Siemens in ISDN pact with 3Com

Siemens and 3Com have struck a $1 billion deal to integrate voice and data communications and attack the ISDN market.

Under the terms of the agreement, reached in Munich last week, the companies will ensure that Siemens? Hicom ISDN telecoms system and 3Com?s enterprise data networking products will work together and will extend their existing reseller agreement. The companies will pool engineering resources and work on jointly developed products for the computer telephony integration market.

Teams of engineers from both firms will start to co-operate on future and existing products. The project will be overseen by a team based in Boston, while engineers in Santa Clara, California and Hemel Hempstead will also work together.

Siemens will sell and market the entire range of 3Com data communications worldwide, including Lan and Wan products like Office Connect as well as the Superstack II hub and Etherlink network interface cards.

Dietrich Botsch, group president of Siemens? private communications systems division, said the products were an extension of an existing agreement but will focus on ISDN rather than ATM, and will not upset channel arrangements.

?Universal multimedia communication will only be possible once telephone and data networks are joined together,? he said, adding that the challenge to integrate voice and telephony could no longer be taken on by just one firm.