Cisco targets tiny businesses

Cisco is to announce a unified communications suite for very small businesses, called Smart Business Communications Systems (SBCS), on Tuesday at its Worldwide Partner Summit in Las Vegas.

Although the networking giant has been pushing into the small-business market for some years now, the SBCS range marks the first time it has specifically targeted its efforts at businesses with as few as five to eight employees.

The product at the heart of the new porfolio is the UC500, a single-box solution that can sit behind a broadband router or modem and offer the features and functionality of CallManager Express, a PBX that was previously only available to firms with at least 30 or 40 users.

According to Ian Waters, Cisco's unified communications marketing manager for Europe, the UC500 incorporates an eight-port power-over-Ethernet LAN switch, videoconferencing capabilities, a firewall and the ability to terminate VPN tunnels.

Buyers can also purchase an additional LAN switch, increasing the number of ports to 16. Versions for 32 or 48 users will be released later this year, Waters said. "We have tried to make it a complete solution and to make deployment and configuration as simple as possible," he said.

Although the UC500 only provides a single wireless access point, another key product in the suite is the Mobility Express wireless LAN controller, which provides 12 access points. The suite also includes a "home worker solution", which essentially provides the endpoint for a VPN tunnel connecting back to the UC500.

Waters also said features such as Unity Express (for integrated messaging) and Call Connector (a toolbar for integration into Outlook and Internet Explorer) are included in the UC500.

Although pricing has not yet been announced, the likely list price for the UC500 is around $500 (£253) per user.