SAN JOSE, Calif., July 13, 2004 - Cisco Systems® today announced the Boeing Company has selected Cisco Internet Protocol (IP) telephony for rollout across its global enterprise, which includes more than 150,000 employees in 48 states and 70 countries.
Boeing plans to enhance its existing data network infrastructure and migrate its voice, video and data networks to a single, converged communications network based on Cisco's IP Communications product portfolio. This initiative is an integral element of Boeing's overall network operations strategy of providing key enabling technology for its virtual global enterprise.
The Cisco IP telephony pilot program has been in place since July 2001 and has grown to approximately 4,500 Cisco IP phones installed at facilities in Missouri, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
"Recent advances in technology and product innovation have overcome many of the obstacles inhibiting the convergence of Boeing's voice and data networks," said Christopher Kent, vice president of Computing & Network Operations in Boeing Shared Services Group. "Cisco's family of products will be the foundation of the next-generation network required to replace Boeing's aging voice infrastructure. It will help us meet the mobility demands of the virtual office worker and realize the cost efficiencies of a converged infrastructure."
The Boeing-Cisco relationship dates back to 1988 and fostered the enhancement of Cisco's routing and Local Area Network (LAN) switching technologies. Today, Boeing has one of the largest private enterprise-wide data networks in the world, built predominantly on Cisco products.
"We are excited to be expanding our long and successful relationship with Boeing into a large-scale IP telephony deployment," said Rick Moran, vice president of the Product Technology Marketing Organization for IP Communications at Cisco. "Cisco IP telephony, which is part of the broad Cisco IP Communications portfolio, will help Boeing achieve their communications objectives of greater mobility, flexibility and return on investment."
About Cisco IP Communications
Cisco IP Communications is a comprehensive system of enterprise-class solutions including IP telephony, unified communications, rich media IP audio and videoconferencing, IP video broadcasting and customer contact solutions that take advantage of customers' existing Cisco IP infrastructure to deliver new converged applications. More information about Cisco IP Communications is available at:http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/innovators/VoIP/index.html
About Boeing
With a heritage that mirrors the first 100 years of flight, The Boeing Company provides products and services to customers in 145 countries. Boeing has been the premier manufacturer of commercial jetliners for more than 40 years and is a global market leader in military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human spaceflight, and launch systems and services. Total company revenues for 2003 were $50.5 billion. Its Shared Services Group provides the common, efficient infrastructure services that enable the company's business units to concentrate on profitable growth.
