I'm not sure about you, but Cisco's big UC announcement last week left me scratching my head a bit. Eric drafted a nice overview of some of the Web 2.0 aspects of it, but there was a lot more to it. There was all that stuff about the Collaboration portfolio, which seemed to be marketing more than anything else: Cisco's telephony and UC solutions are now one of four product lines grouped under the new Collaboration umbrella. Then there's Unified Communications System 7.0 - the system that's not a system but a portfolio of existing, newly enhanced communications products. System 7.0 is also a way for Cisco to better coordinate and test upgrades of its increasingly large communications system and software portfolio.I don't know about you, but it's the product enhancements that interest me the most. And it was details of the product enhancements that I couldn't find any real information about. I was told there are 40 upgrades and more than 800 new features that were part of last week's announcement. But I'll be danged if I can find much about them, whether in the press release or elsewhere online. (Perhaps some kind reader can provide a link if they're now posted somewhere on the web.) So what I thought I'd do is highlight the enhancements I've heard about and that I think Cisco customers, partners and competitors should be most aware of. Please forgive me if I don't provide anything in the way of opinion on any of this. I've already done that in the reports I wrote last week for Current Analysis' syndicated Enterprise Communications service. Instead, I just want to make sure people have a basic level of info on these enhancements since some of them are pretty interesting despite Cisco not focusing in on them.
* Unified Communications Manager is now only available on a Linux server. Well, that's not entirely true. The Windows-based Release 4.3 software has not yet been end-of-lifed, but plans to give it the same level of SIP support as the Linux-based version of the system have been scuttled. 4.3 will continue to be sold to companies that just can't live without a Windows-based Cisco PBX, but it will no longer be actively developed. If you're wondering how to get the latest and greatest PBX software that Cisco has to offer, I foresee Linux servers in your future.
* Meeting Place 7.0 includes an integrated video conferencing MCU. So now there's audio and video conferencing on the same 1U server.
* Unified Video Conferencing 5.6 (part of System 7.0 regardless of the stubborn product managers refusing to get on board with the UC Group's new numbering scheme) can now deliver multiparty desktop video conferencing to Microsoft Office Communicator and IBM Sametime clients. Until now it's just been point to point. There's also now integration between Unified Video Conferencing and Cisco TelePresence systems.
* Regarding third-party UC integrations, now Communications Manager phone presence can be displayed on Sametime clients, and click to conference from Sametime is also available. For Microsoft integrations, there's click to call from Office apps and dual forking with Microsoft Office Communicator clients and Cisco IP phones.
* Adaptive Security Appliance 8.0 (managed by another product team that won't get onboard with all this System 7.0 stuff) supports VPN client software that can now run directly on Cisco IP phones. So these can be deployed at home offices and other remote locations, without a VPN appliance also being deployed at the remote location.
* And Unified Presence 7.0 can share telephony presence info with Mobile Personal Communicator. Until now Cisco's desktop and mobility presence solutions have sort of been islands unto themselves.
