Over the past several weeks, two Cisco events generated a great deal of media coverage (refer to “In The News” below). For those that have not been paying close attention, for some time now Cisco has actively been playing a grand chess game. It has also been busy integrating WebEx with its other assets (Unified Communications Manager, Telepresence, Unified MeetingPlace) – yes, the integration has not always been terribly deep but the work is ongoing and will The company has already made several moves in terms of acquisitions (WebEx, PostPath, Jabber) and strategy (describing a general direction regarding collaboration and SaaS/Cloud computing via WebEx Connect).

Highlights of Cisco's press release is below (with a link to the full release). Intercompany Cisco TelePresence Directory is a Cisco-hosted directory of endpoints, organizations and people with access to Cisco TelePresence endpoints. The directory features a virtual assistant to assist with scheduling meetings between  the more than 1000 rooms and 75 customers on Cisco TelePresence exchanges. Additional blog posts will come out later today (starting around noon PT) that will include my early thoughts. I

The following is Part 2 of a series on today's announcement by Cisco . What is Cisco announcing? To understand and decipher what Cisco is announcing, it is important to break the information down into four distinct areas: Strategic Pillars, Reference Architecture, “Extend Current”, and “Enter New”. Interoperable, Open Architecture: Given the strategic focus on Strategic Pillars SOA, Rest) to enable any device or application to leverage a consistent set of core of collaborative services.

Cisco on Cisco Implementing Cisco Collaboration Framework IntroductionExecutive Cisco on Cisco Implementing Cisco Collaboration Framework IntroductionExecutive Creating a Collaborative Enterprise | © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. Implementing the Cisco Framework IntroductionExecutive

The following is Part 4 of a series on today's announcement by Cisco . Is Cisco’s Vision Holistic Enough? While Cisco does a very good job of navigating market transitions and managing its efforts to move into market adjacencies, that does not mean that it has “perfect knowledge”. Cisco may think it knows the borders of a market in which the borders are in The collaboration market is not well defined. Some strategists include content management, search, portal, and Enterprise 2.0

For some time I've pointed out the need for the Cisco groups responsible for enterprise collaboration (including unified communications, mobile, WebEx, etc.) Eos was not mentioned at the Cisco Collaboration Summit and suddenly it is at the center of a social media social networking storyline that has consumer and enterprise implications. Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today released the results of a third-party global study to be better aligned with the more consumer-centric, social media-focused EOS group(s). Case in point - below - study released from one side of the house that

marketing, relationship/community management, app dev, and internal activities that include content, collaboration, communication, process, and analytics) will take time and Cisco will need to demonstrate the necessary non-technology competencies soon. Then there is the question of how this relates to other Cisco SaaS/Cloud initiatives (e.g., From a technology perspective, there are lots of options in this space (in alpha order: Awareness, Communispace, HiveLive, Leverage, Lithium, Mzinga, Sparta and many more). Just having the technology is merely "ante into the game".

Developed and implemented comprehensive value network indicators for risk management, resilience, and agility. European Commission ICT-RTD Research Programme FP7 used VNA to evaluate the impact of research activities, linking value network patterns of innovation to economic performance and Intellectual Capital formation at the organizational and regional level. Large South African Bank evaluated tangible and intangible benefits in strategic alliances to develop a strategic partnership scorecard. Supply Chain Australian affiliate of a large multi-national organization improved

The session started with the Jive CEO explaining a bit their vision (I still think they’re pushing too hard to try to differentiate), then one of Forrester’s VPs talking about how IT buyers decide based on peer impressions and do a lot of social software use, and backing Jive’s message (seen better Forrester presentations, with a bit of content), then Cisco explaining their unified community platform as a source of undefined participation and engagement, “ingenious solutions” from users and (someday) discussion evolving from problem resoltion to business issues.

The need for better intra-domain presence integration and interoperability is clear - but at the end of the day - communication vendors will not be well-positioned as the "master" presence system. Although Cisco has a broader collaboration arsenal than Avaya given its WebEx Connect efforts - at best, that places competitive pressure on IBM and Microsoft in a somewhat traditional way. I've posted a lot recently regarding enterprise social messaging ("Twitter for the enterprise"): Twitter in the Workplace