Computerworld - Cisco Systems Inc. today announced an agreement with Merrill Lynch & Co. to deploy a voice-over-IP system for the company's 14,000 financial advisers in 600 offices nationwide.
The official announcement of the deal came one day after Cisco Chief Technology Officer Charles Giancarlo mentioned it during a conference call to discuss the company's quarterly financial status. No dollar figure was given for the VoIP project.
The win is significant because Merrill dropped Cisco as an IP telephony provider for about 7,600 workers in its New Jersey headquarters and in Japan in mid-2003, three years after starting the service. At the time, Merrill officials were worried that an Internet security problem could render the IP voice system useless, so the company opted instead for a hybrid circuit-switched system from Avaya Inc.
Officials at the two companies couldn't be reached for comment this morning.
However, one analyst downplayed the announcement. Both Avaya and Cisco win and lose customers to one another "all the time," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at the Yankee Group in Boston. "It's a little silly."
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