Cisco hits unified IP Phone milestone

Cisco has shipped its 22 millionth Unified IP Phone as part of a deal with Foster’s to upgrade communications systems across the drink company’s global enterprise.

The upgrade will see Foster’s replacing its existing legacy voice communications systems with Cisco Unified IP Phone 7900 series endpoints in its Asia-Pacific centers and other locations worldwide.

Vice-president for the IPCBU at Cisco, Steve Slattery, said in a statement the shipping high-mark highlighted the speed at which Cisco Unified Communications and Collaborations solutions had been adopted.

The communication solution being deployed at Fosters will allow users to communicate across multiple devices while moving between workspaces, integrate with third party applications and customise application development.

The upgrade will also see the addition of video call capability to employee’s desktops and the use of Cisco’s WebEx Web conferencing in support of a move to consolidate hundreds of software applications worldwide.

Foster’s representatives said the system would streamline its supplier base, refresh its technology and offer a genuinely collaborative experience to its workforce.

The move comes as part of Foster’s Enterprise Architecture project to upgrade communications.

“A progressive company-wide rollout is underway with North America and our Corporate Head Office in Southbank [Victoria] now Cisco sites,” Foster's media manager, Troy Hey, said. “Most Australian sites will be completed in the coming 12-18 months.”

Cisco representatives have confirmed a partner will be involved in the rollout but said no choice had been made as Fosters was still going through the decision-making process.

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