Project Squared Is Cisco’s New Free Collaboration Platform

Cisco has released Project Squared, a free collaboration platform that lets businesses send messages, make video and audio calls, and share files from a variety of sources, including Box, securely across multiple devices.

Project Squared is built on the Cisco Collaboration Cloud and lets users start a ‘room’ where any person, inside or outside an organisation, can be invited to join by using their name and email address.

The platform is available as a free app for iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac and works as a web application within Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Cisco says an “intuitive” design means no difficulty curve and promises easier collaboration and file access as no VPNs are required.

Project Squared

This, it is claimed, does not compromise security thanks to end-to-end encryption and the ability to require users to log-in with their corporate single sign-on.

“We’re focused on transforming the collaboration experience and that’s the basis for Project Squared,” said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager, Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco. “Giving workers, in one place, a way to access content with just one click, and, collaborate easily with the people that matter most is our mission.”

The company says the beauty of Project Squared is that it works with many other tools already used by enterprises, including Box. Project Squared uses the Box View and Box content APis so files stored in the cloud can be added easily to any room.

“Enterprises are adopting best-of-breed solutions to change the way their employees work, which means that vendors need to work together to offer unprecedented continuity between their services,” said Aaron Levie, CEO of Box. “This alliance with Cisco is an exciting example of what that can look like, and we’re thrilled to be pairing Cisco’s leading collaboration portfolio with Box’s content collaboration to power better experiences for our joint customers.”

Last year, Cisco purchased Collaborate.com in a bid to boost the former’s cloud and collaboration portfolio, which already included WebEx and Jabber and the San Jose-based firm has promised to build on Project Squared with new features.

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