Cisco preps Cius tablet launch to rival iPad in UK enterprise market

Cisco's Cius tablet will be made available to businesses across the UK in the coming weeks as the company completes final tests on the device that it hopes will attract firms looking for a business alternative to the iPad.

Cisco UK chief technology officer Ian Foddering told V3 that the Cius has already been tested with retail firms and a local health authority, and is now set to be available to all organisations.

"The Cius is on what we call 'new product hold', which is a standard process where we test the device in the environments it will be used in and then it will be ready for purchase by businesses," he said.

"It's obvious a lot of people will want to use an iPad in the workplace, but the Cius has been designed for dedicated business use and has functions like embedded security, replaceable batteries and inherent virtual desktop interface capabilities built in."

The Cius also allows IT managers to control the applications that staff can download and access in order to stop any rogue tools being installed that could compromise data or the network.

Foddering did not give any information on the numbers of staff at the organisations testing the tablet, but Cisco will no doubt hope to have more of an impact on the market than RIM has managed with the BlackBerry PlayBook.

He argued that Cisco UK is well placed for the future, despite shedding almost 11,000 jobs to save around $1bn, and that closing the Flip camera division was the right move.

"Clearly it's not without challenges when you go through these steps but, based on feedback from partners and customers, they wanted to see us focusing on core areas such as routing, mobility and networking," he said.

The closure of the Flip division was seen as a clear move by chief executive John Chambers to refocus the company away from any consumer leanings and back to its core enterprise networking offerings.

Foddering also revealed that Cisco operates a 'bring your own device' policy so that staff can benefit from the flexibility of mobile working.