Cisco Cius arrives in Australia on Telstra network

A combination tablet and IP phone aimed at the enterprise, the Cisco Cius, has arrived in Australia following its overseas launch in July this year.

Initially available from Telstra, the Android-powered seven-inch Wi-Fi tablet is designed to integrate with an organisation's end-to-end IT architecture. It includes Cisco applications just as high definition TelePresence, Presence, instant messenger and WebEx.

"Employees can create, edit and share content on the Cius' high definition screen, make and receive IP telephone calls and use the inbuilt HD camera on the tablet to participate in video meetings on the go."

The device from Telstra

He added that clients who purchased the device from Telstra would get additional support including unified communications applications management and wireless local area network implementation.

In July, Ovum UK principal analyst, Richard Edwards, said the Cius may struggle to meet the needs of business users in the Australian market and was up against so then-established devices just as the Apple iPad.

The hugely popular iPad

"Unlike the hugely popular iPad, the seven-inch, Android-based Cius was designed with the company's existing customer base in mind and is, in Ovum's opinion, destined to replace the corporate desktop feature phone that Cisco sells today," he said at that time.