(iTers News) - Cisco today unveiled Instant Connect, a cost efficient push-to-talk (PTT) communication solution for personnel in a number of sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, campus and enterprise employees. This new solution allows a group of mobile users to instantly communicate using enterprise networks. Cisco Instant Connect delivers secure, reliable communications with a full-featured PTT user experience including enhanced capabilities beyond two-way PTT mobile radio handsets.

Traditional PTT radio communications is often difficult to manage and operate. Many services are expensive, limited and restrictive in functionality. Users are often constrained by carriers and limited to voice capabilities, in addition to paying a monthly service fee. 

Cisco Instant Connect is delivered using existing network infrastructure over enterprise wireless networks without the need for a service provider or carrier network, and does not require additional network investments. Users also have the flexibility to use their choice of mobile devices, including Cisco wired and wireless phones.

With Instant Connect, field personnel simply log into their group and push a button to communicate with their colleagues from any location with network connectivity. When users roam off site, they are able to stay in communication with their group by connecting to the corporate network through a carrier data plan. Managers with administration privileges can add and delete users from groups. PTT Servers are installed on the corporate network running as virtual applications on Cisco's award winning Unified Data Center technologies including the Unified Computing Systems b-series, c-series and e-series platforms that can easily be expanded as PTT usage grows.