Cisco and British telecom giant BT Group announced a partnership on Wednesday aimed at a growing hunger by businesses worldwide for Internet-based communications services.
The companies launched a global Internet telephony service that they said lets businesses dramatically reduce upfront costs and positions firms to add video and data handling features to desktop phones.
“There is a clear demand for this,” said Nick Earle, senior vice president of Cisco’s European Services Organization. “The economic downturn has accelerated the demand for private cloud solutions out there.”
Private cloud solutions are computer applications or services designed for particular businesses or organizations but hosted online.
Such cloud services are typically paid for as they are used rather than burdening firms with the costs of buying, installing and maintaining the needed hardware or software.
“Enterprises want consumption-based pricing,” Earle said. “This actually meets the new budgeting model for CEOs.”
Cisco and BT will provide telephony systems that let users “pay as they go.”
The endeavor builds on services Cisco and BT have provided in Britain for about a year.
“In essence, we are taking that capability and making it global in tune with the market which is heading toward the cloud,” said Simon Farr, who leads Unified Communications and Collaboration Marketing at BT.
“It’s a significant launch. We are absolutely working hand-in-hand with Cisco,” he said.
Cisco and BT plan to offer the service in North America by early next year and then expand in Europe and into the Asia-Pacific region.
“Right now it is voice, but the architecture is built so we can add instant messaging, video, and telepresence into the desktop telephone over time,” Earle said. “It will become a hosted universal communications capability.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS