LISBON, Portugal, April 22, 2008 - Cisco® announced today that Sonaecom, S.G.P.S., S.A., Portugal's leading provider in the telecommunications, broadband and media market, is implementing Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) technology to transform its network into a platform for growth.
Sonaecom selected Cisco Carrier Ethernet solutions because it provides a highly resilient aggregation infrastructure to deliver a high quality of experience to its business and residential customers. The new network is also designed to scale significantly to support Sonaecom's future growth plans, which will include new services such as high-speed fixed and mobile broadband, enhanced virtual private networks (VPNs) for enterprises and residential multi-play services that integrate data, voice, video and mobility.
José Pinto Correia, Sonaecom chief technology officer said: "Cisco was able to demonstrate a very close synergy with Sonaecom's strategic goals and is helping us to realize our ambitious growth strategy through the quality of the technology and the people. The Cisco solution gives us the ability to closely integrate our mobile and fixed networks to give customers a consistently high quality of experience while reducing the cost of network operations."
"Sonaecom's commitment to bringing more and more advanced services to the market will put it in a strong competitive position," said Carlos Brazão, general manager of Cisco Portugal. "I believe that by working together with Sonaecom, we will have a real impact in delivering added value through innovative services to all customers, and especially for business customers in Portugal."
Cisco Advanced Services and HP, a Cisco Global Gold Certified Partner, are working together to implement the network transformation. The ongoing support of the network will then be transferred to HP. Technologies deployed by Sonaecom include the end-to-end Cisco Carrier Ethernet product family: Cisco Catalyst® 4500 Series and ME 6524 Ethernet Switches, 7600 Series Routers and ME 3400 Series Ethernet Access switches.
About Sonaecom
Sonaecom is the Sonae Group sub-holding for the Telecommunications, Media and Software and Information Systems (SSI) areas, playing an active role in the integrated management of the corresponding business units, identifying and exploiting existing synergies and company growth potential. Sonaecom is an entrepreneurial growth company whose ambition is to be the best Portuguese communication services provider and the company of choice for exceptional people to work and discover their full potential. Sonaecom relentlessly pursues the creation of innovative products, services and solutions that fulfil the needs of its markets and generate superior economic value. For more information, visit www.sonae.com.
