Cisco's Cius Tablet Offers IT-Controlled Environment (NewsFactor)

Cisco Systems said Wednesday that the company's new Android-based Cius media tablet featuring enterprise-class security capabilities will go on sale July 31 at a street price of $750. Cisco also rolled out a new application ecosystem called AppHQ that will give IT administrators full management and deployment control over which Cius tablet apps can be deployed within the enterprise as well as which employees have access to specific apps.

In principle, finding ways not to go headlong against Apple's iPad in the consumer space is the right idea at this stage, observed Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.

"There is room out there for tablet vendors who can crack the enterprise space in niche areas that might actually prove both sizable and profitable," Hilwa said. "This requires a special enterprise sales capability and likely a vertically focused strategy that homes in on the value proposition of the device for the requirements of a specific industry scenario."

Empowering Enterprises

As part of Cisco's new AppHQ ecosystem, IT administrators will be able to construct private corporate-branded app stores in the cloud, through which only the apps they grant approval can be distributed throughout the enterprise -- including apps from the Android Market. For developers, the new AppHQ ecosystem represents an opportunity to build enterprise-class software for use by thousands of employees within an organization.

The cloud-based Cisco AppHQ will function as a test bed for enterprises developing their own private app storefronts and applications. Moreover, Cisco AppHQ will provide IT managers and users with a "trusted source" for third-party apps that have already passed Cisco's stringent validation testing process, which includes interoperability testing for the app as well as when it is deployed in typical configurations, the company said.

Cisco's AppHQ promises to empower IT by giving administrators the ability to permit or deny access to various types, sources or categories of apps based on the job function of the user or device. The aim is to enable IT departments to set a configuration that meets the organization's specific security requirements and cost-efficiency policies while providing users the maximum amount of freedom.

The Right Approach

According to Cisco, AppHQ will give developers the tools and resources to create, test and market apps for the Cius tablet. Additionally, enterprise employees will be able to build apps tailored for their business environments and publish them in a private, custom-branded app storefront.

Cisco's tablet approach avoids the problem of having a large consumer app and content portfolio at the start, Hilwa noted. However, Cisco still needs to work out a developer strategy so enterprises can build the apps they need, he observed.

"I would advise new entrants into the tablet space with enterprise sales capabilities and an existing customer portfolio, like RIM, Cisco and HP, to focus on this approach and use it to lever into the broader enterprise IT space," Hilwa explained. "This might not sound like the broadest market opportunity out of the door, but it is a great way to work out the kinks of a particular tablet strategy and create an adoption beachhead from which a vendor can expand."

The Cisco Cius runs on Google's Android 2.2 and Intel's low-power Atom Z650 processor, spokesperson Molly Ford wrote in an e-mail. "The Intel Atom Z650 processor has strong video capabilities, including the ability to enable multi-point videoconferencing in specific use cases," Ford wrote. "The Atom Z650 processor can also decode video at a 1080p resolution and encode at a 720p resolution."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enterprise/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20110629/bs_nf/79170

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