In its latest empowerment initiative, multi-national technology innovator, Spescom, has announced that certain strategic aspects of the group's Cisco Systems network business will move to Sourcecom - a company committed to the goal of becoming the leading BEE IT player in the country.
According to Spescom's CEO, SA Operations, Vernon Leas, the deal will benefit both businesses.
"Spescom and Sourcecom have enjoyed a close association for some time now, particularly with regard to network equipment and voice network systems related business. This deal will translate into the development of a symbiotic relationship that will see potential projects in relevant areas being passed on, or shared, between the two organisations.
"Spescom thoroughly values the relationship we have enjoyed with Cisco Systems over the years. Through this collaborative relationship with Sourcecom we hope to obtain optimum market penetration in our respective fields," says Leas.
He notes that Spescom attained a number of world-first, innovative solutions in the IP call centre arena.
Leas confirms that the deal was particularly attractive to Spescom as it provided the group with another opportunity to support BEE initiatives in IT.
"Due to its BEE profile, Sourcecom has distinct advantages in a number of key market areas. This will enable both companies to explore new projects with their respective unique expertise, which should yield mutual and customer benefits. Spescom is dedicated to its empowerment programme and also to serve the best interests of customers, shareholders and staff. The implementation of this agreement is testament to this commitment," confirms Leas.
The agreement provides for Sourcecom to take over the Cisco corporate network customers as well as existing service level agreements (SLAs), where required.
Sourcecom's national services manager, Tim Pryce, says the deal will allow the company to broaden its skills base in Cisco technologies.
"Sourcecom is active in providing Cisco-based, large-scale network solutions with advanced traffic management and content delivery networking. In addition, we offer security solutions, wireless LAN solutions and converged voice and data networks," says Pryce.
According to Pryce, Sourcecom possesses one of the most advanced BEE programmes in the country, with over 80% of the company equity, 75% of its technical skills and three of its five directors being drawn from this sector.
"The acquisition of an established customer base from Spescom further strengthens our position in the market as well as our initiative to be demographically representative at all levels," Pryce concludes.
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Spescom is a multi-national technology innovator with direct operations in the US, UK and SA.
The group is publicly listed on the JSE Securities Exchange SA (Spescom Ltd), and on the NASDAQ OTCBB : ALTS.OB (Spescom Software Inc).
Spescom addresses the information and communications technology market providing both products and solutions to connect to the network economy, as well as enterprise software to manage information and knowledge.
Specifically, Spescom provides solutions in the areas of access network; enterprise information management; multimedia transaction recording; broadcast; customer contact centres; and test and measurement.
Spescom markets its products worldwide through appointed partners and distributors under the eB brand for its enterprise software, and the DataVoice brand for its multimedia transaction recording solutions.
Spescom's global customer base consists of multi-national organisations including leading enterprises in the utilities, telecommunications, transportation, financial, banking and insurance sectors.
Worldwide, customers include Siemens, British Telecoms, Network Rail (formerly Railtrack), Lloyds of London, Barclays Bank, Abbey National Bank, WH Smith, Caterpillar, Bechtel, AmerenUE, Entergy, Bombardier, Ocean Energy, Sempra Energy, Telkom, SABC, Old Mutual, Eskom, Transnet, First National Bank.
For more information on Spescom, please visit www.spescomsoftware.com and www.spescom.com.
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