The move toward unified communications systems that integrate voice with messaging, email and other applications got further support today with an announcement from Cisco that targets small businesses. The product suite, dubbed Cisco Smart Business Communication System, also includes sophisticated management tools that open up the possibility for service providers to offer remote system management as a service to small business customers.

The Smart Business system, which targets enterprises with eight to 16 users, builds on expertise that Cisco already has developed in creating similar products for larger enterprises, said Eren Hussein, manager of unified communications solutions marketing for Cisco. “What we’re hearing from our partners and customers is, ‘Make it easy for us to install, set up and use in a plug and play fashion without removing the power of the solution.’”

The Smart Business system supports presence capability, enabling system users to know when colleagues are available to receive calls. It also supports click-to-dial capability and integrates with existing desktop applications such as email, customer relationship management, and enterprise resource planning. Through a partnership with IPcelerate, Cisco also will offer applications targeted for specific vertical markets, such as a health care application that would enable patient data to accompany patient calls.

Using the system’s Configuration Assistant, Cisco claims that end user organizations can set up the system in just a few minutes per user. Remote management tools also are aimed at simplifying system operation for the end user. “It enables partners, including service providers, to offer new services around management,” said Hussein. “They can monitor a small business network from every device, including phones and switches, and can set up specific parameters around what alerts should look like.”

Several service providers, including Covad, already offer managed services for other Cisco business offerings such as Call Manager Express. Making the move to managing Smart Business systems would be “an easy step” for such providers, Hussein said.

Cisco’s announcement, which has both hardware and software components, comes on the heels of a similar product announcement from Microsoft last month that takes a software-based approach to unified communications. Which approach business customers will choose will depend heavily on what their value added reseller pushes, predicted Deb Mielke, an analyst with Treillage Network Strategies. “In the end, it’s not about which product is better, but which company does a better job of educating the VARs,” she said. “Cisco realizes it has to train people because they will sell what they know.”