SAN JOSE, Calif., July 10, 1995 -- Cisco Systems is the first company inthe United States whose American-made telecommunications products havereceived Full Quality Assurance approval from the British Approvals Boardfor Telecommunications (BABT) for the entire European Community.
BABT has awarded Cisco's development and manufacturing facilities in San Joseits Full Quality Assurance approval, recognizing the company's quality ofproduction, design and testing operations. This certification allows Ciscoto sell products with interfaces that connect to the European publictelecommunications network in the European Community, without undertakingthe lengthy process of certification through third-party test labs.
As a result, Cisco products will be available quickly in the 18 membercountries of the European Economic Area, where deregulation and technologyadvances are causing strong demand for networking products.
"Using an outside test lab, this process can take anywhere from threemonths or more," said Stu Phillips, Cisco vice president of centralengineering. "This certification means we can accelerate the delivery ofproducts to our customers and at the same time avoid the additional costsof lab testing."
BABT's managing director, David Clarke said, "We are delighted that Ciscois our first FQA issued in the U.S. FQA is an increasingly important keyelement of the approvals options offered by BABT and we are well advancedwith several other companies. For our clients the advantages in FQA,particularly in reduced time to market for new and modified products, areconsiderable."
The San Jose facility will be reaudited every six months to ensure Ciscomaintains the processes, procedures and controls that ensure the quality ofdesign and production.
Cisco is one of only four firms in the world to have received FQAcertification from BABT under Annex IV of the European telecom directive91/263/EEC. The others are IBM France, GPT and Ascom.
"We are pleased to have had a continuous relationship with BABT over thepast four years," Phillips added. "Cisco is committed to working on anongoing basis with standards regulatory bodies to ensure that we meetinternational standards."
Posted: Jul 10 09:40:57 1995