Cisco Systems believe that customers come first. Cisco fundamentally feel that creating long lasting relationships with the end user and working with them to identify their needs will help Cisco provide solutions that support their success. Cisco has evolved in recent years from pure Enterprise and Service Provider solutions to addressing customer needs across the board – from the Small and Medium Enterprise, through consumer and commercial markets. You could say that Cisco technology is behind the changing ways we live our lives.

Cisco provide two Communications solutions, called most recently the Cisco Unified Communications Manager (release 7.0) and the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express. What differs Cisco telephony solutions from most other manufacturers is that there is often not one type of ‘box’ to see, or system to recognise. What most people would describe as a PBX can sit on a Cisco Router, a Server or a specialised box of tricks.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager
  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express

    • Cisco Unified Communications Manager

    Cisco Unified Communications Manager is an enterprise-class IP telephony call-processing system that provides traditional telephony features as well as advanced capabilities, such as mobility, presence, preference, and rich conferencing services. This powerful call processing solution can help:

    Released in September 2008, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager 7.0 was originally stated to be available in both Windows and Appliance models. However Cisco has since stated that OS Independence will not be a feature of any version of CallManager after 4.3. Cisco refers to their entire suite of products to be released in 2008 as “System 7″; major updates are expected to Presence Server and Client at the same time as Communications Manager 7.0 is released.

    Version 7 is an attempt to bring all Cisco Unified Communications products to the same version number (CUCM, CUPS, CER, CUPC, Cisco IP Communicator, UCCX, etc.)


    Cisco Unified Communications Manager Benefits and Features

  • Simplify your voice systems by replacing old PBX (private branch exchange) and key systems with unified communications, you can cut costs and dramatically streamline provisioning and maintenance.
  • Build productivity with feature-rich unified communications that help workers spend less time chasing people, and more time being productive.
  • Enable mobility with software that has embedded unified mobility capabilities so mobile workers can remain productive wherever they are.
  • Improve collaboration with a click; start an IM session, initiate a phone call, and establish a videoconferencing call more easily.

    • Cisco Unified Communications Manager creates a unified workspace that supports a full range of communications features and applications with a solution that is highly:

  • Scalable: Each Cisco Unified Communications Manager cluster can support up to 30,000 users.
  • Distributable: For scalability, redundancy, and load balancing.
  • Available: Support business continuity and improve collaboration with high availability that provides a foundation for multiple levels of server redundancy and survivability.

    • Solution Benefits

  • Lowers Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – integration of multiple applications on a single appliance server reduces capital and operational expenses
  • Consumes fewer IT resources – centralized architecture makes it easy to install, upgrade, and manage
  • Increases employee productivity – with powerful speech recognition voicemail features and advanced mobility features like single number reach
  • Increases employee collaboration – with an available computer desktop client to provide presence status, instant messaging, click to dial, and a soft phone that turns any laptop into an extension of your desk IP phone
  • Provides communications-enabled business processes – with Cisco Unified CallConnector and Cisco Unified Application Environment
  • Wide selection of available phones – supports the full portfolio of Cisco Unified IP Phones
  • Delivers highly available communications – when deployed with Cisco Unified Survivable Remote Site Telephony
  • Easy and cost-effective to roll out – deploy the full unified communications feature set to your employees on a per-user basis with Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing

    • Cisco offers a variety of call-processing applications and phones that can help:

  • Enhance Mobility – Cisco Unified Mobility keeps you in touch no matter where you work.

    • Call Routing Made Simple – Cisco Unified Mobility, commonly known as Single Number Reach, gives users the ability to redirect incoming IP calls from the Cisco Unified Communications Manager to up to four different designated client devices such as cellular phones or IP phones.

    For example, Cisco Unified Mobility associates a user’s cell phone number with the user’s business IP phone number. It then directs incoming calls to ring on a user’s cell phone as well as the business phone, providing a single number for callers to reach the user. Calls that go unanswered on all the designated devices are redirected to the user’s Cisco Unity messaging system.

  • Communications at your Fingertips – Inviting, simple-to-use, fully featured Cisco Unified IP Phones

    • Cisco provides a complete range of next-generation communications devices that take full advantage of the power of your data network while providing the convenience and ease of use you have come to expect from your business phones. Cisco® Unified IP Phones can enhance productivity and address the needs of your entire organization.

  • Simplify Single Servers – Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition provides medium-sized organizations everything they need for voice, video, mobility and messaging.

    • Ideally suited to businesses with 100 to 500 employees, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition delivers intuitive, easy to use advanced voice and unified communications applications with features, performance, and robust security traditionally found on systems designed for large enterprise customers.

    Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition contains voice, messaging, mobility, and video capabilities integrated as an all in one system on a single server, offering the ease of installation, simplified management, and the low total cost of ownership vital to your business, while providing a smooth migration from your outdated telephony system to unified communications.


    Cisco Unified Communications Manager IP Phones

    Simple-to-use and fully featured, Cisco Unified IP Phones give you an exciting new user interface with display-based access to features, productivity-enhancing applications, and value-added services. This portfolio of robust endpoints includes the industry’s first Gigabit Ethernet IP phone. From the company lobby to the desk of the busiest managers; from the manufacturing floor to the executive suite; at home, on the road, or from a branch-office site or commercial location; wherever you are, there is a Cisco Unified IP Phone designed to meet your needs.

    Cisco offers a comprehensive portfolio of true IP business phones. With their distinctive look, Cisco Unified IP Phones provide an exceptional communications experience. Their advanced unified communications services and applications are available only with an
    exclusively IP solution.

  • Easy-to-Use Display
  • Information display is graphical.
  • Symbols are internationalized and easy to understand.
  • Operation is intuitive.
  • A user guide is built in.
  • Softkeys are dynamic.
  • Colour touch screens are user-friendly.
  • The design is modern.
  • The handset is comfortable.
  • A unique ringing and message indicator is built into the handset.
  • XML enables you to add unique new features and access time-saving applications quickly and easily.
  • The large LCD screen provides a visual display of what is happening on the phone.
  • The LCD screen color provides high contrast and backlighting.
  • The speakerphone can connect to external speakers for increased audio output.
  • The phone is hearing aid-compatible.
  • Audible and visual alerts give you the phone status (audible tone during mute activation).
  • XML applications and features provide increased accessibility to the phones and to the workplace for people with disabilities.


    • Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express

    The Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CUCME), formerly Cisco Unified CallManager Express and Cisco CallManager Express, is a Cisco IOS based IP-PBX for small medium business, enterprise branch office and commercial customers. It provides a rich set of call control and voice application features for the above mentioned customer profiles. It supports Cisco IP phones using Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Call Manager Express also provides a rich set of traditional PSTN connectivity options using both digital and analog lines.

    For advanced customers, CUCME also provides integrations with TAPI clients, has a basic Automatic call distribution application, provides an integrated Auto Attendant, Voicemail and Interactive voice response systems.
    There have been very few that have attempted to provide comprehensive reporting for Cisco UCME. The logs are complex and voluminous. RSI was the first to offer Shadow CMS for communication management.


    Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CUCME) Benefits and Features

  • Easy to use navigation and display on every phone
  • Phones are easy and full of features, with no need to remember complicated feature codes
  • Caller ID name AND number on the phone display
  • The CUCME offers fantastic integration with email (such as Microsoft Exchange/Outlook etc.)
  • With SmartNET support you or your vendor can call Cisco for support
  • Cisco Technical support never sleeps they can be reached 24×7
  • Can centralise your business telephone system, Router, Wireless Access Point, Switch, VPN, and Firewall; easy to manage !
  • Administration can be made from GUI or command line

    • Many organisations have successfully lowered their total cost of ownership and increased employee productivity by consolidating data networks and implementing networked applications utilising the Cisco SMB Range of equipment. Today, business conditions are driving technology trends that extend “enterprise-like” functions to small and medium-sized offices with a continued emphasis on lowering costs, increasing return on investment, and boosting productivity.

    The widely deployed, proven portfolio of the Cisco® UC500 provides data routing functions with features such as robust quality of service, network security, encryption, VPN, firewall, and intrusion detection to address the business needs of small and medium-sized offices. Cisco also has continued to introduce a wide range of network modules and interface cards that have enhanced the business value of the router. These services include content delivery, voice gateway, wireless LAN, and a variety of other capabilities.