Rockwell Electronic Commerce and Ericsson sign global agreement

Rockwell Electronic Commerce and Ericsson sign global agreement Companies Demonstrate Joint Partnership at CeBIT '99, Germany Ericsson and Rockwell Electronic Commerce announced today the signing of a comprehensive global agreement covering marketing, sales, distribution, and integration development for customer interaction solutions. Ericsson's leadership positions in wireless, IP and network infrastructure, combined with Rockwell's years of expertise in customer contact technology and call center practices, will offer customers a unique solution across multiple business needs. The agreement comes just three months after the companies announced their intention of forging a global relationship. The two companies made the announcement at CeBIT '99, where Ericsson joins Rockwell in demonstrating the latest capabilities and software for interactive customer call center solutions at the Ericsson booth. "Rockwell Electronic Commerce's goal is to deliver standard-based, technology platforms for call center systems and solutions," says Michael Caglarcan, president of Rockwell Electronic Commerce. "Ericsson shares our vision for the future based on open platforms. Our international business is growing substantially and the Ericsson network will expand our reach into dozens of more countries as we jointly focus on fast emerging electronic commerce." "Ericsson is committed to deliver customer interaction solutions that suit the unique needs of each individual business organization, for example, solutions that help businesses forge enduring relationships with their customers," says Lars E. Svensson, vice president and general manager of Ericsson Enterprise Systems. "The partnership with Rockwell Electronic Commerce allows us to strengthen our position as a key player in the customer interaction market." The two companies have agreed to a reciprocal agreement, taking advantage of Ericsson's position as Europe's leading call center provider and Rockwell's US market leadership in mission critical call centers, to achieve world market leadership. The agreement provides Ericsson with the opportunity to leverage Rockwell's strengths among its North American customer base. Joint sales training and marketing programs are currently in place. The agreement is build upon the business relationship developed between the two companies in the United Kingdom and Australia, which has already resulted in 8 successful customer call center installations. One of the short-term joint development objectives is the seamless integration of the Rockwell Spectrum ACD and the Ericsson MD110 line of PBX solutions to address the global market for mission-critical, high-performance call centers. These two open platforms will present new opportunities for integration of related third party applications, further increasing the opportunities of complete customer interaction solutions. Future development is targeted at leveraging Ericsson's mobile expertise into the call center. Ericsson is the leading provider in the new telecoms world, with communications solutions that combine telecom and datacom technologies with freedom of mobility for the user. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for its customers - network operators, service providers, enterprises and consumers - the world over. Please visit Ericsson's Press Room at: http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Caroline Freudentahl, Press Relations Manager Ericsson Business Segment Enterprise Solutions Phone: + 46 8 422 2089, + 46 70 343 9609 Lars Irenius, Business Area Manager Customer Interaction Ericsson Business Unit Enterprise Systems Phone: + 46 8 422 2349, + 46 70 665 1946 Company Information Rockwell Electronic Commerce (www.ec.rockwell.com) is a leading supplier of customer interaction technologies. These technologies include automatic call distribution (ACD) platforms, call center and customer contact applications, computer telephony integration (CTI), multi-media and Internet solutions. Rockwell Electronic Commerce delivers open, standards-based technologies that integrate existing enterprise-wide information systems with robust customer relationship management applications. Rockwell (NYSE: ROK) is a $7 billion electronic controls and communications company with global leadership market positions in industrial automation, avionics and communications, and electronic commerce. The company employs about 40,000 people at more than 450 locations in 40 countries.