Integrated solutions for turbulent times

Siemens Information and Communications Group (I and C Group) has established itself as a provider of total integrated solutions to the South African enterprise market, says Hilton Loewenstein, the Managing Director of the Enterprises Unit of Siemens I and C Group.

''With the convergence of voice and data and the increasing importance of the Internet, we have developed additional expertise in the areas of IP convergence and IP routers,'' Loewenstein said.

In SA, the Enterprises Unit has secured contract wins in this area valued at over R60 million in the past year. The pipeline is also looking healthy for the year ahead.

Globally, Siemens I and C Group is reorganising itself to adapt to turbulent economic conditions and improve earnings. The company is also concentrating on improving customer relations and leveraging its traditional strengths.

Loewenstein said while the I and C Group has, for the most part, weathered the current upheaval in the market and considerable declines in investment by key telecoms and enterprise customers better than most of its competitors, the group will still have to adjust to today's changed conditions and reorganise its activities.

''The group has redefined its sales channels to ensure optimum customer focus and increased market share while ensuring sustained profitability. We operate in an increasingly competitive market and we must ensure that we also deliver the required return to our shareholders,'' Loewenstein said.

In SA, as in other parts of the world, Siemens I and C Group is rolling out the second phase of its strategy for next-generation IP communications. Siemens' unique HiPath convergence architecture strengthens business-to-business and business-to-consumer communications by allowing a company's existing voice and data applications to globally interoperate over all networks.

Since the launch of the first wave of HiPath in February this year, Siemens I and C Group has locally paved the way for expanding today's solutions for business process optimisation.

''The convergence of voice communications onto IP-based networks holds a great deal of promise, improves integration of e-commerce and conventional business processes, streamlines network management and simplifies access for remote and mobile users,'' Loewenstein said.

This innovative approach is based on open standards and distributed architectures and provides a flexible, affordable and rational migration path from separate networks to the IP-world of highly integrated communications and applications.

''It provides customers with choices regarding when and how they implement applications while protecting and evolving their current infrastructure and application investments,'' said Loewenstein.

The roll-out of the HiPath suite of products will proceed into 2002, with the focus on bringing additional customised software applications to the market.

In addition, Siemens I and C Group will continue to form strategic alliances with companies in the field of data networking and convergence to secure business in an environment rapidly experiencing cuts in IT budgets.