SAN JOSE, Calif. Jan. 10, 2000 - Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced that its Cisco Customer Interaction Suite has received a C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions 1999 Product of the Year award in the Web/call center customer interaction category. This award is designed to honor innovative products and services that have furthered call center/CRM technology.

According to C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions, as the Internet has continued to grow in use as a business medium over the past year, it has become apparent that the same personal interaction between customer and company that was previously only available over the phone is now a must on Web sites in order to turn browsers into buyers.

The Cisco Customer Interaction Suite includes a complete family of products that enable companies to integrate their Internet commerce, service and telephony infrastructures to combine the personal value of human interaction with the information value of the Web. Components of the suite include Cisco Collaboration Server, Cisco eMail Manager, Cisco Media Blender and Cisco Media Manager. Pricing for the Cisco Customer Interaction Suite starts at $1,500 per agent seat.

"As the industry matures, we're finding more than just point products and services on the market -- entire solutions are being offered," said Rich Tehrani, TMC president and group publisher. "C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions magazine initiated the Product of the Year award program to help our readers sort through the vast proliferation of new products and services in the marketplace. The Product of the Year award, selected by the editors of C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions, is given to those select products, such as the Cisco Customer Interaction Suite, that deserve the attention of forward-thinking organizations looking for best-of-breed solutions. We are pleased to honor the Product of the Year winners today, as they lay the groundwork for the next generation of call centers."

"We are honored to have been chosen as a C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions 1999 Product of the Year award winner," said Dan Keshian, vice president and general manager for the Customer Contact Business Unit in Cisco Systems, Inc.'s Applications Technology Group. "This distinction underscores our leadership position in providing innovative solutions for companies seeking to evolve their call centers into true multimedia customer interaction centers."

C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions is a monthly magazine that focuses on inbound, outbound and customer service management. Its target audience is telemarketing professionals that use call center technology for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer purposes.