The web based tools will also take Cisco smack up against offerings from Google.

According to Reuters, Cisco Senior Vice President Doug Dennerline said that Cisco is considering the development of a service that would allow business users to create documents they could draft and share through its WebEx meeting and collaboration service.

Internet-based alternatives to Microsoft Office cropped up about five years ago, but corporate users have yet to embrace them. If the approach does take off, it could become big business: Microsoft's Office division rang up sales of $60 billion in the software company's most-recent fiscal year.

Google sells Google Apps, an alternative to Microsoft Office that includes a spreadsheet, word processor and presentation software. Dennerline, who manages Cisco's online collaboration products, said he is interested in getting into that area.

"That is an interesting space. We are certainly thinking about that," he said on Tuesday during an online news conference. He did not elaborate.