Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
But it can do much more than that. The ISR, launched in late 2004, has become the most successful product in Cisco's history with over one million sold. It is designed to support, in one box, router functions, the Cisco Call Manager IP PBX, an inbuilt wireless access point, firewall and intrusion protection and numerous other functions
Just last month Cisco added a video surveillance module. Earlier this year it added web filtering and released a Linux based module that enables third parties to develop new branch office applications to run on the router, and a number of developers have already released the first applications.
Cisco has introduced a software developers kit for the application module, the AXP, that "allows developers to create specific solutions for industry verticals and unified communications-based applications, and network and management utilities." They take advantage of the underlying security, mobility, WAN optimisation and unified communication capabilities provided by the Cisco ISR.
Cisco suggests that the availability of third party applications for the ISR "opens new business opportunities and routes to market for Cisco channel partners, enabling them to differentiate their service offerings and reach a broader customer base."
Cisco also introduced earlier this year two new version of the ISR, the 880 and 860 series which include IEEE 802.11n wireless LAN technology. Some models also include an integrated 3G wireless WAN interface which can be used both as a primary and backup data communications link. Vodafone never mentioned this at the launch of Business One, but I would be very surprised if it does not intend to exploit this feature.
And to give you some indication of what else it can do: since 2005 Pacific Internet (now Asia Netcom) has been offering a managed end-to-end IP connectivity and security service - claimed at launch to be the first of its kind in Australia - to small and medium-sized businesses based on the Cisco ISR.
Clearly the ISR has the potential to be something of a Trojan horse. If Vodafone can get it into a business, at no upfront cost, in the guise of providing telephone and Internet services, it or its channel partners can go back and offer additional revenue earning services, including, potentially applications customised to a particular business. Early applications announced at launch of the ISR's Linux module included branch VoIP recording, utilities infrastructure monitoring and workforce management: all likely to be highly saleable to a small business.
But I suspect that Vodafone will be kept busy for sometime getting the service bedded down and running smoothly: full Australia-wide availability is still six months away.
David Bass
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