LISBON, Portugal -- Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced today that Sonaecom, S.G.P.S., S.A., Portugal's leading provider in the telecommunications, broadband and media market, is implementing Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) technology to transform its network into a platform for growth.

Sonaecom selected Cisco Carrier Ethernet solutions because it provides a highly resilient aggregation infrastructure to deliver a high quality of experience to its business and residential customers. The new network is also designed to scale significantly to support Sonaecom's future growth plans, which will include new services such as high-speed fixed and mobile broadband, enhanced virtual private networks (VPNs) for enterprises and residential multi-play services that integrate data, voice, video and mobility.

José Pinto Correia, Sonaecom chief technology officer, said: "Cisco was able to demonstrate a very close synergy with Sonaecom's strategic goals and is helping us to realize our ambitious growth strategy through the quality of the technology and the people. The Cisco solution gives us the ability to closely integrate our mobile and fixed networks to give customers a consistently high quality of experience while reducing the cost of network operations."

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)