Cisco helps enable a Virtual World Environment across Verticals

If 16th century was considered to be the period of renaissance for the whole of Europe, renaissance for Asia surely started from the 19th century and it is at the peak in this century. Though there are many countries which need to be developed, but, by and large, most of the countries are in the mid way of development. The entire world is moving towards an era of virtual world. It means sitting at a single place, one can see, talk, discuss and contribute to other business, boardrooms, classrooms, etc. This wonderful turnaround is possible because of proliferation of Internet and broadband. Those technology vendors and people who have made the Internet or broadband reach at the doorsteps of the consumers or enterprises, my earnest gratitude is due to them. 

One of the pioneers of Internet and broadband is Cisco Systems, a California-based company. Started as a modest venture, Cisco is today one of the largest multinational corporations with more than 63,000 employees and an annual revenue of US$35 billion, as of 2007. Cisco designs and sells networking and communications technology and services under five brands, namely Cisco, Linksys, WebEx, IronPort and Scientific Atlanta. 

Cisco offers hardware, software and services in the networking space that allow individuals, companies and countries to increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction and strengthen competitive advantage. The goal and vision of Cisco is to change the way people work, live, play and learn. At Cisco, innovation is the key mantra of success. It continues with industry-leading products in the core areas of routing and switching, as well as advanced technologies in areas such as Home Networking, IP Telephony, Optical, Network Security, Storage Networking and Wireless LAN.

John T. Chambers, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Cisco Systems Inc, says, “Fifteen years ago, we said we would change the way the world works, lives, plays and learns. Today, this company has the ability to understand and adapt to change, with a balance of leadership in four key customer segments. We have the courage to change, are setting the pace for change in our industry that has never been seen before, and have the vision to take our customers into the future. We are truly redefining the industry, with the network becoming the platform for all communications and IT. What this really means is that we are the company that will enable all of life’s experiences, both personal and business, for the future.”

Now that technology has enabled the automation of manufacturing processes, business transactions and other tasks, organizations are looking to increase productivity by focussing on the interactions between colleagues, partners and customers. Productive interactions also help improve profitability and customer satisfaction, and they create new opportunities for corporate growth and success. 

Cisco helps increase productivity and reduces transaction costs by enabling interactions across partners and customer organizations. The company addresses the end-to-end solutions that are required for completing the communications – be it telephony, IT or a converged solution. The company has the entire range of products for end-to-end solutions, which can revolve around Application Network Services, Broadband Cable products, Clean Access Server, Content Networking, DSL & Long Reach Ethernet, Interoperability Systems, Cisco LocalDirector load-balancing appliance, Optical Networking series, Routers, Security & VPN products, Anomaly Detection and Mitigation Appliances (Cisco AVS 3110 Application Velocity System, Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, Cisco PIX 500 Series Security Appliances, Cisco VPN 3000 Series Concentrators, Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series/7600 Series WebVPN Services Module, IPSec VPN Services Module (VPNSM), Server Networking & Virtualization, SPA Phone Adapters, Storage networking, Switches, Universal Gateways & Access Servers, etc. In the Video and IP phone range, the company has Voice & IP Communication products, i.e. 7900 Series IP Phones. In the wireless range, the company has Integrated Switches and Routers, Wireless IP Telephony, Wireless LAN Access, Aironet Wireless Bridges and Workgroup Bridges, Cisco Wireless LAN Client Adapters (PCI and PCMCIA), Wireless LAN Controllers, Wireless Network Management, Wireless LAN Management, Wireless Security Servers and Wireless IP Phone 7920.

So, apart from WAN and LAN requirements, Cisco is being called for the Triple Play, Storage, security requirements of the enterprises and SMEs, etc. Most of the Cisco business is done through channel partners, though to some limited accounts Cisco serves of its own. On top of solutions, Cisco offers consultancy and services. Cisco has presence all across the globe in major countries and continents. In India, Cisco’s presence started from the year 1995. The company has sales and marketing operations across key cities in India and a software development centre in Bangalore. Believed to be contributing 11 per cent of Cisco’s global revenue, India houses major resources of the company, including an R&D centre, sales and business support staff, Cisco Development Centre in Bangalore, which is the largest out of the US. Besides, the company has Joint Development Centres with Wipro Technologies and Infosys Technologies in Bangalore; HCL Technologies in Chennai; Satyam Computer Services in Hyderabad and Zensar Technologies in Pune. The company employs 3,000 employees in the country, who are evenly spread in its seven regional offices in various cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The basic focus of the company is to go through channel partners. It is present across 100 cities through 900-plus channel partners. 

Cisco works with ten System Integrators – British Telecom, Cable & Wireless, Datacraft, HCL Comnet, HP, IBM, Integrix, TCS, CMC and Wipro. The company has seven Gold Certified Partners – Cable & Wireless, Datacraft, HCL Comnet, HP, IBM, Wipro and British Telecom; three Silver Certified Partners – Integrix, TCS and CMC and two Distributors – Ingram Micro and Redington. The company is also engaged with 50 Gold Partners. As far as Support and Service is concerned, the company has nine logistics centres in the country. Cisco is the only vendor to have a support programme called ARNBD (advance replacement next business day) for its resellers.

So, from 1995 till date, Cisco has evolved in India influencing all the possible potential markets – be it government, enterprises and service providers. In 2005, the company offered its major thrust to India. This year, Cisco Systems’ President & CEO John Chambers announced a major investment initiative in India, totalling US$1.1 billion on the first day of his three-day visit to India in New Delhi. And, a plan was chalked out to allocate $750 million to R&D activities, including training, development and HR. Similarly, $150 million will be dedicated by Cisco Systems Capital, a division of Cisco Systems, to provide leasing and other financial solutions to Cisco customers and partners. The company also earmarked $100 million in venture capital to invest in Indian start-up companies and another $100 million to be invested in customer support operations, a significant portion of which was allocated for technical services, spare parts depots and channel development. 

Cisco India, currently, has 160 networking academies across 26 states and Union Territories in India and the programme will be extended further within each state and Union Territory. The academies have over 9,000 participating students, approximately 26% of whom are females. Similarly, the company has engaged with 70,000 Cisco- certified professionals. 

Today, Cisco in India is one of the most successful companies. This success is also reflected in its performance as it stands #1 in India router and switch market with around 80 per cent of market share. Similarly, Cisco is number one in wireless LAN, Security, IP PBX, etc. In Enterprise Telephony space, the company has a healthy market share.

Pramodh Menon, Vice-President – Commercial, Cisco, India & SAARC, says,–“Our customer’s requirements have been the guiding force for all our investments – marketing, R&D, acquisitions globally, as well as in India. At every stage of our evolution as a successful corporation in the last 20 years, we have differentiated ourselves by constantly listening to our customers’ changing requirements and quickly responding to their needs.” 

Parag Arora, Regional Manager, Channels Cisco India, says, “Cisco’s success with any technology portfolio is dependent on the success of the channel partners to adopt and develop business practices around those technologies. We are a channel-driven company and we rely heavily on our channel partners to help develop and penetrate enterprise & SMB markets globally and in India.” Today, Cisco India services customers like Ford India, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Tata Group, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, etc. in the enterprise space. In the Service Providers space, Cisco India serves Tata, Reliance, Bharti, VSNL, BSNL, MTNL and Sify. The company is also like the major BFSI entities like HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, United India Insurance Corporation, New India Assurance and National Insurance Corporation. The company is also a major provider to the eGovernance sector in various states, including Gujarat, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and government organizations such as Lok Sabha (Parliament) Library, Supreme Court, National Highway Authority and CDAC. 

Today, Cisco is being led from the front by Naresh Wadhwa as the President & Country Manager, Cisco, India & SAARC. He has eight generals under him, i.e. Pramodh Menon as the Senior Vice-President, Commercial, Cisco, India & SAARC; Anil Bhasin, Vice- President, Enterprise, Cisco, India & SAARC; Ajay Goel, Senior Vice-President, IT Services, Cisco, India & SAARC; G. B. Kumar, Senior Vice-President, Services Sales, Cisco, India & SAARC; Ranajoy Punja, Vice-President, Business Development – Advanced Technologies, Cisco, India & SAARC; Amit Sinha Roy, Vice-President–– Marketing, Cisco, India & SAARC; Rajesh Chainani, Vice-President, Service Provider, Cisco, India & SAARC; and Gautam Munish, Country Business Manager, Cisco Capital India. 

Apart from technology, Cisco also has offered a lot of social activities in the country. In the Q3, 2007, it launched the Harvest of Hope, Feed A Child Programme. It is basically to improve the basic needs and education levels of disadvantaged groups in India. In partnership with Akshaya Patra, the Harvest of Hope, Feed A Child Programme had aimed to provide food to 5,000 children. And, Cisco had raised funds from employees from 1st November until 31st December for children from schools within a 20–30 kilometre radius of the Cisco Bangalore campus. 

Cisco focusses on analysing the local communities in which it operates and identifying the issues that can be addressed by its global corporate social responsibility initiatives. The Cisco India Civic Council (a Steering Committee of Cisco employees responsible for developing strategic socially responsible programmes and civic engagement initiatives) has been working with various organizations, including Shristi Special Academy, Children’s Lovecastles Trust, Samarthanam Trust for The Disabled, Mitra Jyothi, Ashwini Charitable Trust, Bangalore Hospice Trust, the National Association for the Blind and SOS Children’s Villages.

Dedicated to leading the development and delivery of innovative training programmes in information and communications technology (ICT) skills, particularly in fast-developing countries such as India, Cisco is also making significant investments in its education and certification programmes to equip more students for successful careers in networking. 

Cisco also supports the LifeLines India Programme in India, a multi-stakeholder partnership which provides small-scale rural farmers with access to useful farming advice via a voicemail system based on the Cisco Unified Messaging platform. The voicemail system assists farmers in obtaining information about crop prices and yields, animal care, and weather conditions; and in making more effective farming decisions. 

Cisco’s social investment strategy focusses on empowering individuals and organizations as well as transforming communities through public-private partnerships and the benefits of networking. 

And, very recently, Cisco has launched a Talent Development Strategy for India furthering its goals to enhance the development of information technology (IT) talent in India. As part of it, Cisco launched a series of country-specific initiatives aimed at expanding India’s capacity to train, employ and retain highly qualified networking and systems engineers. By establishing partnerships and opening testing facilities, Cisco aims to expand India’s networking workforce capacity to 360,000 engineers in the next five years, a six-fold increase over present employment levels. 

According to a recent IDC report on global skills, India’s surging economic development will create a demand for 137,000 more networking professionals by 2009. As an integral part of the training-development initiative, Cisco has announced that two of India’s largest technologies training organizations, IIHT and NIIT, have become Cisco Certified Learning Solutions Partners.

“Globalization will continue to transform India’s economy and will require its young workforce to develop skills that are market-driven,” said Leo Scrivner, Vice-President of Human Resources for Cisco Services & Globalization Centre East. “The launch of our talent-development initiative in India underscores Cisco’s commitment to expand access to the IT training and certification resources that will support the country’s continued economic growth. With these initiatives in place, we are able to ensure that our customers and partners have the resources available to train and equip thousands of motivated students in India with the knowledge and skills necessary to shape the country’s burgeoning information economy.”