Under the agreement, CMS will join the SAVVIS Business Partner Program and its network of sales agents will sell SAVVIS? managed IP services including SAVVIS? Intelligent IP Networking and SAVVIS Intelligent Hosting.

"As we increasingly compete with the largest global carriers, we need to expand our sales reach," said Jack Finlayson, president & COO of SAVVIS. "CMS has proven that it understands the voice and data communications needs of the real-time enterprise and that it can attract premium enterprise accounts. By broadening our sales channels with superior business partners such as CMS, we can ensure that our expanding service offerings reach prospects on a global scale."

According to CMS, SAVVIS? performance and customer service make it a convincing sale.

"SAVVIS is rapidly establishing itself as the leading provider of IP applications services worldwide and we're excited to designate them as our preferred managed service provider," said Gene Foster, president and CEO of CMS. "SAVVIS' high performance managed services offering, combined with its global footprint and 'Good Enough Is Not Enough' commitment to customer service, provides our agents with a very compelling sales solution."

With headquarters in Herndon, Virginia and St. Louis, Missouri, SAVVIS Communications is a managed services provider that delivers IP VPNs, hosting, and application services to businesses.