LONDON, Paris, - November 1, 2000 - Cisco and IBM today announced that IBM has become a member of Cisco's Professional Services Partner Program in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Through this program, the two organisations will focus on jointly developing new solutions for telecommunications operators, Internet service providers (ISPs) and applications service providers (ASPs).

By teaming together, IBM and Cisco will address the needs of Service Providers (SPs), where rapid growth, accelerating competition and the demands of new technology are straining the resources of established operators as well as market entrants. IBM and Cisco will offer solutions such as the deployment of ATM core networks, seamless VPN solutions, end-to-end Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and Internet Protocol (IP) services.

IBM's expertise in developing, implementing and supporting business systems and networks will offer powerful solutions to SPs when combined with Cisco's broad presence in the SP network market, delivering both IP core and networking solutions for sophisticated business services.

Hal Gurley, senior director, Technical Support Group at Cisco, said: "This partnership between Cisco and IBM in the Service Provider space is the latest step in the expansion of our ecosystem. It will enable us together to offer total Service Provider solutions."

Yves Lozach, Director of Network Solutions Services, IBM Global Services EMEA, said: "We are delighted to expand our cooperation with Cisco in the EMEA Service Provider market. This complements the position that our two companies have already taken together in other market segments - particularly e-business solutions worldwide."

The agreement between IBM and Cisco is comprehensive in scope. To deliver solutions to Service Providers, IBM Global Services consultants will work with Cisco's Customer Advocacy Professional Services teams to dedicate resources to customers' initiatives, develop customised solutions for their unique needs, and supply marketing and commercial support.

The solutions will be initially offered to Service Providers in the telecommunications and media industries.