Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest maker of computer networking equipment, teamed up with a technology unit of Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s AFK Sistema to offer new telephone gear in emerging markets.
“Cisco and Sitronics will focus their efforts on supplying advanced telecommunications solutions to countries undergoing major economic and social transformations,” the companies said in a joint statement.

Apart from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose association of former Soviet republics, the companies will also focus on other rapidly developing markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the statement said.

Cisco and Sitronics will also focus their efforts on projects in the field of information and communication technologies, aimed at raising the productivity of enterprises, developing communication infrastructure, and looking for new ways to bring knowledge to people, the statement said.

The joint product will use soft switches from Sitronics and Cisco’s core routing products. The solution has been tested by the OAO Moscow City Telephone, the dominant fixed-line provider in the Russian capital with 4.3 million subscribers, according to the statement. Moscow City Telephone too is controlled by holding company Sistema.

Cisco and Sitronics are also studying potential partnership in Internet Protocol Television or IPTV, wireless broadband and managed services, the companies said in the statement.

Sitronics in June bought 51 percent of the telecommunications unit of Greece’s Intracom Holdings SA for 120 million euros ($157.4 million). The company is looking to form partnerships with international giants to gain access to more markets ahead of a sale of about 20 percent of its shares next February.

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