ESPOO, Finland and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 4, 2000 - Nokia Networks, the infrastructure arm of Nokia Corporation, and Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced an agreement to enhance connectivity between mobile and Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Nokia and Cisco are driving compatibility between Nokia's leading General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), EDGE, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)/EDGE and Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) core solutions and Cisco's IP backbone systems for wireless operators and service provider customers globally.
With this co-operation, Nokia will market and sell fully interoperable system solutions consisting of Nokia's IP Mobility core and Cisco's backbone routing technology. This non-exclusive agreement will give operators the opportunity to have comprehensive wireless systems solutions combining world class backbone technology, mobile core, Internet network planning, implementation and support services.
"This agreement combines the strengths of the leading players in mobility and IP, for the provision of world-class solutions for our customers," said Dr J.T. Bergqvist, Senior Vice President, Nokia Networks. "Building an IP networking relationship with Cisco is an ideal complement to Nokia's vision of future IP Mobility networks. In today's market, interoperability and co-operation with the industry's leaders are important in streamlining the delivery of full system solutions."
"Working together Nokia can offer wireless operators a highly complementary, full-service networking solution that can be deployed quickly and easily," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president of Service Provider Line of Business at Cisco. "The combination of Nokia wireless and Cisco backbone IP expertise will provide wireless operators with a 'one-stop-shop' for a complete system solution, allowing them to speed time-to-market and revenues for new services."
Under the terms of the agreement, IP-based engineering services that are currently offered by Nokia to network operators would be complemented by Cisco networking technology. For example, Nokia will use Cisco's backbone routing, LAN switching and enterprise products to build wireless IP networking solutions for their clients. Cisco will also train Nokia's engineering groups on Cisco's products and technologies, including the Catalyst family of switches, the Cisco 12000 Gigabit Switch Router (GSR) and Cisco's core Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switches.
As a result of this agreement, customers will have direct access to Nokia's leading IP Mobility solutions and systems integration teams, and Cisco's leading networking technology. This also ensures full alignment and seamless integration of Nokia's wireless system solutions at the edge of the IP network and multiservice backbone solution, allowing customers to focus their attentions on their core business processes.
"We are consistently seeing IP being adopted as the platform of choice in all of the markets Cisco operates in," said William Nuti, president Cisco Systems EMEA. "As Europe continues to grow and thrive in the Internet Economy, Cisco is very excited about the market opportunities that exist today in the mobile space. Our customers stand to benefit significantly because IP allows them deliver more sophisticated services to their customers who rely on technology-based business solutions to maintain their competitive edge."
