Frost & Sullivan award Siemens the prize for "Market Leadership in Enterprise Telephony in Europe"

Siemens Communications has received the Frost & Sullivan "Market Leadership Award 2006" in the category of Enterprise Telephony in Europe. With this distinction the analysts are paying tribute to Siemens’ leading position in the market for IP telephony equipment. According to Frost & Sullivan this success is due to steady and strong growth throughout all European countries as well as the expansion of market share in vertical markets such as health care and hospitality. The "Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Leadership" is presented to companies that have earned a leadership position in the market based on successful marketing strategies. It looks at exceptional performance in all areas of the marketing process. This includes identifying market-specific challenges and important market factors, as well as developing suitable marketing strategies. Frost & Sullivan came to their decision on the basis of some 19.5 million IP terminals sold in Europe in 2005. In this segment Siemens Communications accounted for a market share of close to 16 percent – making it the number 1 in Europe. A key contributory factor was a strong third quarter in 2005, along with robust growth in the German market. While Siemens Communications can lay claim to being market leaders in Germany in 2005, it also ranks second in Italy, Spain and some East European countries. In addition to this, the Group has gained market share in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. Frost & Sullivan were particularly keen to emphasize the strong growth shown by Siemens Communications in the medium to large enterprise segment. The company intends to add to this success in the small enterprise segment with its HiPath 2000 and BizIP products. When giving their reasons for awarding the prize, the analysts at Frost & Sullivan referred to the resolute focus of Siemens Communications on the evolution from TDM to IP/LAN-based telephony solutions. Its close partnership with its customers was instrumental in helping to recognize and implement this transformation at an early stage. As a result, more than 85 percent of the terminals sold in Europe today are IP-capable. Frost & Sullivan specifically mentioned HiPath 3000, 4000 and 5000 in this trend. At the same time, Siemens Communications has put into effect a successful marketing strategy to replace customers’ TDM access with lines that are VoIP-capable. With this support, Siemens Communications is helping its customers to lower infrastructure costs and migrate to the next generation of communication solutions. HiPath is the Enterprise Convergence Architecture from Siemens. A comprehensive solution and service portfolio enables companies to further expand their existing voice and data infrastructures, safeguard their existing capital investment, and implement second generation IP (2gIP) applications. 2gIP applications optimize company processes and lead to a sustained improvement in productivity for the corporation. Thanks to the continuous further development of its products and software, Siemens Communications is an innovation leader on the path to a seamless integration of realtime communication in the IT world. According to analysts, HiPath has ensured that Siemens is the world’s number one supplier of VoIP connections. With a market share of 38.6%. Siemens aims to further expand this position. Over 70% of the Fortune 500 corporations have selected a HiPath solution. Customers include BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank, Ford, IBM, Kodak, SAP, BP and Volvo. The Siemens Communications Group is one of the largest players in the global telecommunications industry. The company offers a full-line portfolio of innovative solutions for voice and data communication. Its comprehensive offerings range from devices right through to complex network infrastructures and services for wireless, fixed and enterprise networks. It is the largest Group within the Siemens organization and operates in more than 160 countries around the world. In fiscal 2005 (September 30), its 54,500-strong workforce posted sales of over 13 billion euros.