Highly Secure Solution Helps Employees Collaborate Via Office-Caliber Video, Voice, Wireless and Data Service in Branch or Home OfficesSAN JOSE, Calif. - September 9, 2008 - Cisco® today announced the Cisco Virtual Office, a highly secure solution that allows businesses to extend their enterprise - and productivity - by "bringing the office" to employees who regularly work in a variety of remote settings, such as branch locations or from a home office. The Cisco Virtual Office addresses the growing trend among mid-sized and large enterprises that have increasingly distributed workforces who need access to collaborative business applications and services outside of their corporate offices. The networking solution packages routing, switching, security, wireless, IP telephony, and policy control technology into a centrally managed office-caliber solution that provides highly secure video, voice, data and wireless service. (http://www.cisco.com/go/cvo) It is flexible, allowing employees to work in a variety of places with technology and services that are as advanced as if they were sitting at their desk in their office. This "extension" of an employee's collaborative office environment includes access to voice and video over IP communications, all protected within a highly secure networked environment. The Cisco Virtual Office comes at an opportune time. As businesses look for flexible and cost-effective work options, particularly in the wake of rising gas prices and energy costs, the solution enables them to ensure highly secure collaboration amongst a more distributed workforce. This agility helps maintain business continuity, such as during inclement weather, and can generate cost savings on real estate by eliminating needs for additional office space. Furthermore, remote workers can enhance productivity by accessing the same communications and collaboration technologies available to their office-based counterparts. One of the solution's most valued features is its "zero-touch" setup. Automated, pre-configured setup offloads installation responsibilities from employees, most of whom are not qualified or knowledgeable enough to implement networking systems themselves. With the solution's zero-touch setup, businesses can extend their workforces to thousands of locations with the peace of mind that employee error and IT support will be minimal. As a whole, the Cisco Virtual Office consists of the following components:
Remote site Headquarters site Services "The Cisco Virtual Office is ultimately about helping extend secure mobility and empowering the collaborative workforce wherever and whenever it connects," said Marie Hattar, vice president of network systems and security solutions for Cisco. "It enhances the benefits of remote working by providing office-caliber technology wrapped in a security blanket. It allows businesses to stay agile, and in some cases, it can provide an environmentally friendly alternative to commuting while managing operational expenses at corporate sites." According to Hattar, as the number of distributed workers increases and the way they access corporate networks and information multiplies, both in terms of device and location, businesses need an increasingly flexible IT infrastructure that extends the same protection found within a corporate office to remote locations where employees connect. Because of the solution's security capabilities, businesses can safely establish highly secure mobility, collaborate with their constituents and adopt distributed employee work models that can be more efficient than relying exclusively on centralized corporate sites for conducting operations. American Century Investments, a leading investment management company based in Kansas City, Missouri, is harnessing the value of remote working and distributed - yet collaborative -- enterprises through the Cisco Virtual Office. To date, American Century Investments has rolled out the Cisco Virtual Office solution to more than 110 of its sales agents and remote workers. "Our remote worker implementation of the Cisco Virtual Office is designed to provide our employees with flexibility and to allow them to be as functional working from home as they are in the office," said Keith Little, network services manager for American Century Investments. "As our intermediary sales staff grows, we will continue to broaden our adoption of this solution so we can provide our employees with easy remote access to network resources. The Cisco Virtual Office provides us with the benefits of greater employee productivity and operational efficiency. Simply put, we've adopted the Cisco Virtual Office as our own virtual office." Cisco's Internal Deployment: 12,000 Employees in 70 CountriesIn addition to American Century Investments, Cisco is an active user of the solution. More than 12,000 employees in 70 countries use Cisco Virtual Office, and in 2009 the company plans to increase adoption to 20,000 users. By 2010, Cisco plans to have deployed the solution to 30,000 of its employees globally. To find out more on Cisco's rollout strategy and benefits, please view these videos from the company's vice president of information technology Chuck Trent and two U.S.-based users: URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxhFgKHYjwc URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoYd3zWwuY0 URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDteqoaRaHA Pricing & AvailabilityThe Cisco Virtual Office solution is available today and starts at $700 per seat. About CiscoCisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. # # # Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information. |