Cisco HSB Communications Overview

Cisco^® Hosted Small Business (HSB) Communications is a complete customer premises equipment (CPE) solution that consists of Cisco routers, switches, and IP phones, working seamlessly together and with major third-party call control platforms, such as BroadSoft, to enable service providers to deploy hosted services to small businesses with confidence and ease.

Cisco HSB Communications features:

• System-level integration with validated, documented Cisco CPE deployment scenarios

• Tested, documented interoperability with call-control vendors such as BroadSoft

• Standards-based provisioning, including support for TR-069, TR-104, and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Option 66

• Available Cisco services for small business, such as next-business-day hardware replacement, that can complement service provider offerings

Challenge

Small businesses face four core challenges: providing high-quality customer service, improving productivity and operational efficiency, maintaining security, and containing costs. Although technology can help them address these challenges, a lack of knowledge and a rapidly changing technology landscape makes them reluctant to invest in it.

Factors such as a lack of investment capital, economic uncertainty, and a need to keep staff lean compound this situation and force the business to continue to focus on its core competency-what it knows best-rather than on improving its technology infrastructure.

In this environment, reliable hosted services, with their predictable monthly cost, become more attractive to small businesses. They believe that these services can deliver the efficiencies they seek, with better quality and reliability than they could achieve in-house, while reducing or even eliminating capital expenditures and risk.

However, small deal sizes can make it difficult for service providers to serve the small business segment profitably. To succeed in this segment, service providers must reduce the cost of sales and achieve economies in deployment and service delivery.

Business Benefits for Service Providers

Cisco HSB Communications delivers:

• A complete CPE solution: Cisco HSB Communications is a fully tested infrastructure from a single source, with routers, switches, and IP phones designed to work seamlessly together.

• Ease of deployment: Tested, documented interoperability with major third-party call control platforms, such as BroadSoft, enables end-to-end service deployments.

• Increased revenue per user: Flexible devices allow service providers to deploy multiple services over the same CPE, increasing average revenue per user and reducing customer churn.

• Simplified configuration: Complete design and implementation guides, documented APIs, and system test release notes simplify configuration and reduce time to market.

• Reduced operating expenses: Support for provisioning standards such as TR-069, TR-104, and DHCP Option 66 enables consistent remote provisioning.

• Peace of mind: Cisco reliability and support enables service providers to deploy hosted services with confidence.

Solution

Figure 1 shows a typical Cisco HSB Communications configuration.

Figure 1. Cisco HSB Communications

Cisco HSB Communications includes the following:

• WAN router options:

– Cisco IAD 800 and IAD 2400 Series Integrated Access Devices are flexible, reliable CPE devices that use the power of Cisco IOS^® Software, proven quality of service (QoS) tools, and support for multiple call-control protocols to integrate data, toll-quality analog and digital voice, and security services.

– Cisco SRP 500 Series Services Ready Platforms are flexible, competitively priced WAN CPE devices that have application intelligence to enable service providers to create, provision, and deploy premium revenue-generating services to small businesses.

• Cisco ESW 500 Series Switches are a highly competitive series of Ethernet switches built for small businesses, featuring 8, 24, or 48 ports, Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, integrated security, QoS, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) configurations.

• Cisco SPA 500 Series IP Phones are a robust portfolio of small business phones that provide a rich user experience with an intuitive menu. The portfolio includes 1-, 4-, 5-, 8-, and 12-button models, monochrome or color screens, and support for XML-based applications, as well as high-definition audio for superior voice quality. The SPA 525G IP phone features integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB.

Why Cisco?

Cisco is a worldwide leader in networking technologies, with a 25-year record of supporting customers of all sizes. Cisco's R&D investment in service provider capabilities exceeds that of many peers and competitors. Cisco has a demonstrated commitment to the small business market, with dedicated development, support, marketing, and sales teams. Cisco is the leading enabler of services for managed services providers.

For service providers that need a complete, reliable, cost-effective infrastructure for the hosted services they deliver to small businesses, Cisco Hosted Small Business Communications provides a proven, fully tested CPE solution consisting of routers, switches, and phones, with validated designs and simplified provisioning to support profitable, high-value services with reduced capital expenditures and operating expenses.

For More Information

For more information, please visit www.cisco.com/go/hsb.