SAN JOSE, Calif., August 12, 2002 -Building on its global channels strategy to provide channel partners with the resources, tools and programs to help increase profitability, Cisco Systems, Inc., today announced the availability of its Converged Network Investment Calculator (CNIC) to all IP-Telephony specialized channel partners.

"End-users have told us again and again that identifying the bottom-line benefit when evaluating new technologies is a priority given today's economic climate," said Ken Presti, industry analyst for IDC. "Effective return on investment tools can serve as a key element to the sales process because they offer a means for customers to measure the long-term value of new technologies like IP Communications. Cisco's return on investment tool is an elegant response that can play a very meaningful role in persuading customers to invest in new technology."

"A compelling ROI analysis is critical in making a decision to implement a converged network," said Tom Stephens, manager, networks and hardware support at Cray. "Accuracy is essential to the validity of an ROI tool. The ROI analysis we received from the Cisco Converged Network Investment Calculator is proving to be extremely accurate."

"Sentinel's success has been closely linked to our ability to successfully justify to our customers the financial benefits of a converged AVVID (Cisco's Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) solution," said Robert Keblusek, vice president business development at Sentinel Technologies, Inc., a Cisco IP-Telephony Specialized Channel Partner in Downers Grove, Illinois. "The Cisco ROI calculator has provided us an additional tool to assist in quickly justifying our proposals. Using financial, technical and strategic justification Sentinel has been able to successfully sell Cisco solutions in a very tough economy."

Available to IP-Telephony Specialized Channel Partners

Cisco channel partners with the IP-Telephony Specialization now have access to the same tool Cisco itself currently uses to provide its converged network customers with a return on investment analysis. Over the past eight months, CNIC has been used with more than 1,000 Cisco customers. Cisco IP-Telephony specialized channel partners interested in learning more go to http://www.cisco.com/partner/cnic/

"We view our channel partners as essential to our company and we are delighted to provide them with the tools, resources and programs, such as the Converged Network Investment Calculator to help them succeed," said Surinder Brar, senior director of marketing for Worldwide Channels at Cisco. "Enabling our IP-Telephony specialized channel partners to quickly provide a return on investment analysis to their customers is an important requirement in today's market."

CNIC Training

Cisco has created two new e-learning courses to help IP-Telephony specialized channel partners learn more about return on investment and how to use the new CNIC. The "IP Telephony ROI" course includes four common deployment scenarios and provides instruction on how to gather information, input the information into the calculator, interpret results, present to customers and answer customer questions. The "Foundations of Finance" course provides the key concepts necessary to perform a return on investment analysis as well as how to present return on investment information to the customer. To learn more about these courses go to: www.cisco.com/warp/public/10/wwtraining/pec/peclogin.html