This is kind of old news now, but it’s such an important development in the VoIP industry that it clearly deserves a mention here on ETel. Earlier this month Cisco announced its new Unifed Communications System which included the news that for the first time Cisco VoIP products will support the widely popular SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) protocol. Besides introducing a new SIP-compliant version of CallManager, they also announced SIP capabilities for Cisco IP phones, presence-awareness software, and multimedia communications software.

This means that for the first time ever customers will have the ability to use non-Cisco phones with the Cisco Call Manager soft PBX product. Tom Keating had early and in-depth coverage of Cisco’s announcements along with an interview with Barry O’Sullivan, vice president and general manager of Cisco’s IP Communications Business Unit. Ted Wallingford echoed the feeling of many in the industry, saying simply “It’s about time.” And Andy Abramson had the best headline on the news (”CallManager 5.0 Shows That Cisco Really Gives A SIP”) and also points out that Cisco has owned SIP technology ever since they bought Linksys, almost 3 years ago now.