Cisco unveils DNA Spaces for enterprise mobile apps

Tech giant Cisco has launched a cloud-based geolocation package aimed at enterprises. The announcement comes almost 7 months after Cisco bought software company July Systems for an undisclosed price.

Multiple location technologies

According to reports, the new offering will enable customers to establish mobile location services. As a result, enterprises will be able to generate data and integrate it into their analytics and business applications. The technology comes from California based July Systems, which offers the cloud-based SaaS platform Proximity MX. This service provides enterprises with location analytics and also delivers deep insights in real-time. The new offering, DNA Spaces, integrates July Systems technology with Cisco’s Connected Mobile Experience (CMX) wireless suite. The platform also works with multiple location technologies like Bluetooth Beacons, GPS, and Wi-Fi.

The next-generation location platform

Described as “Cisco's next-generation location platform,” the service ​leverages Wi-Fi infrastructure in order to “deliver business value beyond connectivity.” In effect, DNA Spaces digitises physical spaces in order to learn more about people (visitors, employees) and things (assets, sensors). Greg Dorai, Vice President of Product Management at Cisco Enterprise Wireless Solutions commented on the new product. “The overarching idea is to give customers an at-scale system they can use to identify and recognise data patterns, tie in location information and analytics and use it in enterprise systems like CRM,” he said. Cisco currently has 19,000 live DNA Spaces locations and covers 1.5 billion square feet. However, the integration with July Systems will undoubtedly increase the current 115 billion location updates completed. 

Cisco continues to dominate the enterprise

DNA Spaces is just one of Cisco’s attempts to capitalise on the growth in the mobile communications space. This is hardly surprising, considering that 44% of leaders would rather use a smartphone than a desk phone for Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C). Earlier last year, Cisco also expanded its Unified Communications (UC) offerings by combining BroadCloud Calling with Webex Teams. Effectively, the offering combines “world-class calling, meetings and team collaboration from one of the most trusted names in the business.” In addition, the company has announced that it has a long-term strategy for incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into its UC offerings. Cisco plans to initially incorporate speech-enabled digital assistants, including transcription and language translation services.

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