Despite saying that it intends to favour its telecommunications products and systems business in its future expansion plans, Rockwell International Corp has now decided that its Switching Systems Division automatic call distribution systems business needs so much investment to keep up with a rapidly-evolving market that it may be surplus to requirements. As well as spinning the business off as a public company, Seal Beach, California-based Rockwell is looking at putting it into a joint venture with another telecommunications or information systems company, or selling it to another company, and has signed Dillon, Read & Co to assist it in the study. Rockwell notes that the 650-employee Downers Grove, Illinois-based Switching Systems subsidiary pioneered the automatic call distribution concept 20 years ago and claims the largest installed base of stand-alone call centres today – in organisations that field large volumes of phone calls such as airlines and car rental companies. To serve the needs of our customers today and in the future, we must continue to develop new products internally while at the same time integrating technologies, products and solutions from a variety of sources, says Steve Panyko, vice-president and general manager of the arm.
