Considering Convergence

Matthew Nickasch

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Discussing Cisco's UC SMB Portfolio

By Matthew Nickasch on Fri, 08/22/08 - 2:51pm.

Cisco has been awfully quiet recently about their SMB markets, especially relating to IP Telephony. Presently, three main products serve the SMB markets, including the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express, and the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition. Respectively, supported user counts increase with each product line.

For SMB markets, the jury is still out on the "one box does all" model of service delivery. For the Cisco UC 500, this all-in-one device handles routing functions, VPN, small-scale (workgroup) switching, and an IP-PBX all in one. Problem is, if this little device decides to give up the ghost, your organization just went down... hard.

Although, for very small organizations (less than 50 users) who want Cisco technology for a lower price-point, such a solution may not be a bad idea - just don't expect any redundancy or big-switch features for the price. Still comparatively, it will be hard to justify the Cisco device over other competitors at this level, since it may not be worth the thousands of dollars just for the Cisco name.

Even for small businesses, a simple yet distributed approach may be the best solution. What do you think? Have you deployed any of Cisco's recently-released UC 500 series?

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About Considering Convergence

Matthew Nickasch is an independent consultant and analyst in the IP communication and convergence fields. His current and previous consulting experience includes systems architecture, virtualization, telecommunications, and converged networks for the financial, education, and healthcare industries. In addition to his consulting responsibilities, he has been active in the research realm, recently publishing and presenting on topics including routing protocol security and ERP and transactional database auditing. While his interests include directory services and corporate compliance, Nickasch's focus is on converged networks and IP communications.