SINGAPORE -- 25 July 2001 -- Cisco Systems, Inc., today announced that inter-touch Pty Ltd has become a participant in the Cisco Internet Mobile Office initiative. This will allow mobile business professionals staying at any hotel or establishment powered by inter-touch and Cisco technology to enjoy secure, high-speed network access to the Internet and their corporate resources anytime and anywhere.
inter-touch provides broadband services to leading four and five star hotel brands, airline lounges and serviced apartments around the world in South Pacific, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Europe. A total solution provider in the hospitality industry, inter-touch will deploy Cisco's Building Broadband Solutions within the hotel environment. These comprise Long Reach Ethernet (LRE) technology and Building Broadband Service Manager (BBSM) software.
Cisco Internet Mobile Office is an ecosystem of technology, application and service providers and systems integrators, offering a complete end-to-end solution. This ecosystem provides the mobile workforce with access to their corporate networks from locations such as airports, airline lounges, convention centres, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality venues. This dramatically increases productivity while controlling costs for travelling employees.
"We are pleased to have an industry leader like inter-touch join the Cisco Internet Mobile Office initiative. They bring a wealth of experience in working with companies across the hospitality, airline, convention and property sectors in addition to significantly expanding the reach of Cisco Internet Mobile Office," said Fredy Cheung, Director of Commercial Line of Business for Cisco Systems in Asia Pacific. "Most importantly, inter-touch also shares Cisco's vision of providing easy, reliable, and secure access to the Internet – on the move, at home, or at work."
Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive Officer for inter-touch added: "The Cisco Internet Mobile Office initiative is the first major vendor to share our vision of creating seamless, end-to-end connectivity for business travelers back to their corporate resources.
"We are tremendously excited to be a part of this initiative as it maps perfectly with our core business and will add significant value to our partners.
"The fact that a leading Internet player like Cisco has launched such an initiative demonstrates the importance of current developments in communication availability and support being directed towards business travelers."
According to Mr Ivan Chan, Director of IT Asia Pacific for Bass Hotels & Resorts, the Cisco and inter-touch relationship will not only provide guests with access to the latest technologies, but also provide the hotel with ongoing value propositions.
Bass Hotels & Resorts is the world's leading global hotel company, whose brands include Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Express by Holiday Inn, and Staybridge Suites.
"We believe that Bass Hotels & Resorts' inclusion in the Cisco Internet Mobile Office initiative positions us ahead of the field in terms of our ability to offer our guests the latest communications technology facilities available – now and in the future. We see our participation as a strategic business move in line with our ongoing IT plans and development," said Mr Chan.
inter-touch currently works with Cisco infrastructure in 79 hotels throughout the globe and all are potential Cisco Internet Mobile Office candidates. These include hotel groups such as Bass Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt, Millennium and Copthorne International, Accor and Ritz Carlton.
The inter-touch partner network spans 10 countries in Asia Pacific including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, as well as United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom.
About inter-touch
Founded in 1998 (then called NetPort Hospitality Systems), inter-touch Pty Ltd is now one of the world's largest providers of information services via the Internet for business travellers, and has 75 staff in operations across the South Pacific, Asia Pacific and Europe, and the Middle East. inter-touch partners with the hospitality, airline, convention and property industries to provide emerging communications technologies to business travellers. More information available at www.inter-touch.com/.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at www.cisco.com.
# # #
Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
