Cisco announces open platform for mobile enterprise

Cisco is taking the open platform concept that has become so prevalent in the consumer mobile world to the corporate market. The company announced today a new mobile services platform that it is opening up to outside developers. The Cisco 3300 Series Mobility Services Engine, which will ship in June, is designed to give its enterprise IT customers one platform that will tie disparate wireless networks, mobile devices and applications into a single platform so that these businesses can manage their employees' mobile devices and applications across both wireless and wired networks, whether that's a large cellular network or a WiFi network.

By opening up the platform to allow third parties to write services that will run on its networking gear, Cisco aims to provide a platform that allows rapid development of applications, thus allowing it to take a larger share of IT budgets. Analysts note that the move is an attempt on behalf of Cisco to bolster its presence in the overall wireless market, which has historically focused on WiFi and now WiMAX through its purchase of Navini in 2007.

To read more about Cisco's open-platform plan:
- check out this Dow Jones article

Related stories:
Cisco buys WiMAX vendor Navini for $330M. See this Cisco WiMAX story
Xanadoo to offer prepaid WiMAX. See this Xanadoo story