MTS Communication Inc.'s decision to employ Cisco Systems Inc.'s technology for a new Manitoba-wide data network might speak well of the latter firm's routers and software, but it also speaks volumes about how service providers go about choosing vendors. MTS Communications, a subsidiary of Manitoba's incumbent telco, MTS Inc., announced in August that its province-wide MPLS-VPN network would be built on Cisco gear. According to Kelvin Shepherd, vice-president, network services and CTO of MTS Communications, the company earlier this year won a contract to provide secure and speedy data connections for Manitoba's provincial government. Shepherd called Cisco's equipment "a key differentiator" in the service provider's bid to build the network.