Contact Information: Cisco Media Relations: Charles Sommerhauser Cisco Systems, Inc. 925 371-6341 csommerh@cisco.com Harrah's Media Relations: Jacqueline Peterson 702 494-4829 japeterson@harrahs.com Industry Analyst Relations: Sarita Kincaid Cisco Systems, Inc. 408 768-0054 skincaid@cisco.com Investor Relations: Marilyn Mora Cisco Systems, Inc. 408 527-7452 marilmor@cisco.com
Harrah's Operating Company and Cisco Systems Foster Innovation Through 10-Year Global Strategic Collaboration
Next-Generation Guest Experiences and Capabilities to Be Enhanced in Harrah's Properties Worldwide
| Source: Cisco Systems, Inc.
SAN JOSE, CA and LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - May 20, 2008) - Harrah's Operating Company,
Inc., a subsidiary of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., the world's largest
provider of branded casino entertainment, has signed a broad-based, 10-year
global strategic agreement with Cisco (NASDAQ : CSCO ). This strategic
collaboration will help enable the delivery of compelling next-generation
guest experiences through the use of Cisco products and allow Harrah's to
remain at the forefront of innovation in the casino entertainment industry.
Harrah's has established a collaborative relationship with Cisco's Internet
Business Solutions Group (IBSG), the company's global strategic consulting
arm. The strategic agreement envisions that Harrah's will continue to work
together with IBSG and other Cisco divisions to assist Harrah's in
implementing innovative technologies. This will help Harrah's to accelerate
its status as an innovator and enhance its personalized guest experiences
and world-class interactive customer relationship management capabilities.
This strategic collaboration will also facilitate the transformation of the
company's digital backbone and the implementation of a next-generation
security and surveillance infrastructure. The upgrade is designed to
significantly improve facility security and safety, support new "smart
service" initiatives that enable even more proactive employee service, and
help Harrah's deliver on its bold vision to launch the next wave
of industry-leading guest experiences.
"We are engaging with Cisco to help us architect and enable the next
generation of our innovative vision for guest offerings across our existing
portfolio of worldwide resorts as well as exciting new resorts, new
channels and new guest experiences that we are developing from the ground
up," said Tim Stanley, chief information officer and senior vice president
of innovation, gaming and technology at Harrah's Entertainment. "This
strategic agreement is key to our vision of creating value for Harrah's,
our partners and most importantly our guests through our digital migration
initiative. Critical to that vision is our Cisco network which serves as
the digital backbone to enable innovative guest service
opportunities, highly personalized guest offerings and interactions, and
new and improved ways for us to reach and interact with our customers."
Harrah's is upgrading its digital backbone to power numerous new
capabilities over the next few years and is implementing a new digital
security and surveillance infrastructure across North America and abroad.
Upon completion of Harrah's digital migration program, Cisco will have
helped enable the deployment of one of the largest Internet Protocol
networking-based physical security implementations in the gaming and
entertainment world.
Among the applications that Harrah's will implement to enhance its
operational excellence and customer experience is Cisco® digital video
technology, which will provide greater visibility to guest areas such as
hotel registration desks, valet parking areas and outdoor entertainment
venues. This will enable Harrah's to have real-time responses to
situations. For example, it could enable new capabilities that would allow
additional staff to be dispatched to the hotel check-in area when guest
registration lines become too long.
"As part of the 10-year global strategic agreement, Harrah's will
collaborate with multiple Cisco technology groups to identify and create
new and compelling guest offerings," said Bill Stuntz, vice president and
general manager of Cisco's Physical Security business unit. "Through an
ongoing dialogue started more than a year ago, Harrah's has embraced the
network to serve as a highly secure platform to drive a new customer
experience vision that will help it meet its long-term business
objectives."
"Harrah's is focused on harnessing new capabilities to transform customer
experiences in ways never before seen and in so doing, enabling Harrah's to
remain an industry leader in customer service," said Howard Lock, director,
transportation and hospitality for Cisco IBSG. "IBSG is helping Harrah's
explore, validate and accelerate the adoption of innovation to deliver
unique guest experiences, employee empowerment and operational excellence."
About Cisco
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About Harrah's
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. is the world's largest provider of branded
casino entertainment. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, more than 70
years ago, Harrah's has grown through development of new properties,
expansions and acquisitions, and now owns or manages casinos on four
continents. The Company's properties operate primarily under the
Harrah's®, Caesars® and Horseshoe® brand names; Harrah's also owns
the London Clubs International family of casinos and the World Series of
Poker®. Harrah's Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value
with its customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent
products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology
leadership. For more information, please visit www.harrahs.com.
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document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word
partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any
other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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