SAN JOSE, Calif., February 19, 2003 - Cisco Systems® today announced a spate of new IP Communications customers ranging from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and the Cancer Therapy and Research Center to the Memphis Grizzlies and Global Crossing all of whom are focusing on significant productivity benefits and return on investment from their converged data, voice and video systems.
The Cisco IP Communications system is supporting organizations in many industries including: financial services, insurance, healthcare, real estate, manufacturing, retail/entertainment, transportation, education and government/public sector.
For Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGE&Y), the Cisco IP Communications system has helped the leading business-management and IT consulting firm to meet objectives for cost control and investment protection for existing legacy PBX and voice-mail systems. CGE&Y's network features a hub-and-spoke design that connects 12 of its offices across the United States to Cisco CallManager software clusters for centralized IP call processing. The company has deployed 600 Cisco IP phones and will add an additional 775 phones by May.
"Although we considered a hybrid voice-data solution for our existing PBXs, we decided that type of approach would not be viable in the long run," said Tom Fryar, director of network services for CGE&Y North America. "You have to keep in mind that with a traditional PBX, you are investing in an old, closed system instead of an open, scalable system."
Instead, CGE&Y decided it would add IP telephony to the firm's data network, which is built almost entirely with Cisco products. This led to the choice of Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data) as the network foundation and a Cisco IP Communications system for offices that needed new voice infrastructure. Fryar estimates that initial equipment investments made for the Cisco IP Communications system were approximately 20-percent less than a comparable PBX system. The total cost of ownership for the system, according to Fryar, is nearly 50-percent less compared with the hardware and software maintenance fees for traditional PBXs. Based on the savings, CGE&Y projects a three-year payback period for its investment.
"Our new system has proven easier to manage and maintain from a central environment compared with our legacy PBX systems, especially for moves, adds, and changes and hardware maintenance," Fryar said. "The system allows our employees to be more productive. For example, managing the system is as easy as opening a Web browser and pointing it to a Cisco Call Manager, instead of dialing into a PBX. In addition, we can share responsibilities across support staff and eliminate many of the legacy boundaries between data and voice personnel."
Cisco is the LAN Telephony Market Share Leader
With more than 6,000 IP Communications customers worldwide and 1.4 million IP phones shipped to date, Cisco continues its momentum in delivering IP Communications solutions. As further evidence, according to the Synergy Research Q4 calendar 2002 report, Cisco continues its leadership with the number-one position, or 39.9 percent market share, in the LAN Telephony market. Cisco is also number one in unit volume of IP phones shipped with 50 percent market share, and holds 72.8 percent market share in enterprise voice gateways shipped.
Cisco IP Communications Lead the Way in a Variety of Markets
In the financial services industry, the Cisco IP Communications system is now operating at Advancial Federal Credit Union, Allegacy Federal Credit Union, First Magnus Financial, KeyCorp and People's Bank and Trust. In the insurance industry, ComparisonMarket is using Cisco solutions. In the healthcare services industry, the American Academy of Dermatology, Aspen Valley Hospital, Baylor Healthcare, Cancer Therapy and Research Center, Corsolutions, Marsh Field Clinic, Northwest Medical Center, and the Washington Regional Medical Center have all recently deployed a Cisco IP Communications system.
In the government/public sector, City of Auburn, U.S. Department of Commerce, Federal Trade Commission, Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Town of Palm Beach, Florida and the U.S. Census Bureau are using Cisco's converged system. In education, Bloomfield Hill Schools in Michigan, Brigham Young University, Chippewa Valley Technical College, Frederick County Public Schools and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab are among the newest Cisco premier customers. In manufacturing, Phillips Plastics and Rheem Manufacturing are benefiting from the Cisco IP Communications system. New Cisco customers include the Memphis Grizzlies professional NBA basketball team in retail and entertainment. Travel Centers of America in transportation, YHD Foxtons in the real-estate market.
"Cisco's success in winning IP telephony customers from such diverse industries shows that this is a market delivering real productivity benefits not just theoretical ones," said Kathryn Korostoff, president of Sage Research. "In a recent IP telephony survey, we discovered significant productivity benefits for both IT and non-IT employees. Forty- three percent of the IT support staff we spoke with reported an average time savings of 5.5 hours per week. Forty-eight percent of the remote office workers in the study reported 4.3 hours in time savings per week when using a converged voice and data system."
About the Cisco IP Communications System
Cisco IP Communications is a comprehensive system of enterprise-class solutions including IP telephony, unified communications, IP audio and videoconferencing, IP video broadcasting, and contact-center software. Enabled by Cisco (AVVID), IP Communications solutions dramatically improve operational efficiencies, increase organizational productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction to create an empowered, effective work environment.
