BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 6, 2005 - Cisco Systems® today announced it has created a converged data and telephone network providing 4,000 civil servants in the Belgian Federal Public Service Finance with a more efficient working environment based on Internet Protocol technology. The project, managed jointly with IBM, represents one of the biggest telephony tenders in Belgium within half a decade.
The project focused on combining voice and data networks to help speed the introduction of multi-channel services to give citizens and company representatives the same level of service whether they communicate with the Ministry in person, by phone, fax or online. In addition, each civil servant has been given additional communication tools to help deliver better levels of service with unified messaging, which allows users to manage voicemail, e-mail and fax messages, and telephony applications such as Intranet-based staff directory access via phone or desktop PC. The latter replaces more costly paper-based directories formerly in use. The project was sparked by the Ministry's move from former headquarters in the Brussels Tower of Finances to a new building in the city's North Galaxy complex.
"Cisco and IBM were chosen for this project because of their ability to rapidly install networks that combine high speed and availability with integrated security," said Luc Lornoy, coordinator of networking and IP Telephony at the Federal Public Service Finance. "They met our criteria for price, technical quality and project organisation."
Cisco technology used in the project includes IP Phone 7912G, 7940G and 7960G models, Cisco Catalyst® 6509 and Catalyst 3750 Series switches (the latter with inline power), Cisco CallManager 4.0 call processing software, Cisco Unity unified messaging systems, an IPCC Express Edition IP contact center package and CiscoWorks monitoring software.
"IP telephony is the new standard for public sector bodies and services modernizing their infrastructure," said Frank Ruge, Business Development Manager, Cisco Systems Europe and Emerging Markets. "At present, more than 100 Belgian companies and institutions have already integrated their telephone and data-processing systems with Cisco infrastructure. Almost all have experienced benefits in terms of cost reduction, ease of use, interoperability of systems and potential to support new applications."
