Cisco’s wireless unit shifts emphasis to "mobility"
Cisco’s Wireless Networking Business Unit doesn’t actually talk so much about wireless networking these days. Increasingly, its message aimed at IT groups is about the broader concept of “mobility.”
The change, not only for Cisco but its rivals, reflects the fact that mobile workers are no longer focused simply on replacing an Ethernet cable with a Wi-Fi signal and being able to carry their corporate laptop to the conference room. The real question has become: what can they, and the company, and the company’s customers, now do once they’ve made that replacement?
“Connecting a device to my corporate network is just step one. The question is: what happens after that?”says Sujai Hajela, vice president/general manager of Cisco’s wireless networking business unit, who spoke with Network World this week regarding Cisco’s announcement of three new pre-tested bundles of products and services designed to cut through the confusing complexity of enterprise mobility.
The new Smart Solutions packages are by themselves not exactly new: they’re formed of existing Cisco hardware and software, third-party partnerships, and consulting services from Cisco or its partners. But Cisco says they represent a shift in the company’s thinking about how to deploy mobile technology for businesses. Instead of a grab bag of separate products, the new approach sees mobility, in effect, as a whole that’s greater than the sum of its many parts, including devices, operating systems, apps, Wi-Fi access points, VPNs, authentication and security. The overarching enterprise benefit, according to Cisco, is summed up in a new term, “Cisco Unified Workspace.”
BACKGROUND: Cisco mobility bundles target BYOD, mobile virtual desktop
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“Enterprises are looking at the next generation of users coming into their ranks,” says Tim Zimmerman, principal analyst for network services and infrastructure with market watcher Gartner. “Most of them don’t even know what an RJ-45 plug is. The iPad doesn’t even have one. There’s a presumption of wireless connectivity [being available anywhere, anytime]. That puts more responsibility on IT organizations to manage that.”
Cisco’s main challenge in the enterprise market, he says, is execution and optimization – in effect, turning PowerPoint slides of talking points into concrete capabilities that enterprises buy into and then buy to mobilize business.
Cisco still dominates the enterprise wireless LAN landscape, but its dominance is less complete than it was a few years ago. By revenues, Cisco’s share of the total worldwide market for enterprise WLAN equipment is now about 50%, down from the more than 60% it commanded for years, according to IDC. Its nearest rival, publicly held Aruba Networks, finally broke into a double-digit share of global revenues only last year, capturing 11.5% according to IDC.
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