VIENNA, Austria, July 5th 2002 - The Austrian Parliament announced today the installation of a Cisco wireless local area network (LAN) in the parliament's chambers. The LAN will provide wireless Intranet and Internet access to members of both Parliament Chambers in the Vienna-based institution. The deployment will improve the internal flow of information and will provide Members of Parliament with flexible Internet access from any location and any device.

"This is a major step towards full e-Government," said Hans Hopf, head of the Parliament's IT department. "Members will have flexible Internet connections enabling them to access relevant information during committee and plenary sessions. Most importantly, it will help to stem the huge flood of paper."

Rodlauer Computer GesmbH together with the integrator Unisys, a Cisco Silver Partner, will deploy a total of 67 Cisco wireless access points in all committee rooms, the plenary and upper chambers, the individual party offices and an additional building complex nearby. "This will enable each member to create their own online profile listing their areas of specialist interest," Hopf explained. "They will also be able to access information via personal portals, using either a fixed or wireless connection."

"Our wireless LAN solution is designed to meet the Parliament's specific needs," said G|nther Brand, general manager of Cisco Systems Austria GmbH. "The infrastructure will allow a rapid flow of information, and has the added benefit of providing Internet access which does not require any alterations to the building. This is particularly important in such a historical building. "Another advantage of a wireless LAN is that it is not affected by the frequent rearrangements of furniture in the committee rooms, so Internet access is always available."

According to Hopf, the two major benefits of the Cisco wireless LAN pilot scheme, which will be trailed until the end of this Parliamentary session, are its user-friendly interface and high level of security. "State-of-the-art security was obviously particularly important for the Parliament when it came to choosing the hardware."