Technical Details

An Architecture that Spans from the Network Core to the Workspace

Cisco Unified Communications Solutions provide multiple points of entry for organizations that wish to take advantage of media-rich unified communications functionality. Each aspect of the total unified communications architecture provides opportunities for enhancing links within the enterprise community. Functionality includes IP telephony, unified client software, presence, instant messaging for business, unified messaging, rich-media conferencing, mobility solutions, and application development.

IP Telephony: At the foundation of the Cisco Unified Communications Solution is its proven, industry-leading call processing system, Cisco Unified Communications Manager. This highly available, enterprise-class system delivers call processing, video, mobility, and presence services to IP phones, media processing devices, VoIP gateways, mobile devices, and multimedia applications. The system can scale to one million users across 1000 sites or more, or 60,000 users within a single clustered system. Built-in redundancy keeps service reliable. Cisco also offers several unified communications platforms for small businesses. All of these standards-based systems work with an array of third-party phones and dual-mode devices. The systems also provide integration with existing desktop applications such as calendar solutions, e-mail, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and customer relationship management (CRM) software. Cisco unified communications capabilities can also be extended to a variety of mobile phones, including those that run Symbian, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile operating systems.

Unified Client Software: Cisco offers several rich-media client applications that improve user productivity and simplify business processes. Available on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS environments as well as mobile operating systems, these clients support a range of applications, including voice, presence/messaging, unified messaging, video, and conferencing. Communications functionality has also been unified with applications from industry partners. For example, call control and presence can be launched and managed from within Microsoft Outlook through a Cisco Unified Personal Communicator widget or toolbar.

Presence and Instant Messaging: Cisco presence solutions based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or (SIMPLE) provide SIP presence and proxy services to deliver IM and click-to-call features. Through the presentation of dynamic presence information, presence solutions allow users to check the availability of colleagues in real time, reducing "phone tag" and improving productivity. Cisco presence and instant messaging solutions work in conjunction with Cisco Unified Communications Manager and support Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, Cisco IP phones, Cisco IP Phone Messenger, IBM Sametime clients, and Microsoft clients.

Unified Messaging: Cisco unified messaging solutions easily integrate with existing environments and provide flexible deployment options to meet each organization's individual needs. The broad range of easy-to-manage solutions includes products tailored for small, medium-sized, and very large organizations, with feature-rich functionality aligned intelligently with business requirements.

Rich-Media Conferencing: Cisco conferencing solutions help remote workers and teams communicate more effectively to save time and reduce costs. Integrated voice, video, and Web conferences can be set up and attended in a single step from IP phones, instant messaging clients, Web browsers, and Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes calendars.

Mobility Solutions: Cisco Unified Communications extends rich call control and collaboration services to facilitate easy collaboration among mobile workers on campus or on the move. By anchoring business communications in the network, Cisco Mobile Unified Communications solutions connect different mobile worker types and workspaces, provide a consistent collaboration experience regardless of location, maintain business continuity and compliance, and take advantage of least-cost routing of mobile communications over the corporate network. Cisco Mobile Unified Communications solutions support a wide range of popular handheld platforms, enabling workers to communicate quickly and easily using their familiar mobile equipment.

Application Development: Many organizations operate in business-unique environments or industrial markets that require specialized applications. To meet these needs, Cisco provides a versatile service creation platform, enabling customers and partners to rapidly and easily develop and deliver innovative media-rich and Web-rich applications. The platform also allows organizations to easily blend unified communications capabilities with existing business process systems.

Summary

Virtually any organization, regardless of size or current communications infrastructure, can quickly begin using unified communications to simplify business operations and increase profitability. Software-only approaches and hardware augmentation schemes may provide short-term economic benefits. However, the long-term view favors establishing an efficient migration path to a network-centric architecture, which can also be delivered as pure software, with the power and intelligence to support sophisticated unified communications capabilities. As a complete network-centric unified communications solution which spans from network core to the workspace, the Cisco Unified Communications Solution provides a standards-based environment that is open, inclusive, extensible, and optimized for a Cisco network. The solution offers strategic business advantages and financial value, along with superior technological stability and power. The Cisco Unified Communications Solution can enhance business communications at any level, and to any extent desired, with versatile options for tailoring a unified communications architecture to suit each organization's specific business needs.