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Twin Triumphs: Cisco Systems Receives 2006 Frost & Sullivan Awards for Market Penetration Leadership and Competitive Strategy Leadership

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 July 2006, 09:00 CDT

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Cisco Systems has been recognized with two 2006 Frost & Sullivan Awards - Market Penetration Leadership and Competitive Strategy Leadership. These prestigious awards were presented to Cisco in recognition of the company's winning and distinctive strategies that have helped it continuously grow its share of the mature and intensely competitive automatic call distribution (ACD) market in North America.

"Since its entry into the contact center market, Cisco has been one of the leading proponents of the transition towards IP," notes Ian Jacobs, Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst. "Clearly, the company's 'all IP, all the time' message has resonated well with customers: in 2005, Cisco saw the highest percentage year-on-year growth of any vendor in the market."

Among the major factors that have contributed to Cisco's success in penetrating this market, perhaps the most effective is its focus on educating existing and potential customers about the many benefits of Cisco's IP architecture. The impact of this strategy is clearly reflected in Cisco's success in targeting not only greenfield implementations - one of the key drivers for new growth in IP contact centers - but also existing customers that are looking to migrate to IP.

Cisco's adoption of a largely indirect channel-based distribution strategy and bundling of its contact center solutions with other Cisco enterprise products has enabled it to considerably expand its presence in the small-to- medium contact center space.

Cisco's rapid progress in the ACD market, ever since its entry into this space in 2000, is due in no small part to the company's marketing savvy, astute product and customer strategies and extraordinary vision for the future. It is this visionary outlook in urging customers toward IP benefits such as true virtualization, disaster recovery, scalability, business flexibility and agility that has helped Cisco significantly extend its competitive advantage.

Apart from its reputation for quality based on its offerings in the data communications market, one of the key factors driving Cisco's success over its competitors is its robust and comprehensive product line that is continuously being enhanced.

Cisco provides a platform that offers unique fault tolerance and scalability capabilities. Customers can deploy a solution that will grow with their business. The same solution that can support a small number of agents can grow to support tens of thousands of agents, providing the same features and fault tolerance at all stages. The company is also keenly committed to introducing leading-edge technology for improving operations within IP contact centers and opening new avenues for customer service.

By establishing itself in the data networking space, Cisco has been able to form mutually beneficial relationships with a host of top-tier partners to help drive better business value for its customers.

"This partner ecosystem is critical to Cisco's success, chiefly because much of the early adoption of IP technology in greenfield situations has taken place in the small-mid market and customers in that space are far more likely to seek solutions from channel partners," observes Jacobs.

Having built this impressive partner network within a relatively short period of time, Cisco has amply demonstrated its edge over other market participants. The company has distinguished itself through its ability to continue to find growth opportunities in an increasingly difficult market, making it the obvious choice for the Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Leadership Award.

"We are pleased that a global consulting company, such as Frost & Sullivan, continues to recognize Cisco's increasing momentum in the contact center market," said Vickie McGovern, director of solutions marketing for Cisco Systems. "Awards such as these validate our commitment to our customers and partners."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents the Market Penetration Leadership Award to a company that has demonstrated excellence in capturing market share within its industry through continuous product innovation as well as superior marketing and sales strategies.

The Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Leadership Award is presented every year to a company whose competitive strategy has yielded exceptional growth in market share during the research period. This award commends the recipient company for utilizing new and innovative methods to consolidate and extend its market presence.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.awards.frost.com/ or http://www.ict.frost.com/ .

Contact: Stacie Jones 210.247.2450 Stacie.jones@frost.com

Frost & Sullivan

CONTACT: Stacie Jones of Frost & Sullivan, +1-210-247-2450, orStacie.jones@frost.com

Web site: http://www.frost.com/http://www.awards.frost.com/http://www.ict.frost.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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