Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UCM) is the world’s leading on-premises calling platform, trusted by more than 30 million users across mission-critical industries including finance, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, government, and defense. For over 25 years, UCM has been the foundation of secure and reliable enterprise collaboration, delivering the performance, scalability, and stability that organizations rely on every day.
As part of Cisco’s ongoing investment in UCM, we continue to take steps that give customers the flexibility and confidence to plan for the future. Recent changes in the market, outside of Cisco’s control, have raised concerns about hypervisor support. In response, we are expanding hypervisor options to provide customers with greater choice and control over their deployments.
Today, we are pleased to announce that Cisco NFVIS-for-UC, a lightweight and purpose-built hypervisor designed specifically for collaboration workloads, will soon be available to customers worldwide. NFVIS-for-UC simplifies virtualization, reduces costs, and enables organizations to modernize their collaboration environments while maintaining the reliability and security that make Cisco UCM the trusted standard for enterprise calling.
Introducing NFVIS-for-UC
Cisco NFVIS-for-UC is built for businesses seeking a streamlined, UC-centric deployment model. This lightweight, purpose-built hypervisor simplifies virtualization collaboration workloads, making calling deployments easier to manage, more predictable, and perfectly right-sized for each environment. NFVIS-for-UC provides the reliability and control that on-premises customers expect, without the complexity of managing large-scale, multi-purpose virtualization platforms.
Who is NFVIS-for-UC a Good Fit For
NFVIS-for-UC is ideal for organizations with 200 to 5,000 users that are focused on Cisco Calling applications, but can be used with deployments of any size. It’s especially well-suited for teams with telecom-style administration and those who prefer appliance-based hardware such as the Cisco BE6000, BE7000, or CE1400V. The solution is also a natural fit for air-gapped or regulated environments, where data security and operational control are paramount.
NFVIS-for-UC provides only the essential virtualization features, backed by Cisco’s trusted support, making it a dependable and predictable option. For organizations seeking a stable, easy-to-manage hypervisor—without the overhead of third-party platforms or cloud dependencies—NFVIS-for-UC strikes the ideal balance between simplicity, flexibility, and performance.
Advantages of NFVIS-for-UC
NFVIS-for-UC is optimized for Cisco Calling workloads, delivering top-tier performance for calling environments while keeping costs in check. By leveraging appliance-based hardware, it’s simple to acquire, deploy, and maintain. The platform ensures predictable operations, allowing businesses to maintain their existing scale, VM mix, and architecture with minimal disruption.
NFVIS-for-UC is ideal for customers who need a secure or isolated deployment model. With end-to-end Cisco support—covering applications, hypervisor, and hardware—organizations benefit from a single trusted partner and seamless lifecycle management. And with long-term continuity, NFVIS-for-UC will remain supported alongside Cisco UCM and the BE6K/BE7K platforms, providing lasting investment protection.
By simplifying deployment and ongoing management, NFVIS-for-UC eliminates “hypervisor fatigue” and reduces operational friction. This enables IT and telecom teams to focus on what truly matters—delivering a consistent, high-quality calling experience that meets the demands of modern, mission-critical communications.
Looking Ahead
Cisco NFVIS-for-UC is targeted for beta in Q4 CY2025 and general availability in Q1 CY2026. It is part of Cisco’s broader strategy to expand hypervisor flexibility, which will also include support for Nutanix AHV in calendar year 2026. Together, these offerings will provide UCM customers of all sizes and deployment models with powerful new options to modernize their collaboration environments, optimize costs, and align with their long-term IT strategies.
To learn more about our hypervisor options for UCM, watch the webinar below.
Cisco remains fully committed to the success and longevity of Unified Communications Manager. As we continue to enhance flexibility, security, and innovation across the UCM portfolio, our goal is to help customers protect their existing investments while confidently evolving toward the future of collaboration. Whether your strategy is on-premises, hybrid, or cloud-connected, Cisco UCM will continue to deliver the performance and reliability that have made it the trusted standard for enterprise calling.
Learn more:
The post Expanding Flexibility for Cisco UCM with NFVIS-for-UC appeared first on Webex Blog.