The Web Conferencing Blog

Citrix Releases Their Mobile Enterprise Strategy

Citrix has unveiled its strategy for mobile enterprise workforce and expanded its portfolio of personal cloud solutions. The company’s strategy is based on four pillars: people, data, apps and devices.

To enable mobile workforce, the company introduced GoToMeeting HDFaces for iPad, combining video conferencing, audio conferencing and screen sharing into a single, integrated experience. It also unveiled Citrix Podio, the first solution from its recent acquisition of Podio, for a cloud-based team collaboration platform.

The company’s strategy on data is centred on Citrix ShareFile, a cloud-based file sharing service. To expand this cloud file sharing capability, Citrix unveiled the ShareFile StorageZones technology that enables to choose optimal locations for storing corporate data – either in the public cloud, or on-premise. The company is also plugging ShareFile into its Citrix Receiver software client.

On the applications front, Citrix announced a RemotePC option as part of the FlexCast delivery technology in its Citrix XenDesktop product line. By using the new RemotePC capability, XenDesktop customers will be able to turn existing office PCs into distributed VDI hubs without setting up additional servers and storage in the datacenter. The company also announced Citrix CloudGateway 2, a new update to its unified storefront solution that adds mobile application management capabilities, including full support for native HTML5, iOS and Android apps.

Citrix Receiver, a universal software client, is the centrepiece of Citrix’s strategy on devices. With the acquisition of Virtual Computer, a provider of enterprise-scale management solutions for Xen-based client hypervisors, the company will combine the Virtual Computer technology with XenClient to create the new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition.

Citrix also unveiled the first wave of devices featuring the new HDX SoC technology.

Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Truviso

Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held Truviso, Inc.  Based in Foster City, Calif., Truviso provides scalable, real-time network data analysis and reporting software. Together, Cisco and Truviso will provide instant access and visibility into network use and services to help increase operational efficiencies and drive new revenue streams for customers.   

The proliferation of end-user devices and growth in network-connected applications is exponentially increasing the amount of data on the network. Both service provider and enterprise customers are looking for ways to better understand this data and act upon it in real-time to improve operations, customer experiences, and service offering differentiation. Truviso’s continuous query technology, with its analyze-first, store-later capability, addresses this requirement by allowing companies to get detailed information and visibility of network use and services in real-time.

Truviso’s software analytics further strengthens Cisco’s network management platform, Cisco Prime, with the core technology to gather and analyze streaming data.  

“Customers want to be able to tap into and better analyze the enormous volume of data traversing their networks to identify ways to enhance services and generate new revenue opportunities,” said Jamie Lerner, vice president and general manager, Cisco Network Management Technology Group.  “Embedding Truviso’s real time business intelligence into the network will help customers unlock these capabilities at the speed of the network.”

The Truviso acquisition reinforces Cisco’s commitment to delivering intelligent networks and supports its five foundational priorities - core, data center, virtualization, collaboration, and video - with differentiated analytics technology. The Truviso team will be integrated into the Cisco Network Management Technology Group.

Specific financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed.  The acquisition of Truviso is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2012.

Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire ClearAccess

Cisco today announced its intent to acquire privately held ClearAccess, a Vancouver, Wash. based company that provides TR-069-based software to service providers for the provisioning and management of residential and mobile devices. This acquisition includes ClearAccess' software business and talent. The hardware portion of ClearAccess' business, Smart RG Gateways, will continue forward as SmartRG, Inc. Cisco and ClearAccess' combined network management and software capabilities will enable service providers to better deliver, manage and monetize their services, while helping to improve operational efficiencies and customer experiences.

Service providers are faced with growing network complexity, exploding video and data traffic, and an increasing number of devices connected to their networks. With the proliferation of these devices, service providers are looking for ways to immediately lower operating expense while delivering and enabling new services. ClearAccess' management and software capabilities will augment Cisco Prime—Cisco's network management software portfolio—by offering service providers a set of powerful tools  for managing the connected home, including  monitoring and managing bandwidth usage, parental controls, diagnostics and analytics. 

"The ClearAccess acquisition reinforces Cisco's commitment to service providers by accelerating software architectural advancements in mobility, cloud and managed devices, and video," said Jamie Lerner, vice president and general manager, Cisco Network Management Technology Group, Service Provider Applications.  "ClearAccess provides a critical technology that will advance Cisco's mission to offer service providers a complete set of tools to manage their networks, within the home and across any connected device, amid the ongoing proliferation in network traffic."

This acquisition aligns with Cisco's strategic initiatives to build software platforms and drive business and technology architecture, and it complements Cisco's end-to-end portfolio and capabilities for service provider customers.

The ClearAccess team will bring strong software development and services skills to support the Cisco Prime platform. ClearAccess' proven track-record for the delivery of cloud-based services will provide Cisco with new capabilities that will make it easier for customers to trial and deploy. Upon the close of the acquisition, the ClearAccess team will be integrated into the Cisco Network Management Technology Group.

Specific financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed.  The acquisition of ClearAccess is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2012.

ShoreTel Completes Acquisition of M5 Networks

ShoreTel^® (NASDAQ:SHOR), the leading provider of brilliantly simple premise and cloud-based business phone system and communication solutions with fully integrated unified communications (UC) and contact center capabilities, today announced it has completed its acquisition of M5 Networks as of March 22, 2012. With the addition of M5’s hosted Unified Communications to its portfolio, ShoreTel is in a unique position to offer both on-premise and hosted VoIP and UC solutions. This will enable ShoreTel to attract new customers, open new channels, and increase revenue streams at a time when companies are increasingly considering cloud-based services.

“Purchasing an established provider of hosted communications and contact center services is a game-changing move that promises to differentiate ShoreTel significantly from its traditional competitors in the market for UC and contact center solutions,” said analyst Brian Riggs of Current Analysis.

ShoreTel is at an advantage over competitors in the emerging hosted VoIP and UC market by acquiring M5’s established hosted business model and expertise. This will accelerate ShoreTel’s ability to enter the cloud market and add value to customers that are looking to deploy IP communications with all the benefits a hosted model provides. For customers that are committed to premise-based solutions, ShoreTel continues to offer IP telephony and UC solutions with the lowest TCO and highest customer satisfaction in the industry. And for companies that are still evaluating whether a hosted or on-premise solution is best for their needs, ShoreTel is the only vendor able to give unbiased advice to help them find the ideal solution.

“When I joined the company just over one year ago, I outlined a strategic plan that included three priorities: continuing to grow market share in our core premise-based business both domestically and internationally, launching ShoreTel Mobility for integrating smartphones and tablets with IP PBX systems, and introducing a cloud-based hosted solution. Now, with M5 as our hosted VoIP and UC solution, we are successfully delivering against these strategic imperatives. ShoreTel is in an excellent position to deliver unmatched value to our customers,” said Peter Blackmore, CEO of ShoreTel.

Effective today, M5 is the ShoreTel Cloud Division, based in New York, led by Dan Hoffman as president and general manager.

“We pioneered hosted VoIP and UC 12 years ago and are proud of the successful track record we’ve achieved with more than 2,000 customers in the U.S.,” said Hoffman. “Now, as part of ShoreTel, we’ll have the chance to build a global brand known for an exceptional customer experience in an industry that lacks one. This will fortify our leadership position in the hosted VoIP and UC marketplace and help take ShoreTel’s overall business to new heights.”

Three Drivers of Collaboration

I asked the question “Is Collaboration Worth It? Every day, customers tell us collaboration is critical to their ability to compete—something top of mind right now. Why does collaboration matter? From our research and interviews with business leaders, we attribute the growing importance of collaboration to three fundamental trends:

1. Competition comes from anywhere and everywhere. The barriers to entry are lower than ever, and you cannot predict who will enter your market next. It might be a startup in India, China, Africa or Eastern Europe—or competition from another industry. How do you stay ahead when you don’t know which organizations you’ll compete with next month or next year?
2. Companies have to focus on core competencies and partner to do everything else. Companies once could gain an advantage by owning every aspect of a value chain with the goal of vertically integrating an industry. Today, it makes more sense to focus on the aspect of the value chain that is most critical to your success and partner for the rest.
3. Open systems change the game. The Internet and networking technologies have connected us in ways once thought impossible, opening the door for innovative business models. Now, businesses must adapt to another wave of networked technology that is shaping the modern working experience into one that is mobile, social, visual and virtual.

Together, these trends are shaping a new business landscape, making speed and flexibility the most important competitive differentiators in just about every industry across the globe. We believe collaboration is the best way to build the real-time enterprise that can adapt to fast-changing market pressures. It helps you achieve operational excellence today and deliver innovation tomorrow.

For example, we’ve seen a Paris suburb credit its economic turnaround to a new collaboration infrastructure and a global nutritional products company increase sales through a social media-based data mining program. We’ve seen engineering companies accelerate their product-design processes by collaborating with video conferencing, while energy companies identify untapped field capacity through a tighter link between global experts and local resources. The list is long and growing all the time.

Blog entry written by Carl Wiese: SVP fo Worldwide Collaboration Architectures at Cisco
Twitter: @carl_wiese