Cisco Systems Inc. has announced a new service carrier program that it's director says is "all about forming alliances" and promoting the growth of voice over IP traffic. The company introduced the Cisco Service Carrier Community program last month so that its members will be able to exchange traffic to deliver end-to-end VoIP services, said Peter Carlino, director of the carrier community program at Cisco. He added that the program will be less focused on products and more on helping businesses grow. "The idea is to enable these carrier members to meet one another and to form relationships and extend the reach of IP networks from premise to premise for domestic and international telephony," he said. "A lot of times today, an IP call will be handed off to a TDM carrier for delivery domestically or internationally. What we are trying to do is enable the IP carriers to work more closely so that it stays on IP networks longer." According to Infonetics Research, Cisco might be on the right track.