Cisco tweaked its unified communications lineup for the SMB market today by releasing four new switches, two new IP PBXs, and a related upgrade to its wireless APs. The product line that received the boost is the Cisco Smart Business Communications System, which provides voice, data, video, security and wireless capabilities and integrates them into existing desktop applications such as calendar, e-mail, and customer relationship management programs. These are turnkey systems pulled from hardware, integrated unified communications applications and system-management tools.
With today’s announcement, four new Catalyst Express Ethernet Switches were released.
Configurations are
24 10/100 access ports with Power over Ethernet (PoE);
4 10/100 access ports with PoE and 20 access ports 10/100;
24 ports of Gigabit Ethernet;
and 24 10/100 access ports. On top of that, Cisco released two bigger versions of its Unified Communications 500 Series IP PBX. One of the new systems supports 32 phones and the other supports 48 phones. The previous max for the 500 series was 16 phones.
Next up, Cisco added a feature called Cisco Mobility Express to its Cisco 521 Wireless Express Access Point and Cisco 526 Wireless Express Mobility Controller. This includes an easy-to-set-up guest access portal; automatic policy configuration for voice, data and guest access; simplified security set-up with preset low-, medium-, and high-security options; and integration with Cisco Configuration Assistant.
