Cisco to stop investment in business tablet device Cius | WPN World People News

Networking equipment giant Cisco Systems plans to stop production of its business tablet device Cius, two years after its roll out, and instead focus more on software efforts.

In recent blog post the company said it will no longer invest in the Cius device, which was meant to rival Apple's iPad. The device came loaded with Cisco software, including WebEx and was built to work with Cisco TelePresence.

The Cius was first announced in 2010 and released in April 2011. However, it was only ever available to select customers. Android-based Cius tablet has become a victim of the rapidly growing bring-your-own-device, or BYOD, trend in the enterprise.

In a Cisco's collaboration blog, O.J. Winge, senior vice president of Cisco's TelePresence Technology Group, talked about the BYOD trend that is permeating the enterprise and how it is fundamentally changing how people collaborate.

"[W]e are facing a workplace that is no longer a physical place, but a blend of virtual and physical environments; where employees are bringing their preferences to work and BYOD is the new norm; where collaboration has to happen beyond a walled garden; and any-to-any connectivity is a requirement, not a 'nice to have,'" Winge wrote on May 24.

The sentiment is backed up in Cisco's IBSG Horizons Study, released on May 16, which indicates that 95 per cent of organizations are allowing employee-owned devices into the workplace in some fashion, and that 36 per cent of enterprises offer full support for such devices.

Other trends in the enterprise, including cloud computing, virtualization and the growth of video, also are contributing to the need for greater software solutions.

In keeping with the trend of enterprises looking for fewer devices from tech vendors and more software offerings that enable businesses to leverage the devicesincluding laptops, smartphones and tabletsIT vendors are rolling out more software solutions designed to make it easier for businesses to manage these mobile devices and secure the corporate network and data.

Cisco is also following suit by now shifting focus on growing its software efforts, such as the Jabber UC platform and WebEx online meeting solution.

It also mirrors similar strategies by other tech stalwarts such as Hewlett-Packard and Dellto expand beyond their hardware roots to become more of a solutions vendor with strong software and services offerings.

At the same time, they are making their collaboration and other applications available on the growing number of devices running on the major mobile platforms, from Apple's iOS and Google's Android to BlackBerrys and Microsoft's Windows.

While assuring that a form of the Cius will continue to be available to select customers with specific needs in a limited fashion, Cisco now plans to continue the aggressive software approach, according to Winge.

"Moving forward, we intend to double down on software offerings, like Jabber and WebEx, that provide the anytime, anywhere, and any device experiences," he wrote.

"We will leverage key learnings and key collaboration experiences native to Cius in our other collaboration products."

Source: United States News.Net