In June of 2010, Cisco CEO John Chambers announced the Cius, an Android based tablet that was supposed to be the first enterprise grade tablet. Fast forward to 2011 and the Cius still is not yet generally available, but that’s about to change.
Cisco today announced that the Cius will become generally available in July and will include a new enterprise AppHQ component for the delivery of mobile applications. Cisco is trying to differentiate the Cius from consumer tablets like the Apple iPad as well as other Android tablets by providing enterprise grade collaboration, security and applications. The device isn’t just a tablet, it can also be docked with a phone and a keyboard as well.
“It’s not really just a tablet, it’s more than that” Tom Puorro, Director of Product Management at Cisco said during a live event launching the Cius. “It’s about virtualized desktop, it’s about enterprise class telephony it’s about having all the features I’m used too, in a device I’m now becoming familiar with.”