The Cisco Virtual Office has stepped up to fill the demand emanating from mid-sized and large enterprises that employ a larger numbers of distributed workforces, who are placed hundreds or thousands of miles form their corporate offices with need for Unified Communications and access to collaborative Services and business applications. The Cisco Virtual Office, 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.
The solution deployes Zero-touch setup Cisco 881w Series Internet Services Router and Cisco 7970G IP phone with color display at remote offices and Cisco 7200 Series router serving as a converged platform for virtual private networking, offering easy-to-manage encryption and security.
American Century Investments, a leading investment management company based in Kansas City, Missouri, uses and so far rolled out the Cisco Virtual Office solution to more than 110 of its sales agents and remote workers.
Cisco itself is an active user of the Cisco Virtual Office solution. More than 12,000 employees in 70 countries use Cisco Virtual Office, and in 2009 the company plans to increase adoption to 20,000 users. By 2010, Cisco plans to have deployed the solution to 30,000 of its employees globally.
The following videos from the company's vice president of information technology Chuck Trent and two U.S.-based users provides more information on the product and the usage;
Cisco Virtual Office: Chuck Trent
Cisco Virtual Office: Jill Shaul
Cisco Virtual Office: Craig Huegen
Following is the Complete Press Release by Cisco;
Highly Secure Solution Helps Employees Collaborate Via Office-Caliber Video, Voice, Wireless and Data Service in Branch or Home Offices
SAN JOSE, Calif. - September 9, 2008 - Cisco® today announced the Cisco Virtual Office, a highly secure solution that allows businesses to extend their enterprise - and productivity - by "bringing the office" to employees who regularly 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. (http://www.cisco.com/go/cvo) It is flexible, allowing employees to work in a variety of places with technology and services that are as advanced as if they were sitting at their desk in their office. This "extension" of an employee's collaborative office environment includes access to voice and video over IP communications, all protected within a highly secure networked environment.
The Cisco Virtual Office comes at an opportune time. As businesses look for flexible and cost-effective work options, particularly in the wake of rising gas prices and energy costs, the solution enables them to ensure highly secure collaboration amongst a more distributed workforce. (http://www.internetinnovation.org/Portals/0/Documents/Final_Green_Benefits.pdf) This agility helps maintain business continuity, such as during inclement weather, and can generate cost savings on real estate by eliminating needs for additional office space. Furthermore, remote workers can enhance productivity by accessing the same communications and collaboration technologies available to their office-based counterparts.
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. As a whole, the Cisco Virtual Office consists of the following components:
Remote site
- Zero-touch setup of the new Cisco 881w Series Internet Services Router (ISR) and Cisco 7970G IP phone with color display. Once the Cisco 881w ISR is connected to the Internet, it "calls home" and automatically downloads a pre-defined configuration that syncs with headquarters. From there, employees can benefit from efficient, automated delivery of collaborative business applications and services. For example, wireless LAN connectivity is offered as an option to provide such features as mobile intelligent roaming.
Headquarters site
- A Cisco 7200 Series router serves as a converged platform for virtual private networking, offering easy-to-manage encryption and security. It utilizes Cisco Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Networking (DMVPN), which secures the exchange of data between two locations without traversing the head office, improving network performance and data delivery by offloading traffic demands from headquarters. This infrastructure also supports SSL and L2TP over IPsec VPNs, serving as a single point of convergence for multiple secure access technologies, such as mobile users with laptops or PDAs.
- Management servers for policy, identity and configuration, which include the Cisco Configuration Engine for image distribution to as many as 10,000 Cisco Integrated Services Routers; Cisco Security Manager for management of security policies; and Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS), which provides access policy control to meet regulatory and corporate compliance requirements. This centralized management architecture allows control of all the services that Cisco Virtual Office enables, including security, mobility, collaboration and unified communications.
Services
- Cisco and its approved partners provide services for Cisco Virtual Office 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 is ultimately about helping extend secure mobility and empowering the collaborative workforce wherever and whenever it connects," said Marie Hattar, vice president of network systems and security solutions 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."
According to Hattar, as the number of distributed workers increases and the way they access corporate networks and information multiplies, both in terms of device and location, businesses need an increasingly flexible IT infrastructure that extends the same protection found within a corporate office to remote locations where employees connect. Because of the solution's security capabilities, businesses can safely establish highly secure mobility, collaborate with their constituents and adopt distributed employee work models that can be more efficient than relying exclusively on centralized corporate sites for conducting operations.
American Century Investments, a leading investment management company based in Kansas City, Missouri, is harnessing the value of remote working and distributed - yet collaborative -- enterprises through the Cisco Virtual Office. To date, American Century Investments has rolled out the Cisco Virtual Office solution to more than 110 of its sales agents and remote workers.
"Our remote worker implementation of the Cisco Virtual Office is designed to provide our employees with flexibility and to allow them to be as functional working from home as they are in the office," said Keith Little, network services manager for American Century Investments. "As our intermediary sales staff grows, we will continue to broaden our adoption of this solution so we can provide our employees with easy remote access to network resources. The Cisco Virtual Office provides us with the benefits of greater employee productivity and operational efficiency. Simply put, we've adopted the Cisco Virtual Office as our own virtual office."
Cisco's Internal Deployment: 12,000 Employees in 70 Countries
In addition to American Century Investments, Cisco is an active user of the solution. More than 12,000 employees in 70 countries use Cisco Virtual Office, and in 2009 the company plans to increase adoption to 20,000 users. By 2010, Cisco plans to have deployed the solution to 30,000 of its employees globally. To find out more on Cisco's rollout strategy and benefits, please view these videos from the company's vice president of information technology Chuck Trent and two U.S.-based users:
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxhFgKHYjwc
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoYd3zWwuY0
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDteqoaRaHA
Pricing & Availability
The Cisco Virtual Office solution is available today and starts at $700 per seat.
Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information. Tags:
cisco, unified communication, Virtual Office, IP telephony, Zero-touch setup, Cisco Virtual Office, Cisco 881w, Cisco 7970G IP phone, Cisco 7200, Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Networking, DMVPN
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