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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zoltan! who wrote (28574)	10/5/1999 12:55:00 AM
From: Michael F. Donadio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 77400

SUNW and CSCO are going to dance together: cbs.marketwatch.com Cisco, Sun team up in software pact? By Mike Tarsala, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 11:29 PM ET Oct 4, 1999 NewsWatch Networking equipment leader Cisco Systems Inc. and computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. are expected to announce Tuesday a plan for unified messaging for business customers. Sources close to Sun said the joint announcement, expected at 9 a.m. PDT, will come from the company's Solaris software group, headed by John McFarlane. In addition to Sun's (SUNW: news, msgs) operating system, McFarlane is responsible for messaging and mail software. Representatives at Cisco could not immediately be reached for comment. Sun's public relations department were not available for comment. Unified messaging services offer one-number access to telephone, cell phone, paging, e-mail and other options. Sources did not speculate the scope of the announcement and under what brand name a service -- if any -- might be offered. But analysts say a unified messaging offering would have benefits for both companies -- especially Cisco (CSCO: news, msgs). The networking company has been talking about unified messaging as a way to attract large businesses to use its Internet-based network for phone voice, as well as data communications. "Unified messaging is a key hot button at Cisco," said Elias Moosa, an analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners LLC in San Francisco. " If you're going to get people to abandon their pager, and their telephone link ... they need to have a reason." According to Moosa, Cisco has spent the past year trying to build up its software lineup. The company wants to build its portfolio of infrastructure software that drives demand for its expensive networking equipment. Software that would allow companies to build unified messaging fits with the company's plans, he says. In addition, unified messaging software could be made to work with software that Cisco acquired earlier this year, Moosa said. Last month, Cisco bought Burlington, Mass-based e-mail management software maker WebLine Communications for $325 million in stock. The e-mail software lets large businesses track incoming customer e-mails just as they are able to track phone calls in a customer service center. The e-mail software also manages the routing of e-mails and a company's automated responses. It also fits with Cisco's April purchase of GeoTel Communications for $2 billion in stock. The GeoTel software routes calls over Internet-based telecom networks. It can send customers' phone calls to the service representative best suited to handle a particular inquiry. Sun also may benefit from universal messaging. Sun may want to hitch to Cisco's growing portfolio of software, Moosa says. Much of it will need to run on the kind of servers Sun makes. Unified messaging software can be made to work across both a company's Intranet, or corporate Internet-based network. It even can work with remote access software so branch office users can access unified messaging. Cisco and Sun have a friendly history, and have teamed in telecommunications in the past. Sun announced a line of servers in January geared for telecom customers. It claims to run with about five minutes of both planned and unplanned downtime each year. It works with Cisco's Open Packet Telephony architecture, which allows voice to travel over data networks.