Cisco Jabber Improves Unified Communications and Collaboration for Mac, PC, Tablets, and Smart Phones

Cisco has announced the release of its new unified communications application: Cisco Jabber. Revealed at the Enterprise Connect 2011 trade show, Cisco Jabber combines presence, instant messaging, voice, video, voice messaging, desktop sharing, and conferencing into a single experience for PCs, Macs, tablets, and smart phones. With Jabber, business workers can easily find the people they need and collaborate using whichever method or device they prefer.

With Cisco Jabber, users are provided with a unified client that can be deployed across on-premise and cloud-based options, and allows them to easily transition from IM conversations to voice, video, or desktop sharing whether they're in or out of the office.

According to UCStrategies' UC Expert David Yedwab, "This announcement truly ups the stakes in the battle for 'what UC client should I use anyway? - there are so many of them.' Having a common look and feel across all user form factors and devices is a critical asset as we certainly can't afford to re-train users how the use UC each time they face a different device. I'm sure the battle will continue to play out between the vendors and the standards (XMPP vs. SIMPLE)."

Jabber will be made available for Mac users some time around this summer, and is either available or in development for Windows computers, iPhone and iPad, as well as the Nokia, Android, and BlackBerry platforms. It can integrate with video endpoints such as the Cisco Unified IP Phones and Cisco TelePresence connections. With the variety of platforms Cisco Jabber is offered on, workers can collaborate quickly and effectively.

"What sets this UC client apart from others is its breadth of platform support," says Dave Michels of UCStrategies. "Cisco intends to support PCs, Macs, tablets and smart phones including iPhone, iPad, Nokia, Android and RIM - and Jabber can work in both hosted and cloud deployments."

For more information, visit www.cisco.com.