Apple, Cisco, announce collaboration to create “fast lane” for iOS products in enterprise environments

You can usually mend the fences when money’s involved.

Apple and Cisco announced on Monday that they have partnered up to integrate iOS products more tightly into the kind of enterprise networks sold by Cisco. Together, they will create a “fast lane” for iOS products in enterprise networks.

The companies also announced a plan to release developer tools that would enable iOS devices to take advantage of Cisco’s products and services.

By tightly integrating iOS and Cisco products, the end result could make iPhones and iPads perform better in corporate environments, as well as kickstart sales for the iPad, which has been experiencing declining sales for six consecutive quarters.

Although the two companies haven’t laid out many of the technical details of this partnership yet, one area that Cisco and Apple could more tightly integrate is in Cisco’s Spark and WebEx products, said analyst Patrick Moorehead.

In a recent interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Cisco Chairman John Chambers, it was reported that the collaboration is the result of 10 months of hashing out the details. “It became clear to me that partnering with Cisco would yield the results that would enable us to transform work,” said Tim Cook.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via Forbes and The Wall Street Journal