Advertisment

Come home to Cisco's virtual office

author-image
CIOL Bureau
Updated On
New Update

BANGALORE, INDIA:  Want to make your laptop an extension of your office? Want to log on to your office from home and bring about a perfect balance between professional life and family life? In today’s hectic life, it’s a dream for anyone and everyone.

Advertisment

And Cisco, a global leader networking service provider, is all set to make that dream come true.

The networking major announced on Tuesday the ‘Cisco Virtual Office’, a secure solution that helps enhance enterprise and productivity of businesses by "bringing the office" to employees who regularly work in a variety of remote settings, such as branch locations or from a home office.

While addressing the media through teleconferencing as part of the worldwide launch of the new product, Robert (Bob) Berlin, director, products management, Cisco, said, “The Cisco Virtual Office is ultimately about extending secure mobility and empowering the collaborative workforce wherever and whenever it connects.”

Advertisment

He said the new system enhances the benefit of remote working by providing office-caliber technology wrapped in a security blanket.

“It allows business to stay agile, and in some cases, it can provide an environmentally friendly alternative to commuting while managing operational expenses at corporate sites,” he said.

The Virtual Office, according to Cisco, 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.

Advertisment

Bob said that reducing carbon emission is a significant undertaking at Cisco and products like Virtual Office would help achieve that goal, as it would save energy and fuel if more and more employees start working from home.

This is one way to save consumption of energy, said Calvin Chai, senior marketing manager, security solutions, Cisco, pointing towards a green IT mission of the organization.

The new system would allow 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.

Advertisment

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 mobile phone and video facilities would be added to the system in six months thus making it a perfect virtual office.

“There is no security threat in the system and it has been made sure that personal traffic and business traffic is not mixed up in the system,” added Bob Berlin.

During the interaction Bob said that the system offers cost-effective work options,  and helps maintain business continuity even during inclement weather or traffic problem, as one can simply log onto the office with this system and do the work, thus saving time and energy.

Advertisment

It can also generate cost savings on real estate by eliminating needs for additional office space, he added.

What is unique about this virtual office system is its "zero-touch" setup. The automated, pre-configured setup offloads installation responsibilities from employees, thus enabling businesses to extend their workforces to thousands of locations with the peace of mind that employee error and IT support will be minimal.

Once the Cisco 881w ISR is connected to the Internet, it "calls home" and automatically downloads a pre-defined configuration that syncs with headquarters thus providing automated delivery of collaborative business applications and services.

Advertisment

A Cisco 7200 Series router serves as a converged platform for virtual private networking, offering easy-to-manage encryption and security.

While a 256Kbps broadband connection is sufficient for the operation of the system without video facility, the video can function smoothly with a 768 kbps broadband connection.

The starting price range of the virtual office without video facility is around $700 per seat.

tech-news