TAIPEI - March 2, 2004 - Hewlett-Packard (HP)'s recent installation of a new IP telephony system, which includes 1000 Cisco® IP phones and is the single-largest IP telephony site in Taiwan, has enabled HP to reduce its telephone system maintenance costs by up to 25 percent.

Built on Cisco AVVID, or the Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data, the Cisco IP telephony solution provides HP with a single network infrastructure for the transmission of data, voice and video traffic. HP users can have one-key access to the company's worldwide offices and make IDD calls at a much lower cost. With the simplified wiring solution, the new converged phone and data network can be easily managed by a single team, thus substantially reducing system maintenance costs.

Larry Chai, general manager, Cisco® Taiwan, said, "IP telephony is a powerful worldwide trend, but many corporations get tied into traditional systems that can only use a limited range of client devices. By capturing IP telephony's truly open systems and intelligent services, HP can enjoy tangible business benefits in terms of operational costs and work efficiency."

Simon Huang, vice president and general manager of HP Services for Taiwan, said: "We have a long-term relationship with Cisco and we are highly confident of Cisco's technologies. Combining Cisco's solutions and HP's experience in design, construction and deployment of IP telephony for other customers previously, we were able to complete our own IP telephony installation in a month's time and extensively increase our communication effectiveness.

Apart from the significant saving in maintenance costs, HP is able to centralize the operation of phone calls and cut down costs in upgrading network and PBX. The new IP telephony system enables efficient network management and reduces network transmission costs," added Mr. Huang.

The Cisco IP telephony solution supports diverse clients, including hardware phones, software phones, and video devices, plus options for integrating traditional PABX, voice mail, and directory systems. The Microsoft Windows-based IP SoftPhone application offers greater flexibility and accessibility.

The Cisco IP telephony solution includes 1000 IP phones and Cisco CallManager software. At the heart of HP's IP telephony system are Cisco Catalyst® 6500 and 4506 switches, which extend IP telephony control to each of the five floors of HP's building. Mobile virtual private networks for mobile telephone, as well as some conventional telephones and fax machines are connected to the IP system under the monitoring of Cisco IP Interactive Voice Response.

HP served as system integrator for the project. Apart from the IP telephony solution, Cisco Systems provided consultancy and support services to HP on the project.