Cisco enters SME space

19.09.2005
Cicso Monday announced its SME offering, dubbed the Cisco Business Communications Solution. According to the company the reason for delving into the SME arena is that it wants to bring its enterprise offerings down to the SME -- thereby levelling the playing field between SMEs and enterprises.

Tim Stone, marketing manager of IP communications and security at Cisco, says that many SMEs are looking for enterprise-type solutions, but simply do not have the budget or the expertise to implement such solutions.

'It is just not good enough to provide an SME with a watered-down enterprise solution,' he continues. 'We have found that SMEs want enterprise-class solutions, but, at the same time, these solutions need to be able to suit the SME's needs, and also be easy to use and easy to set up.'

According to Stone, Cisco's SME communications offering requires no specialized expertise to install.

The Cisco Business Communications Solution features a tailored family of products, services, support and financing options, which are intended to help SMEs control costs and improve operational efficiencies.