SAN JOSE, Calif., February 12, 2002 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced the expansion of the Cisco IP Contact Center (IPCC) solution with the introduction of the Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Supervisor Desktop. These new applications provide contact center agents and supervisors with a packaged and rapidly deployable Internet Protocol (IP)-based desktop solution.

Momentum also continues to build for the Cisco IP contact center solution, enabled by Cisco (AVVID) Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data . Companies such as Amerix Corporation and Research Triangle Institute (RTI) realize the benefits of convergence and have recently implemented Cisco AVVID-based solutions.

Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Supervisor Desktop provide an intuitive administrative interface that is easy for Cisco's Channel Partners to learn and implement. These new applications increase agent productivity and extend the value of the Cisco IPCC solution by providing an affordable and scaleable turnkey offering. The Cisco IPCC solution is a flexible and open contact center solution, which helps enterprises to reduce costs, increase scalability and open new contact channels to their customers by extending investments in existing IP-based networks. The addition of Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Supervisor Desktop to the Cisco IPCC solution is ideally suited for extensions to existing call center operations, "greenfield" installations, or extensions to branch offices of enterprise call centers.

"Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Supervisor Desktop fulfills a broad need for high-value contact center applications, in an IP-environment, that are easy to get up and running, configure and manage," said Steve Roy, a senior call center consultant for Household International, a 124-year old financial services corporation. "Disaster recovery, resilience and the ability to utilize legacy technology will be very important factors in our decision to test the Cisco IPCC solution. So far we are very impressed with the technology, especially its ability to integrate seamlessly with existing technology while establishing the infrastructure for future technological integrations."

The Cisco IPCC Solution

A key part of Cisco AVVID, the Cisco IPCC solution is an integrated suite of IP telephony and contact center solutions that provide intelligent call routing over a single converged IP network for multi-site or single-site enterprise call centers.

"As leaders in our field, we chose the Cisco IPCC solution because it met our requirements and provided features and capabilities we need now and in the future for our multi-channel contact center environment," said Roy Schonberg, Director of IT Infrastructure of Research Triangle Institute International (RTI), an independent organization dedicated to conducting innovative, multidisciplinary research that improves the human condition. "We wanted an IP-based end-to-end contact center solution and the Cisco IPCC solution is an excellent ACD [automatic call distributor] alternative; our entire contact center is based on Cisco [voice-over-IP] technology."

Pricing and Availability of the Cisco Agent Desktop and Cisco Supervisor Desktop

The Cisco CAD/CSD is available today; pricing starts at $900 per seat.