HONG KONG, May 10, 2006 - Cisco Systems today announced that leading Hong Kong retail food company Fairwood has selected Cisco® Unified Communications for its new company-wide phone system. Fairwood is first in the retail food market in Hong Kong to deploy an end-to-end IP-based solution to replace a traditional PBX phone system. The Cisco Unified Communications system allows Fairwood to embrace the Intelligent Information Network (IIN) strategy that addresses the evolving role of the network and directly tackles the company's need to align IT resources with business priorities.

"Fairwood is committed to using the most advanced technologies to enhance business operations and improve efficiencies. Cisco's state-of-the-art Unified Communications system helps improve return on investment (ROI), lower total cost of ownership (TCO), increase staff productivity, raise the bar for customer satisfaction and pave the way for further business expansion in China," said Mr. C. K. Ng, Executive Director, Fairwood Holdings Limited. "Our existing PBX had been in use for 10 years. It was time for us to make the move to a new, cost-efficient network that would offer the advanced features we wanted. The Cisco Unified Communications system was chosen as a result of Fairwood's confidence gained from using other Cisco technologies and because of Cisco's leading market position."

The implementation of the Cisco Unified Communications backbone in Fairwood's headquarters in Hong Kong and in its Shenzhen office was completed in February 2006. The IP-based backbone comprises a Cisco 2811 Integrated Services Router, Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches, Cisco Catalyst 2950 Switch, Cisco 831 Ethernet Broadband Router with SDM, Cisco Unified Call Manager and Cisco Unity Unified Messaging. All of Fairwood's 79 outlets and its master kitchen in Hong Kong have also been linked to the Cisco Unified Communications backbone.

Following the deployment of Cisco Unified IP Phones in its headquarters, Fairwood has begun to deploy these phones at all of its locations in Hong Kong for improved communications. The deployment is expected to be completed in the next two months.

The Cisco Unified Communications system enables Fairwood's IT team to add applications such as a customer catering hotline before and during festive seasons easily and rapidly, without the need to rely on external service providers. This helps Fairwood respond to customers' needs more swiftly.

The solution also allows tight integration of voice and data applications on a converged network. This not only makes network operation easier and maintenance simpler, but also means a lower TCO.

In addition, Cisco Unified Communications helps Fairwood increase staff productivity. The Cisco solution allows effective communication and collaboration between employees at different front-ends; between front-ends and headquarters in Hong Kong; and between employees in Hong Kong and those in China. For instance, Hong Kong-based employees only need to key in extension numbers to reach their colleagues in China.

Fairwood plans to add the broadcasting feature onto the Cisco IP phones for highly effective internal communications in the company. Fairwood also plans to integrate its existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, SAP, with Cisco's IP phone using an XML program.

"As a leader in IP communications, we are delighted to work with a prominent retail food company like Fairwood. Cisco is also proud to be the provider of the first end-to-end IP-based solution to the retail food market in Hong Kong. By building intelligence into an existing network infrastructure, IIN will help organizations like Fairwood realize benefits such as reduced cost and infrastructure complexity. IIN will also give organizations the enhanced functionality they need to develop enterprise-wide visibility and organizational agility so they can respond rapidly to changing business and market conditions," said Mr. Fredy Cheung, managing director of South China for Cisco Systems.

"This current project underpins our commitment to help players in different verticals to embrace the IIN vision and enjoy the unparalleled benefits brought by our highly robust Unified Communications system," added Mr. Cheung.

About Fairwood

Fairwood Holdings Limited, (HKEx: 052), is one of the leading Hong Kong fast food operators in Hong Kong and in Mainland China. As at 30 April 2006, the Group ran a total of 89 outlets, including 71 fast food outlets, 2 institutional catering outlets, 3 Buddies Cafés and 3 specialty restaurants in Hong Kong, and 6 fast food outlets and 4 institutional catering outlets in the Mainland. To improve customer perception of the Fairwood brand and enhance competitiveness, the Group launched a corporate re-branding campaign in November 2003. It is confident that its new strong brand identity and improved fundamentals will continue to facilitate its business expansion in the future.