Cisco's WebEx gets UC SaaS makeover

Cisco's WebEx Connect, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering combining presence, IM, web meeting, and team space for workplace collaboration, is getting heavy play as a unified communications solution.

Offering a hosted solution, Cisco WebEx Connect provides a "toolbox" for working with collaborative project data. WebEx's wikis, calendaring and social bookmarking are rolled together with Cisco's UC platform to include integrated messaging components such as video conferencing and IM.

Happiness is provided by the ability to provide a "cloud-based" home for project work and communications, while IT gets the benefit of being able to provide collaboration in addition to policy and security management. Since WebEx Connect lives outside of the host company's firewall, enterprises can work with customers and partners without compromising security.

Cisco WebEx Connect may cause some déjà vu to anyone who's seen Microsoft SharePoint. As one might expect, SharePoint has better integration with Microsoft products, while anyone already familiar with Cisco's UC platform will want to look at WebEx Connect.

For more:
- CMS Wire gives the rundown on Cisco WebEx Connect. Article [1].

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