ATHENS -- Siemens Information and Communications Networks Inc. is feeling pretty good about things at the moment, judging by presentations that its top brass gave today to more than 70 journalists at a "Global Opinion Leader Conference" here at the venue of the 2004 Olympic Games.

The reasons for its upbeat mood include news that Siemens is now selling lots of routers via its reseller deal with Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR). Siemens is now responsible for 20 percent of sales, up from 12 percent, according to Anton H. Schaaf, a member of Siemens ICN's Group Board.

Siemens and Juniper have been working together on a program called Resip, for "resilience in IP" which aims to help carriers ensure that their IP infrastructures can handle the demanding requirements of VOIP applications incorporating voice and video. This has helped Siemens and Juniper win a big contract for broadband infrastructure with British Telecommunications plc (BT) (NYSE: BTY; London: BTA), according to Thomas Ganswindt, group president of Siemens ICN.

A key part of this contract is the broadband remote access server (B-RAS) originally developed by Unisphere, which was sold to Juniper as part of the deal that saw Siemens acquire a 10 percent stake in Juniper (see Juniper Nabs Unisphere for $740M).

So, does Siemens now regret "getting rid" of Unisphere, asked a cheeky British journalist. "No," said Ganswindt. Unisphere needed the sales volume that Juniper could deliver. Moreover, it's been a good investment. Siemens's holding in Juniper has tripled in value since the transaction, added Michael Kutschenreuter, Siemens ICN CFO.

Siemens continues to say that it's unphased by Juniper's other resale agreements, notably with Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) and LM Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY).

Ganswindt also took time out today to brag a little about Siemens's success in the U.S. in the past year. This includes:

Siemens says that it's survived the recession better than most, noting that in the carrier market, its sales volumes decreased 56 percent between 2001 and 2003, compared to an industry average of 61 percent. It claims to be No.3 in this market in terms of worldwide sales in the fourth quarter of 2003:

Table 1: Competitive Ranking in Carrier Market

Siemens says it's a similar picture in the enterprise market, where its sales decreased 21 percent between 2001 and 2003, compared to an industry average of 23 percent. It claims to be No.2 in this market:

Table 2: Competitive Ranking in Enterprise Market

Siemens ICN has returned to profit in the past two quarters, according to financial results announced in January and reviewed by Kutschenreuter in the conference today. It made a group profit of €51 million in the first quarter of its 2004 financial year, and €56 million in the previous quarter:

Table 3: Siemens ICN Carrier Business

Table 4: Siemens ICN Enterprise Business

The key figures are the book-to-bill ratios these results indicate -- 1.13 in the carrier market and 1.05 in the enterprise market, according to Kutschenreuter. They indicate a growing order backlog and a more promising future for Siemens ICN.

— Peter Heywood, Founding Editor, Light Reading