The Cisco Cius Enterprise Tablet Hitting Verizon Later This Summer

The Cisco Cius tablet is nearing release a full year after its announcement. The enterprise tablet is set to set the IT world a blaze this July 31 and Verizon will be one of the official retailers along with AT&T. The $750 tablet will hit Big Red sometime this summer; the press release didn’t confirm or even mention the July 31st date. Instead, the presser states that the tablet is coming late summer.

Still, the Cius tablet might become one of first tablets outside of the iPad to successfully infuriate the world of enterprise communication. Cisco knows their market probably better than anyone else and smartly choose to sell in the lucrative enterprise market rather than the cutthroat world of consumer gadgets. Presser after the break. Oh, and yeah, it’s a wild one complete with references to Moses and ill-fated attempts to make Verizon’s 4G LTE hotspots relevant to the Cius.

Verizon Combines the Power of 4G LTE with the Cisco Cius Tablet to Improve Mobile Enterprise Collaboration
Helps Businesses Employ Tablets for Industry-Specific Applications
News Release

NEW YORK – July 13, 2011 –

The ancient Greeks relied on them. So did Moses when it came to accomplishing one of his most significant deliverables. And now businesses are equipping mobile workforces with tablets of their own to boost productivity and speed customer service.

To meet this newest trend in tablet use, Verizon is combining the power of its 4G LTE network with the Cisco Cius™ to help customers decentralize and accelerate decision-making for better business outcomes.

The Cisco Cius will be available to Verizon enterprise and government customers around the world later this summer, and those located domestically will be able to combine the device with a Verizon Wireless 4G LTE mobile hot spot. Designed for the enterprise, the Android-based Cisco Cius combines voice, video, collaboration and virtualization capabilities on one device. When powered by Verizon’s 4G LTE network, mobile workers will be able to easily use bandwidth-intensive video applications – including between devices – for more effective collaboration.

“Mobile applications over intelligent high-speed networks will continue to eliminate barriers in the workplace,” said Mike Smith, vice president for Verizon enterprise communications, network and mobility sales. “We’re forecasting a perfect storm where advanced enterprise tools such as the Cisco Cius mesh with the speeds made possible by 4G LTE to make the virtual office a more robust reality than ever.”

Putting Tablets to Work

In general, industries such as retail, financial services, healthcare and government can employ tablets to change the pace of their business.

Retail: Sales associates can employ tablets while out on the floor to look up product and inventory information for customers, in addition to processing transactions on the spot.

Financial Services: Bankers and financial advisors can take advantage of the video capabilities of tablets for face-to-face meetings with clients, saving the time it takes to meet up at physical locations.

Health care: Medical professionals can use tablets to collaborate on patient care and speed critical decision-making.

Government: Tablets can increase productivity of government users – from military to civilian government field workers to emergency first responders – allowing them to enter information or share it quickly with remote offices to complete the business of government more efficiently.

Through Verizon’s Managed Mobility portfolio, enterprise customers can securely deploy a wide range of devices to employees. Capabilities include device management; expense tracking management; lock and wipe features for protecting sensitive data; and mobile delivery of popular business and consumer apps from the cloud. In addition, the company offers a full suite of professional services to help organizations create policies and design mobility programs to suit varied requirements.

Verizon is a global network communications leader in driving better business outcomes for enterprises and government agencies. Verizon delivers integrated IT and communications solutions via its global IP and mobility networks to enable businesses to securely access information, share content and communicate. Verizon is rapidly transforming to a cloud-based “everything-as-a-service” delivery model that will put the power of enterprise-class solutions within the reach of every business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.