Cisco Cius Tablet Announced

Cisco is jumping on the tablet wagon, but it won’t go head to head with the iPad and other consumer business. Instead, Cisco sees the Cius Tablet as a business tablet. Why business? Here are Cisco’s 6 productivity bootsers: “Mobility, HD Video ,Virtualization, Collaboration, Android OS and User Experience”.

Hmmm, not very convincing. On the hardware, there are interesting features like the dual-display support or the docking capabilities, but will they give the Cius a considerable edge when compared to consumer platforms? However, The real value the Cius might be in the software: Cisco will provide proprietary applications like Cisco VPN, Cisco Quad and Cisco Show and Share that customers might already be using on PCs. And although very thin, this would be the main driver behind the potential adoption of the Cisco Cius tablet.

It looks like Cisco is dipping its big toes into the tablet waters to see what kind of added value they can bring to the table. Right now, it seems to be a hard sell, but without knowing the price and how much people really want to use Cisco quad and Cisco show, it is difficult to predict. If anything, the VPN is probably the most valuable piece of software. I give it a “meh”. What do you think? Head to Cisco for the official announcement video. Product home page

Specifications highlights

• Atom Processor 1.6Ghz
• 32GB of Flash storage
• 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, 3G/4G
• Bluetooth 3
• HD video (720p) with Cisco TelePresence
• 7” diagonal (unknown exact resolution)
• External display support
• 8-hour battery
• 1.5lbs

Software

• Virtual desktop client
• Android operating system
• Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, WebEx, Presence, and IM
• Cisco AnyConnect Security VPN Client

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Computers, Top Stories