years ago, an arena in which it had cemented its presence. He said it quickly followed with the strong shift into data centre and unified computing offerings.Adding that Cisco had an eye on the future of technology which he said would involve unprecedented volumes of video and telepresence, Mr Meads stressed that Cisco had innovation strategies in place that would take care of anticipated challenges in the face of the ever-changing role of technology and how businesses and the public buys and uses it.He did not fail to demonstrate the role of Cisco's architecture in its engagements with its customers and partners over the years. It seemed Mr Meads' message to the whole world was the need to address problems that come with the dynamism of technology's alignment with business.The expo was also a time for product launches, announcement of new products coming from Cisco for its market in Africa and other countries in Middle East and the Europe.Today, collaborating directly from web applications or line-of-business applications frequently used in the enterprise, like SAP or Oracle, is challenging for many, if not impossible. Whether mobile or on premises, users find themselves opening multiple collaboration applications just to communicate on their own terms' perhaps via instant message, voice, or video. Cisco said it was solving this problem by advancing a product, Cisco Jabber, initially announced in March, 2011, with a free downloadable Web browser plug in.The Cisco Jabber set of tools will enable companies and developers to take any web browser, whether Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer, and embed Cisco Unified Communications (UC) capabilities like instant messaging, presence, WebEx, voice and HD video within a web application.Den Sullivan, Head, Architectures and Enterprises, Emerging Markets, Cisco, said 'Users at organisations with Cisco Unified Communications Manager can collaborate on any Internet-connected device that runs a browser, including desktops, tablets, smart phones and laptops, thereby enabling collaboration from billions of devices and users. This is especially significant as more employees are opting to bring their own devices to work.'Once deployed, the integrated collaboration capabilities of Cisco Jabber will allow users to quickly and efficiently connect, communicate and collaborate with colleagues without ever leaving the web page. 'For example, users in a public cloud-based application like Gmail or a line of business based application like SAP could check to see if a colleague is available, and if so, determine how best to collaborate, whether it's via instant message (IM), voice or another communication medium with ease and immediacy,' he said.With Cisco WebEx, he said, 'Cisco is also advancing the workspace by changing the meeting experience with the newest release of Cisco WebEx, which redefines the meeting lifecycle: Cisco is giving customers a way to not only share data easily during a meeting, but also before and after, through a persistent meeting space that enables cross company collaboration anytime.' It provides new levels of integration between Cisco WebEx and Cisco's overall collaboration portfolio, including Cisco TelePresence and several Cisco Unified Communications products, extending the power of online meetings while helping customers maximise existing investments.
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