Small, Medium and Mid Market Businesses get efficiency boost from Cisco Unified Communications System

New system allows employees to exchange information, whether by email, voice or fax, via a wide choice of fixed and mobile communication devices

Dubai, March 12th, 2006 – Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced the launch of the Cisco ® Unified Communications system, a new suite of voice, data and video products designed to help small, medium and mid market businesses communicate more effectively and improve productivity. The Cisco Unified Communications system allows employees to exchange information, whether by email, voice or fax, via a wide choice of fixed and mobile communication devices.

Speaking at the press conference, Samer Alkharrat, General Manager – Gulf Region, Cisco Systems, said: "The Cisco Unified Communications system enables organisations to seamlessly integrate their communications system with their IT infrastructure. To ensure small, medium and mid market businesses can benefit from this, Cisco is helping companies evolve their technology through a clear path, or Smart Business Roadmap, allowing them to match solutions with their immediate and long-term business needs, and invest for the future without the associated cost or risk."

For time and resource challenged small, medium and mid market businesses, the Cisco Unified Communications system will provide a richer and more integrated communications experience. New features include the ability to make video calls as easily as voice calls, and all via a highly secure wireless connection on a laptop PC. Users can also communicate and collaborate with colleagues via one single and simple interface, bringing together telephone, email, instant messaging and voice, video or web conferencing on their desktop. This allows increasing employee and customer responsiveness whilst operating more efficiently and cost effectively.

With the Cisco Smart Business Roadmap, customers can evolve their technology in line with their business needs and implement the Cisco Business Communications Solution, based on the Smart Business Communications Architecture. This architecture is the layer of intelligence upon an open and extensible network designed to enable business applications and services seamlessly interact to deliver voice and data in the right place, at the right time and in the right format.

The demand from smaller businesses for effective communications should not be underestimated. Recent research by Cisco Systems found that IP telephony is set to boom for SMBs across Europe and the growing markets of Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East . In Europe 60 percent of all firms surveyed said they are at least fairly aware of the benefits of IP telephony, which rises to just over three- quarters of all firms surveyed (76 percent) in the growing markets.

According to Nick van der Walt, IT manager of CBI Eastern Anstalt, an engineering and construction company for the petrochemical industry, based in Dubai, "Delivering data & voice communications has never been easier with Cisco. Reducing operating costs without compromising quality no matter where you are has always been the biggest hurdle to overcome, and with Cisco I can deliver on time, anywhere"