Cisco woos SMEs at Networkers 2009

The new devices build on Cisco's $100m SME initiative

Cisco has unveiled a range of products designed specifically for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) at its Cisco Networkers 2009 conference in Barcelona.

The new devices span the range of Cisco's products, and include a spam and virus blocker, a pair of network storage systems and an updated unified communications platform.

"We understand that small businesses need to see the immediate business benefits from their technology investment, especially during these tough economic times," said Ian Pennell, senior vice president of the small business technology group at Cisco.

Pennell said that the new devices build on Cisco's $100m (£70m) SME initiative launched last November, and can help meet the specific needs of the majority of these organisations.

Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker is designed to act as a simple but effective appliance on the network to mitigate the risks of viruses, malicious email attacks and spam. Cisco provides the hardware, software and subscription, and promises that installation is a simple four-step process with updates performed automatically.

The Cisco NSS2000 and NSS3000 systems are described as affordable desktop, network-attached storage (NAS) devices that provide protection for valuable data and allow employees to share i nformation effortlessly.

The desktop NAS devices can help smaller businesses centrally store and manage up to 2TB and 4TB of data respectively. They are also designed to work with Cisco Small Business Continuous Data Protection to automatically back up every version of every file from every PC and server, so that data can be easily restored.

The final product is the Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.4, a fully fledged collaboration and communications system that spans hardware and software.

The new version of the platform includes the Cisco SPA525G wireless IP phone (PDF), the industry's first wireless desktop IP phone with Bluetooth, helping SMEs to grow without having to install new cabling, according to the firm.

It also includes the Cisco 520 Secure Router to help protect the network and give employees secure access to the internet and important business data whether working remotely or from the main office.

All of the new products are available now worldwide via Cisco partners and resellers. The Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker has a list price of between $2,599 and $5,399 (£1,832 and £3,806) depending on the number of users and subscription length. The Cisco Network Storage Systems devices start at $595 (£419) and the SBCS Release 1.4 varies in price depending on each specific implementation.