We know Cisco is well entrenched in the enterprise, and now it is going full steam towards SMB space.

It will be interesting to see how the Fonality’s and Talkswitch’s of the world fair against Cisco who wants to compete and is showing that it’s ready by introducing very competitively priced products like the  Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series. We know if Cisco is ready to take over the SMB market, it has plenty of resources to do so and has the financial strength to stay the course as competitors are pushed out. Here are some recently released Cisco products for SMB market:

• Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series adds 32- and 48-user systems. The initial release of the Unified Communications 500 Series addressed the unified communications needs of small businesses with eight to16 users. These two new platforms allow small businesses to support up to 48 phones per location.
• Cisco SMARTnet Service for SBCS is Cisco’s award-winning technical support service program, offering multilevel service options and access to an extensive range of technical resources. Sold by a Cisco channel partner, customers get direct, anytime access to Cisco engineers for configuration assistance, problem diagnosis and recommendations through 24-hour telephone or Web-based support. The offering also includes software assurance with application and Operating System software updates and upgrades.
• Cisco Catalyst® Express Ethernet Switches provide flexibility of configuration to meet different networking requirements. The four new switches offer 24 10/100 access ports with Power over Ethernet (PoE); 4 10/100 access ports with PoE and 20 access ports10/100; 24 ports of Gigabit Ethernet; or 24 10/100 access ports.
• Cisco Mobility Express: Cisco has added ease-of-deployment features for the Cisco 521 Wireless Express Access Point and Cisco 526 Wireless Express Mobility Controller. They include an easy-to-set-up guest access portal; automatic policy configuration for voice, data and guest access; simplified security set-up with preset low-, medium-, and high-security options; and integration with Cisco Configuration Assistant.

Since Cisco has already proven itself in the enterprise market and SMBs definitely recognize the brand name, I believe it’s just a matter of time, and if Cisco stays the course, it will take over the VoIP phone system market in this space.

Here’s the news regarding SMB from Cisco.