How Cisco IT Deployed a Laptop-Based IP Telephony Solution

Mobile employees at Cisco Systems, such as account managers and sales engineers, typically used cell phones to make and receive calls, check voicemail, and dial into conference calls. This posed two problems. One was the average cell phone bill exceeded US$100 per month. The other problem was that cell phone users lacked access to Cisco CallManager productivity features available to employees at Cisco headquarters and offices, such as Cisco Unity Unified Messaging, 5-digit dialing, Cisco MeetMe conferencing, and an online directory of Cisco employees. Cisco IT reduced cell phone costs while increasing productivity by providing mobile employees with Cisco IP Communicator, a software application that transforms a laptop into the equivalent of a Cisco IP phone.