Throwing itself into a market which is currently ruled by some very established giants, Cisco has announced plans to introduce various new products as well as upgrades of its existing services.

Most notable updates shared by the company have been plans to advance into the social networking world and introduction of its very own hosted email service.

With its internet hosted email service, Cisco will be competing with giants such as Microsoft (Microsoft Exchange Online), Google (Gmail), IBM (LotusLive iNotes) and Zoho Mail. The company's email has been christened WebEx Email and supports access through mobile devices. It can also be integrated with Outlook.

Currently, the email service is available in Canada and the US, and is expected to hit UK by the end of 2010. Mailboxes ranging from 5GB to 25GB can be hosted, and while a basic mail client with Ironport Security and 5GB storage costs users $3.50 per month, for $5 per month, support can be added to Outlook and ActiveSync. BlackBerry access comes at an additional $1.

With the its plans to step into 2 completely new markets, Cisco is looking to expand its customer base as well as reap profits from two of the most rapidly growing market segments.