ROME, Italy, April 28, 2003, Cisco Systems today announced that TIM, Italy's number one mobile phone operator, has increased the capacity of its signalling network with Cisco IP architecture for carrying short message service (SMS) traffic.

The implementation has allowed TIM to capitalise on the growing profit opportunity presented by SMS without sacrificing service quality or network availability. The SMS traffic represents an important slice of SS7 overall signalling traffic. IP Transfer Points represent a stepping-stone that will enable TIM to gradually move towards an all-IP infrastructure.

Massimo Migliuolo, Vice President, Worldwide Mobile Operations, Cisco Systems Inc. said: "At a time when there are around a billion mobile subscribers world-wide and multiple billions of text messages being sent every day, wireless operators are deploying the Cisco ITP family of products in a variety of network scenarios. The flexibility, high-availability, demonstrable capital and operational expenditure savings and support for emerging standards has earned Cisco's IP Transfer Point technology the confidence and approval not just of TIM, but of SS7 operations around the world."