The tablet market just got a little more exciting with Cisco's (NASDAQ: CSCO) announcement earlier this week of a new Cisco tablet that runs on the Android OS. Called Cius, the new tablet comes with a 7-inch touchscreen and supports various wireless technologies such as 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and 3G networking.

Underscoring Intel's (NASDAQ: INTC) recent announcement that it is porting Android 2.2 over to the x86 platform, the Cius is powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor. In addition, the 1.15 pound device comes with an accelerator, a front-mounted 720p camera as well as a 5-megapixel rear-facing one. Cisco's enterprise-centric roots mean that Cius also comes with eight hours of battery life for a full day of use in the office.

Stymieing any comparison to the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad, top company executives stressed that the Cius is not positioned as a competitor. Indeed CEO John Chambers asserts that the tablet falls into a decade-old plan to combine voice and data communications. As it is, the tablet will be a showcase for all of Cisco's enterprise applications for secure networking and communication front.

Though the full details aren't available as yet, businesses can expect full desktop integration with a full range of programs such as Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, TelePresence video conferencing, WebEx, Presence and IM. "Cius is all about collaboration and telepresence. It's a business tablet," says Chambers. The Cius will be available in the first quarter of 2011, and is expected to be priced at less than $1,000.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at ChannelWeb
- check out this article at USA News Week
- check out this article at Computerworld

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