The Wall Street Journal -- September 13, 1999
Technology:
Cisco Increases Effort
To Penetrate Market
For Merged Networks
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cisco Systems Inc. plans to unveil products it says will make it simpler to build merged networks for small to midsize businesses and branch offices, moving toward its goal of merging computer and telephone networks.
The products include hardware and software used to convert phone calls into computer traffic, where they can be routed over a computer network or managed through a call center and where voice mail can be treated as e-mail. Cisco said the networks will be cheaper, more efficient and make employees more productive. Cisco, the largest maker of computer-networking gear, has been trying to push into the larger market of telephone-switching equipment. Through acquisitions, Cisco already offered many of these telephone-related functions.
Ajay Diwan, an analyst for Goldman, Sachs & Co., said Cisco's plan smacks of marketing aimed at convincing corporate executives to buy the idea of a merged network, rather than the individual parts Cisco had offered. Similar campaigns have "worked really well for them in the past," Mr. Diwan said. Mr. Diwan said Cisco is ahead of rivals such as Nortel Networks Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. in offering equipment for merged networks.
Cisco said the systems can support as many as 2,000 users. By next year, it hopes to boost the total to tens of thousands.
interactive.wsj.com |
