Cisco is preparing to release its much-anticipated Cius tablet, providing a "business alternative" to the iPad for tablet-based computing with the advantage of tight integration to enterprise communication tools. Cisco Quad promises a new world of enterprise collaboration (Logicalis is one of Cisco's first global launch partners for Quad), with Facebook-like functionality combined with centralised management and security. Under the "Telepresence" brand, Logicalis and Cisco can now offer video-conferencing from desktop to boardroom. And Cisco VXI provides a framework that enables any Cisco IP phone (or Cius) to be a desktop virtualisation end-point.
So, what's the business driver behind these technologies?
A research report released by McKinsey late last year - McKinsey Report: Technology Trends - identified ten trends that are profoundly reshaping business strategy. These trends are both disrupting traditional business models, and offering an opportunity for organisations to exploit these transformations. Many of the trends identified by McKinsey, including the top 3, are directly addressed by the solutions that Cisco and Logicalis bring to our customers.
“Raising the productivity of employees whose jobs can't be automated
is the next great performance challenge—and the stakes are high.”
McKinsey & Company, The 21st Century Organisation