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Cisco to launch IP phones with built-in camera

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

HYDERABAD: Cisco Systems Inc. will launch the built-in camera enabled IP telephony equipment in the first half of 2005. Also, the $22 billion networking major, is sharpening its focus to tap the Indian IP telephony market in a big way. The company has already shipped 50,000 IP telephones in India, thus becoming the first vendor in India to cross this mark.



“Presently, customers have to use external web cameras, but soon we would be launching built-in camera enabled IP telephony equipment. Customers can also disable the option of using the camera if they wish so,” said Cisco ITS (India and SAARC) business development manager, Sunil Lalvani.



“According to IDC, the Indian IP telephony is expected to touch $60 million mark this year as compared to the $30 million last year. We have a 48 percent market share presently and we are projecting a major growth rate for the next year too,” said Cisco ITS (India and SAARC) country manager, B Ashok. “The Indian IP telephony market is also expected to register an average of 60 percent (CAGR) over the next three to five years,” he added.



Cisco has got 14,000 organizations globally using IP telephony and so far it has shipped three million IP telephones by April 2004. “We have a complete range of equipments for various users from low-end to high-end. The average price of these telephones would be around $350,” explained Ashok. “For senior management, we have color screens that would be around $550 where as at the lower end we have systems at the range of $250,” he added.



Cisco currently has 35,000 employees worldwide with over 800 people across sales and marketing and R&D in India. “The Indian revenues were estimated to Rs 1,630 crore in 2003-04 according to Voice & Data,” said Ashok.

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