Cisco offers IP connector for Microsoft CRM
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Cisco Systems this week said it had co-developed with Microsoft an application that helps small and medium-sized businesses connect Microsoft&#39;s customer relation management
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(InfoWorld) - A top Microsoft executive promoted the company's licensing of network security protocols at theÂ Interop trade showÂ on Wednesday, but not before taking time out during a keynote address to defend the company's patent licensing program for open-source software. Microsoft has licensed networking protocols to Juniper Networks as part of a program to make its network access protection software work with more networking vendors' products. It has also licensed protocols to Aruba Wireless Networks and network-attached storage vendor OnStor, said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft's server and tools business. Before bringing up those licensing deals in his keynote address Wednesday morning, Muglia offered an explanation for the software giant's recent moves toÂ license its software patents to open-source software distributors. "The commercial software industry knows how to work with intellectual property and patents," Muglia said. Commercial software like Microsoft's has numerous patent sublicenses built into it for technology from other vendors, so that when a customer buys Windows or another Microsoft product, they have the assurance that Microsoft has given them the intellectual property protection they need, he said. "Customers have indicated to us that it's problematic to them that when they work with open-source software, they don't have similar intellectual property protection," Muglia said. There is no mechanism to effectively license that software, he said. This creates a real problem for customers, and Microsoft's licensing program is designed to solve it, according to Muglia. However, Microsoft has been accused of creating that very problem. Its patent licensing deals with Novell and other companies have come under fire for creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt among users of open-source software. Muglia's theme was Microsoft's newfound focus on interoperability, including overtures to other companies in network security and unified communications, both hot topics at Interop. But one attendee said the company will have to overcome a years-long reputation for not working well with others. Microsoft must be serious about interoperability now because it has no choice, said Brian Shannon, an independent networking consultant to small businesses in Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey. After all, with the proliferation of mobile devices, the company's desktop business is on the way out, he said.
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Overview: This webinar will provide insight into the results of the first independent industry evaluation of Cisco&#39;s 40-Gig core router, the Carrier Routing System (CRS-1).
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Cisco(R) (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced two significant innovations to its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture: a Mobile Transport over Pseudowires (MToP) solution and an enhanced Cisco Content Services Gateway.
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Cisco forged a partnership with Fujitsu wherein the Japanese company will market Cisco&#39;s CRS-1 core router to carriers and large enterprises in Japan.
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Seattle, October 19: Microsoft Corp and Cisco Systems Inc on Monday said they would work more closely to make their products work more reliably with each other.
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Giants team on giant white paper Microsoft and Cisco Systems have detailed plans for interoperability between systems designed to enforce security policies on Windows PCs and servers.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft's goal to provide a unified communications infrastructure for the enterprise moved forward Tuesday with the release of a private beta of software it sees as its communications hub. The company released Office Communications Server 2007 to about 2,500 IT professionals in a private beta, said Paul Duffy, a group product manager at Microsoft. It's the first time Microsoft has offered software for making voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) part of integrated communications services alongside corporate instant messaging, e-mail, and video conferencing all running on one IP network, he said. Office Communications Server 2007 runs in conjunction with Office Communicator 2007, which is the accompanying desktop software. In July, Microsoft announced aÂ strategic alliance with Nortel NetworksÂ calling for interoperability between Microsoft communications software and networking infrastructure from Nortel. Office Communications Server 2007 also will interoperate with products from Avaya, NEC Phillips, and Siemens CommunicationsÂ through partnerships Microsoft has with those vendors, Duffy said. "Customers can deploy Office Communications Server and Communicator with infrastructure they have -- with IP telephony that they might have from one of those vendors -- or they can deploy it in conjunction with an IP PSTN (public switched telephone network) gateway," he said. Though Microsoft is working with vendors on VOIP, there is some belief in the industry that the company eventually will look to provide the entire software infrastructure for VOIP and other communications offerings. Such a move would hardly be a stretch, as Microsoft's strategy for entering new markets has often been to partner with companies that specialize in certain software until it is able to build out its own portfolio. Microsoft does not just aim to enter the VOIP-enablement market with Office Communications Server 2007, but rather provide a software hub that will allow the various facets of network communication to interoperate, Duffy said. For instance, by using Office Communications Server with Microsoft's Exchange Server messaging software and Outlook e-mail client, a user can respond to an e-mail received in Exchange with a VOIP call using Communications Server and Communicator, he said. Office Communications Server and Office Communicator 2007 are expected to be available in the second calendar quarter of 2007.
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Cisco Systems and Microsoft&#39;s partnership in the small and midsize business market is bearing fruit. On Monday, Cisco announced a new software product that will link its voice over Internet protocol products
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Cisco Systems on Tuesday announced enhancements to its Catalyst switching product line, and also announced &quot;the industry&#39;s first&quot; Gigabit Ethernet-enabled IP phone.
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Cisco Systems and Microsoft have announced a collaborative effort designed to bridge a divide between their emerging network access-control architectures.
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A new appliance and new software announced today by Cisco are designed to help business users improve application performance over networks.
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New hosted CRM package offers customizable platform services, highlighting company's attempt to compete with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft.
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Under the effort announced today, the two will share APIs and develop protocols to enable better interoperability between Microsoft's Network Access Protection technology and Cisco's Network Admission Control technology.
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In a deal sure to bring smiles to the faces of enterprise security pros, Microsoft (Quote, Chart) and Cisco Systems plan to integrate technologies and push for an industry standard to power network security and health policy compliance.
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(InfoWorld) - Enterprise branch offices increasingly need the same IT tools that the head office has, and Cisco SystemsÂ is set to unveil branch networking gear Wednesday to help fill that need. The dominant enterprise network vendor is adding security and application-performance features for its branch offerings and rolling out a fixed-form-factor Integrated Services Router (ISR) and a managed switch for the outlying offices. Organizations with dispersed sites are starting to make the IT setup consistent all around to boost productivity, according to Yankee Group analyst Zeus Kerravala. In some cases, the smaller offices maybe doing a big part of the job, such as in an insurance company, he said. Their technology hasn't always reflected that. "The application performance in the branches hasn't been at par with what you've had in the headquarters. ... or even the services available," Kerravala said. To tackle application performance, Cisco is introducing its Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) in a module for the 3800 Series ISR. The module can speed up applications and make more efficient use of a network connection, allowing branch workers to work faster and enterprises to consolidate applications at a central site. At Nanometrics, a wafer-making test and measurement equipment company with 20 locations around the world, IT director David Kizer came on board last year and started to make the IT infrastructure consistent across all sites. The company deployed a CRM (customer relationship management) application for the first time and also rolled out its ERP (enterprise resource planning) software company-wide, he said. Knowing what resources are available everywhere in Nanometrics helps the company operate more like a single unit than like a collection of workgroups, Kizer said. To make the change possible, he rolled out the WAAS module on branch routers. Previously, data traffic had taken up as much as 90 percent of the WAN (wide-area network) connections to Nanometrics' branch offices. With the WAAS module, the data takes up just 20 percent to 30 percent of the bandwidth. That let Nanometrics deploy IP (Internet Protocol) telephony and shut down expensive circuit-switched phone lines, Kizer said. Also, branches can send application data back and forth to the central data center to maintain the same information in both locations, he said. Cisco customers are putting more emphasis on their branch offices, giving them more decision-making power, partly because of globalization, said Inbar Lasser-Raab, a director of market management at Cisco. The company's branch roll out Wednesday includes a variety of platforms and tools, including the following: -- The Cisco 1861 ISR is a fixed-form-factor branch router with unified communications capability for as many as eight users. -- The Cisco 2960 LAN Lite Series Switches come in three form factors and use a simplified Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) image for simpler configuration. -- The Cisco Intrusion Prevention System Advanced Integration Module (IPS AIM) can be added to ISRs to identify, classify and stop malicious Internet traffic. -- Cisco Performance Routing (PfR) software, which can now be added to ISRs with some software feature sets, monitors multiple network routes to help companies get the fastest possible performance. -- A software upgrade for the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Module on 2800 and 3800 ISR platforms adds IEEE 802.11n capability for use with Cisco Aironet 1250 Series Access Points.
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IBM and Cisco Systems unveiled product updates that will link technology from the two companies more closely together to protect customer networks from security threats.