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July - 2010 - issue > Tech Tracker

Cisco's New Tablet, Target to be Desktop Replacement

Eureka Bharali
Monday, July 5, 2010
Eureka Bharali
After Apple's iPad, tablet market have become the new warzone and if we see the networking giant Cisco's tablet 'Cius' it pinpoints a much greater war and this time it’s beyond the tablet, netbook or laptop zone. This tablet is eyeing to replace your desktops in office.
The very first instance, it looks like an Android based device that stands as a runner-up to the iPad, but its plans of the launch, which is expected to be in 2011 mars the hype. The iPad has already touched three million in sales within just a few months of its release. So, for Cisco, a one-year gap may turn pricey as one people gain the comfort of other tablets, they may hesitate to use Cius, which is unveiled with the ‘business tablet’ tag.

The gap being a challenge what’s on Cisco’s mind? The company is negotiating with two out of the major three desktop virtualization providers--Wyse, VMware, and Citrix--to ship the device with virtual desktop software ready to run. “Put a Cius into its dock with a landline handset connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and it could load your virtual Mac or Windows desktop and act just like a traditional PC as well as a desk phone,” says Barry O'Sullivan, Cisco's Senior Vice President for Voice Technology, while speaking to a business magazine. The company is targeting not individual users for personal use rather the enterprises who use desktop virtualization. It is a virtual desktop and telecommunication machine, complete with a front facing 720p HD camera and a second, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. It’s smaller than an iPad, with a 7-inch screen and weighing only 1.15 pounds.

Cisco is aware of the competitive moods and they have left their trial and error options open. Though the device will be officially launched in 2011, people who want to use it will be able to get hold of the device from August. So, with the users’ feedback the company expects to unveil its version along with iPad’s second revised version.

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