Cisco UC Analyst Day: UC & Collaboration

The rest of this week will likely be dominated by news coming out of the Microsoft UC launch and Web 2.0 events so I wanted to collect my notes from a recent analyst event Cisco hosted.

Overall Impression

• Cisco is serious about collaboration and becoming a significant and strategic player in the collaboration market.
• Cisco is focusing on synchronous collaboration and social computing as its point-of-entry into the collaboratipn space (versus trying to establish itself first in more traditional areas associated such as e-mail, calendar/scheduling, discussion forums, etc.).
• Cisco might be underestimating the need for it to have some storyline around content - very little discussion during the session (none that I can actually recall). Convergence of ECM with collaboration parallels the convergence of communications with collaboration.
• WebEx Connect and the WebEx Media Tone Network represent a key platform play that parallels what Microsoft and Google are doing re: SaaS.

Competitive Implications

• IBM gets hits with the loss of a large vendor building on top of Lotus Expeditor. Good news is that plug-ins from Cisco will integrate with Sametime but IBM's hope of establishing a universal UC client (via Lotus Expeditor) remain in the concept stage (see notes below).
• Microsoft needs to plan for the long-term competitive threat of Cisco to Office SharePoint 2007 and its Windows Live Spaces effort. Right now, the Cisco vs. Microsoft battle remains focused on Office Communicator, OCS, Live Meeting, RoundTable and Exchange Unified Messaging but collaboration is the next head-to-head chess match.

For Cisco To Take The Next Step

• Cisco will need to leverage its CXO relationships to bring WebEx into the large enterprise on a greater scale than it is today (although it is the market leader, it is primarily dominant in the SMB market).
• Cisco needs to show different configuration and topology models for WebEx Connect to support a managed solution, pure SaaS, pure on-premises and hybrid models.
• Cisco still needs to define its client strategy as well as its application development framework - the desktop still belongs to Microsoft and IBM - developers for real-time collaborative applications and UC-enabled business processes are not going to view Cisco as a credible solution provider without a rich programming environment.
• Cisco still needs to build out its channel (collaboration is a very different relationship and "sell" than communications software and hardware) as well as a partner ecosystem of independent vendors.
• Note: Zimbra would have been a great acquisition for Cisco. We'll see if Zimbra still gets tapped to play a role somehow...

SESSION NOTES

The Next Phase Of The Internet: UC/Collaboration
Alan Cohen, VP, Enterprise Solutions (Key Points)

• Business in transformation: empowered end users, real-time contextual information, borderless enterprise
• Collaboration is driving business process change: blogging, RSS, social networking, web conferencing, VoIP, podcasting, etc.
• Collaboration demands "open": networks, devices, applications
• Business will consume in different ways: managed solution, traditional on-premises, SaaS; Network key to delivering user experience
• Cisco definition of UC includes: contact center, clients, web conferencing, mobile UC, unified messaging, video/audio conferencing, IP Telephony, call processing (includes aspects of virtualization, importance of presence, policy, etc.

Cisco US Vision: Unified Workspace
Barry O'Sullivan, SVP, Voice Technology Group (Key Points)

• $30B market (Note: Microsoft estimate is higher, around $46B)
• Consolidation across market segments (IM/Web Conferencing, IP Telephony, Video Conferencing, Mobile/Centrex)
• Vision: Human Network, collaborate anytime, anywhere, any device
• Strategy: Network as platform, unify the workspace, transform the business
• Execution: Network-centric solutions, compelling user experience, improve TCO
• Workspace: Devices, applications, networks, operating systems - take your workspace with you - integrate workspace with customers, partners

Architectural Approach To UC
Joe Burton, CTO, Voice Technology Group (Key Points)

• Network-based architecture needed to unify the workspace
• Network as platform
• Collaboration across workgroups, contextually within applications, anywhere, anytime, any device
• Virtualization, network services (presence, location), customization (Web 2.0)
• WebEx key part of architectural vision

Cisco UC Execution
Rick McConnell, VP/GM, UC Business Unit (Key Points)

• Network-centric, User Experience, Improved TCO
• Web services-based framework for UC
• MeetingPlace/WebEx interop (expect on-premises version of WebEx that will eventually supercede the Adobe data conferencing engine)
• Integration with Microsoft and IBM
• Cisco integration with Office Communicator
• Will not build separate client on Lotus Expeditor, instead will deliver plug-ins to Sametime (Note: change from Spring VoiceCon announcement with IBM)

User Experience
Cordell Ratzlaff, Director, User Centered Design

• Much higher focus on user experience, UI
• Emphasis on preserving context across communications (add contact once, appears everywhere, share event history across devices, share preferences across clients, presence is person-centric not device centric, seamless transition across devices and networks, scale applications to fit situation, shared spaces are both synchronous and asynchronous, consistent user experience across platforms)
• Users should be able to use their preferred mode of communication (send does not dictate to receiver what tools to use)

Cisco UC & WebEx: Next Phase Of Business Collaboration
Rick McConnell, VP/GM, UC Business Unit

• Collaboration is a core Cisco initiative
• WebEx is core to Cisco UC strategy
• WebEx integration with UC Manager and MeetingPlace
• WebEx adds value to client and presence strategy
• Synchronous workspace with async capabilities integrated as well
• 3rd party integration
• Common client framework for CUPC and WebEx Connect
• SONA key underpinning