Cisco strikes networking deal with Cap Gemini

Cisco will bundle its networking products with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's integration and application services division after both companies formed a joint venture last week.

Cisco will bundle its networking products with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's integration and application services division after both companies formed a joint venture last week.

Called Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Telecom, Media and Networks, the venture will operate as a subsidiary of the consulting company.

Cap Gemini, which bought Ernst & Young's consultancy business in March, has a 95.1 per cent stake in the new venture, and Cisco owns the remaining 4.9 per cent.

The venture partnership will employ up to 6000 management and IT consultants, and will operate from 24 locations throughout Asia, Europe and the US. The companies have also established research and development labs in London, California, Boston, Dallas, Paris, Munich and Singapore.

Cap Gemini's service offerings include ecommerce, broadband and supply-chain integration, voice and data integration, and wireless applications.

Alexandre Haeffner, chief executive at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, said: "We have been able to create an entity that is perfectly positioned to decipher the increasingly complex convergence of telecoms, media and networking."

Most of the staff will come from Cap Gemini's existing telecoms and media divisions, but Cisco said it will also make available some of its networking specialists.

A Cisco representative said the new unit will focus mainly on Europe, but will also extend to the US and Asia.