Apple and Cisco partner to extend the iOS enterprise journey

Apple and Cisco have signed an agreement that helps enterprises unlock the capabilities of iOS devices on Cisco networks.

The two firms are partnering together to optimise business networks running on Cisco Systems so that Apple devices are more useful for enterprises. Specifically the companies have envisioned better collaboration and reliability.

"We're offering our joint customers the ability to seamlessly extend that awesome Cisco environment to their favourite iOS devices," said Cisco Executive Chairman John Chambers. "Together, we're going to help teams achieve higher levels of productivity and effectiveness."

10 months in the making, the deal helps companies to integrate iPhones into Cisco's unique voice and video environments with an end goal that brings a perfect experience between a worker's iPhone and desk phone.

Another strand to the partnership involves collaboration using Cisco's specially optimised iOS apps that includes Cisco Spark, Cisco Telepresence and Cisco WebEx that can be used to revamp the meeting experience among team members.

MobileFirst for iOS

Apple has been working hard to bolster its enterprise aspirations over the past couple of years and this partnership with Cisco is just one of a number of efforts that are underway.

One of the biggest deals it signed was a similar agreement with IBM to develop a range of enterprise ready mobile apps under the scheme that are specifically designed for both iPads and iPhones. There are 32 apps in total and the growth of both these two schemes show how seriously Apple is taking the enterprise.

• Enterprise becomes the next tablet frontier as Apple and Microsoft eye productivity