By ChannelTimes Staff
Mumbai, Sep 10, 2008 1155 hrs IST

Cisco announced the Cisco Virtual Office, a secure solution that 'brings the office' to employees who work in a variety of remote settings, such as branch locations or from a home office. The Cisco Virtual Office addresses the growing trend among mid-sized and large enterprises that have increasingly distributed workforces who need access to collaborative business applications and services outside of their corporate offices. The networking solution packages routing, switching, security, wireless, IP telephony, and policy control technology into a centrally-managed office-caliber solution that provides highly secure video, voice, data and wireless service. This 'extension' of an employee's collaborative office environment includes access to voice and video over IP communications, all protected within a secure networked environment. "The Cisco Virtual Office is ultimately about extending secure mobility and empowering the collaborative workforce wherever and whenever it connects," said Robert Berlin, director of product management for Cisco. "It enhances the benefits of remote working by providing office-caliber technology wrapped in a security blanket. It allows businesses to stay agile, and in some cases, it can provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to commuting while managing operational expenses at corporate sites." One of the solution's most valued features is its 'zero touch' setup. Automated, pre-configured setup offloads installation responsibilities from employees, most of whom are not qualified or knowledgeable enough to implement networking systems themselves. With the solution's zero-touch setup, businesses can extend their workforces to thousands of locations with the peace of mind that employee error and IT support will be minimal. Cisco and its approved partners provide services for CVO planning, design and implementation. Services include deployment and integration at the head-end site, consultative guidance for automating the deployment and management of remote sites, and ongoing operational support. These services help reduce customers' operating costs and continually assess, tune and evolve Cisco Virtual Office components to keep pace with customers' business needs and security threats. The Cisco Virtual Office solution is available today and starts at $700 per seat. Related Links Cisco Reiterates its Commitment toward Partners Cisco Enhances Self-Defending Network Dhamodaran to Head Cisco's Channel Operations