Washington, DC -- February 9, 1998 -- In conjunction with the PBX 2000 Conference sponsored by Business Communications Review, NEC America and Cisco Systems today announce that they have signed a memorandum of understanding establishing their intention to work together to provide solutions that will meet the growing demand for integration of PBX and internetworking technology targeted at providing enhanced and lower cost voice communication for businesses through the integration of voice and data networks.
According to the memorandum of understanding between the two companies, the first in a series of planned initiatives is a development effort to deliver a full Voice over IP-enabled PBX (Private Branch Exchange) utilizing the new NEAX.2400 IMX platform which NEC also unveils at today's conference. This next generation PBX introduces an innovative (patent pending) networking technology called "Fusion Call Control Signaling (FCCS)" which will deploy a new transmission signaling protocol compatible with IP networks and Cisco's routers and switches. This application is intended to allow a voice network to seamlessly integrate into an IP network, making it possible to add voice networking capabilities to a LAN or WAN without a major network restructuring. Under the terms of this milestone memorandum of understanding, NEC intends to contribute expertise in the areas of voice communications, PBX technology, and vertical market application development while Cisco intends to provide expertise in data communications and Internet technology.
In general, the cooperation is intended to provide networking solutions that will provide businesses large and small with more cost-effective ways to transport voice services throughout their enterprise. Proposed collaboration between the two industry leaders on additional initiatives such as network management systems and tools would also help to reduce the costs of network ownership. Another key objective is to develop and produce new applications that will accelerate the development and deployment of integrated multimedia networks.
Having worked closely over the past five years, Cisco and NEC have similar visions for development of markets for voice and data networks. Both companies are focused on meeting the growing demand for computer and communication systems integration, and seek to enhance voice services using internetworking technologies.
"Both Cisco and NEC believe that the next wave of the Internet Revolution will be defined by the ability to integrate voice, video & data effectively over a single network to reduce costs and enable new application deployment," stated Mr. John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco. "Cisco is excited to be collaborating with NEC, as one of the top worldwide PBX developers, to lead in the deployment of these integrated networks. This effort will enable NEC's and Cisco's products to become more complementary and establishes a foundation for future collaboration between our companies."
"NEC recognizes the strategic importance of global Internet protocols for both private and public networks, and is integrating these into its new PBX platform," stated Dr. Mineo Sugiyama, president of NEC America, Inc. "NEC's alliance with Cisco will enable us to offer our customers unique applications to more effectively transport voice services throughout enterprise networks such as geographically distributed businesses, school systems, healthcare providers, and virtually all types of campus environments. NEC has been a key partner with Cisco in Japan since 1992 and looks forward to continuing and expanding our partnership in the future, leveraging each company's unique strengths."
NEC America, Inc.
NEC America, Inc., an affiliate of NEC Corporation, develops, manufactures and markets a complete line of advanced communications products and software for public and private networks, including digital key telephone and PBX systems; ATM switching systems; PCS equipment; cellular telephones; pagers; facsimile equipment; videoconferencing equipment; fiber optic transmission systems; data communications products; digital microwave radio, satellite communications and network management systems. NEC Corporation and its affiliates worldwide are a $40 billion global leader whose 152,000 employees are dedicated to providing leading-edge computer, communications and semiconductor products and services. For additional information on NEC America, Inc., the Corporate Networks Group and its products, please consult the World Wide Web at: http://www.cng.nec.com or call 800-TEAM-NEC.Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is theworldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News and information areavailable athttp://www.cisco.com.
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