"The worlds of telephony, data and multimedia communications continue to converge, and wireline carriers must deliver a wider variety of services and applications while minimizing overall network costs," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. "Cisco Systems and Ericsson share a vision to build the most robust and efficient IP-based multi-service networks in the industry - generating new revenues for our customers while protecting the IT and telecom investments they have already made."

"When we looked at the market opportunity, we realized a stronger relationship between Cisco and Ericsson could help accelerate the development of profitable services - benefiting our customers, as well as both companies. We see tremendous synergies between our visions of IP-based, multi-service networks and look forward to a mutually beneficial alliance," said John Chambers, President and CEO, Cisco Systems. "Cisco's expertise in Internet and networking technologies makes us the natural choice for service providers seeking to integrate IP-based technologies into their networks."

The deployment of multi-service networks is a compelling opportunity for carriers to offer new services on their fixed networks and accelerate revenue growth. The alliance builds on Ericsson's strengths in multi-service networks along with leading expertise in systems integration and Cisco Systems' leadership in IP routing and Ethernet. The agreement brings together technical depth and market experience that offers operators unique advantages and reduces risk as they carry out modernization of their networks.

Ericsson and Cisco are pleased to see that significant operators such as Telefónica and Telstra are already showing interest in involvement with the newly formed alliance.

"The use of IP technology in our network is the answer to our objective, which we have been looking to achieve for a long time, of having a multi-service infrastructure able to carry all kinds of information and to stimulate the launching of new services in order to answer our clients' needs and to anticipate new opportunities. Ericsson and Cisco working together combine technological knowledge, systems integration capacity and local based resources to provide a solid foundation for the correct execution of ambitious evolution projects in our existing network towards the new generation one," said César Alierta, Chairman and CEO of Telefónica.

 

"The Ericsson/Cisco alliance will have the capability to move us efficiently, deliberately and cost effectively through the changes we require as part of our network evolution towards an IP/packet based network infrastructure," said Ted Pretty, Group Managing Director, Telstra Technology Innovation and Products Group, Telstra. "We also expect it to deliver bottom line benefits such as reduced OPEX and enhanced revenue opportunities through faster and more efficient delivery of new services to market."

Ericsson's leading global service organization which operates in 140 countries, in coordination with Cisco's global advocacy organizations, will lead the development of joint capabilities for deploying multi-service networks, and upgrading and integrating operators' existing systems.

Core network solutions offered under the alliance, addressing both classic telephony and new multimedia services, will be built around Ericsson's ENGINE softswitch portfolio and Cisco's core routing products. A broadband access offering will be based around Public Ethernet over DSL, using Ericsson's IP-based digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), Ericsson's IP Service Engine and Cisco Systems' Ethernet Access Solutions and Ethernet Switches.