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Cisco to Ship Wi-Fi Phone in June
Marvinthehaggler writes "According to Computer Weekly's site, Cisco Systems plans to start shipping its Wi-Fi mobile phone to US channel partners in June, with availability in other countries soon after.
The phone communicates only with 802.11b technology and is designed for use within enterprises rather than totally replacing a mobile phone. However, Cisco is in talks with cell phone makers about the possibility of adding cell phone capability to such a device, which might carry the Cisco brand." Seems like a very limited use device, but IP telephony is getting increasingly popular.
Since the phones are proprietary, I'd imagine the auth. to happen via a handshake to the Enterprise router that handles the traffic - obviously that'd be Cisco too.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Yea, the wifi phone might not be able to replace mobile phones themselves. And the article does mention using them in the enterprise. Does anyone else think the phones can be a great way for IT Managers to keep in touch with home base? Most IT people I know carry pagers, so if they are around the office, the boss pages them to send 'em over to a job, but they first must call the boss up on an office phone to get the details.
By carrying this phone around, the IT person could be easily contacted and sent where needed instantly. Good idea? No?
I work at Cisco, and for a while now our IP phone infrastructure has been growing. I now have an IP phone on my desk, at home and softphone on my laptop. For those who ask 'what's so great about that?' the thing is THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME NUMBER. Not only that, but my softphone works over wireless. With my laptop, wireless card, and headset, I can take inbound calls TO MY EXTENSION anywhere on campus. My boss has softphone on his IPAQ, and gets the same deal. This appears to be just an extension of that, with a dedicated device permitting it.