28 January 2013
The Financial Express: Video is the Game Changer for SMBs
Competing in today's competitive market that tends to be dominated by larger companies, small and medium businesses (SMBs) often struggle to make it big. Expected to perform at par with large companies SMBs need to provide high levels of quality in products and services with fewer resources, lesser staff, and limited budgets to very astute customers. So it is critical for them to use technology and make the right investments to create a sustainable business model that would help achieve scale. The SMB sector in India contributes to about 45 percent of the industrial output and employs 42 million people. Adopting an enhanced collaborative framework can help this sector improve business efficiency by ensuring that customers, employees, and suppliers get secure access to real-time data. This in turn improves decision making and customer loyalty. Many small companies worldwide are transforming themselves into global players by effectively using technology to grow, expand and among other things, manage costs. Unified communications technologies are ideal for such organisations because they help weave together phone, email, instant messaging, and video conferencing, which in turn increase productivity and organisational agility.
Dahnesh Dilkhush- The writer is director, collaboration business - ITES & BFSI at Cisco India and SAARC.

25 January 2013
The Economic Times: Belkin to Acquire Cisco's Home Networking Business Unit
Electronics major Belkin today said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cisco's home networking business unit. The agreement is to acquire the unit including its products, technology, Linksys brand and employees, Belkin said in a statement. However, specific financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in March 2013, it said.

25 January 2013
Express Computer: Cisco Partners with NetAPP
Cisco and NetApp has announced an expanded partnership to deliver new converged infrastructure innovation to unify branch office, data center and public cloud infrastructures under the FlexPod architecture. The partnership expansion includes efforts in technology integration, solution development, and continued go-to-market collaboration - all designed to make it easier for customers to deploy and access next-generation cloud infrastructure solutions. Padmasree Warrior, chief technology and strategy officer, Cisco said, "The past 10 years of partnering with NetApp have proven to be successful in bringing a Cisco validated, FlexPod architecture to our customers. Building on that success, we're now expanding our partnership to deliver deeper technology integration and broader solution development across the unified data center for an open, scalable, multicloud infrastructure. Together we can help our customers use their current data center investment to address the challenges of a mobile-cloud era."

23 January 2013
CIOL: What 2013 Has in Store: Cisco
Network has become the platform for delivering a wide array of services to businesses, consumers and government and the recent years have witnessed a big jump in Internet traffic. The network will be at the centre of the megatrends in 2013 and beyond. These trends are: 1. Internet of Everything: About 2.5 billion people world over and 37 billion things are expected to connect to the Internet by 2020. Ninety nine per cent of physical objects are currently unconnected and once they join the network we expect a whole new connected world to be formed. Cisco terms this transition as the 'Internet of Everything', and believes it will drive the next wave of business innovation, productivity and customer engagement for years to come. 2. Mobile device battle and mobile applications: Mobile devices will overtake PCs as the most common web access device worldwide. With an increasing number of smart, tech savvy employees, BYOD as a trend will see greater acceptability among organizations. Author is Janesh Moorjani, president- Enterprise and Public Sector, Cisco India.

23 January 2013
CRN: Cisco Plans Geo Expansion into 18 New Cities
Cisco is planning an aggressive geo-expansion strategy in India by expanding its active reach to 18 new tier-2 and tier-3 cities. "Over the past 2-3 years we have expanded our geographical reach in India to 20 cities compared to 6 metros earlier. Now we have planned a strategy to expand to the next level of cities. We have identified 18 such cities where we will expand our partner and market coverage," said Stanimira Koleva, Managing Director, Partner Business Group, Cisco Systems, Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) region.

21 January 2013
CXO Today: There Will Be an Increased Focus on Cloud Datacenter
There's a lot of changes happening in the data center environment in the recent past. In an exclusive interaction with Sohini Bagchi of CXOtoday, Ashok Shenoy, VP, Data Centre and Visualization, Cisco India and SAARC, elucidates the trends that will transform datacenter in the future and how CIOs can effectively migrate their datacenter environment to the cloud. Excerpt:

What according to you are the trends that will transform datacenter in the coming days?

The datacenter in 2013 and beyond is set to undergo a massive transformation. In the past couple of years, the datacenter has moved from traditional and virtualized infrastructure into a service-oriented and cost-efficient environment. Availability of datacenter space is the most critical issue today.

20 January 2013
Melodika.net: Ready for Takeoff: Cisco's Cloud Strategy
One of NASDAQ's best performers, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is considering the development of a personal cloud storage to offer in the global market. With new companies competing with Cisco in various areas of the communication network business, Cisco recently introduced "Videoscape Unity," a video services delivery platform that is designed to redefine video entertainment. This new platform boasts of an intuitive and synchronized multiscreen video screening that allows the consumers to play back their favorite shows and programs. Through a multiscreen cloud digital video recorder (DVR), consumers can access their records on any screen - no matter where they are. In a study conducted by Forrester Research, the number of Americans who are subscribed to personal cloud is expected to increase by 400%, equating to 196 million people over the next five years.

18 January 2013
Hindustan Times: Cisco Acquires Minority Stake in Russia's Parallels
Networking equipment company Cisco Systems Inc has acquired a small stake in Russian software developer Parallels, Parallels said on Thursday. Parallels said in a statement that Cisco has bought about 1 percent of the company and added that the stake sale does not rule out a possible initial public offering of the Russian firm. "We are looking at all possible ways to ensure liquidity options: dividend payouts, IPO, mergers and acquisitions," Parallel's press service said. The price of the deal with Cisco has not been revealed, but Cisco will get a seat on Parallels board of directors, the press service said.

18 January 2013
Business Standard: Cisco Announces New Leadership in India
Cisco introduced Jeff White as President of India & SAARC, assuming leadership for Cisco's sales and operations in the region. White will also take on the role of leader of a new India Board, which comprises senior executives from Cisco's headquarters as well as India and will chart Cisco's continued engagement with one of the largest emerging economies in the world. Reporting to Jaime Valles, President of Cisco in Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, White will partner with Faiyaz Shahpurwala, Senior Vice President , Industry solutions and India Site Leader, to drive innovation and talent in alignment with the national agenda to transform the economy through technology. White will also be working closely with Wim Elfrink, Executive Vice President, industry solutions and Chief Globalization Officer, who is also Cisco's Executive Sponsor for India. Elfrink was one of the primary drivers for Cisco's investments in the Globalisation Centre East in 2007 and was based out of Bangalore until 2011.

17 January 2013
EFY Times: Cisco, NXP Invest in Cohda Wireless to Enable the Connected Car
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) today announced that they have each made an investment in Cohda Wireless to advance intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and car-to-X communications. Cohda Wireless is a leading specialist in wireless communication for automotive safety applications. Today's announcement brings together the expertise of the three organizations to make the Internet of Everything a reality for the automotive industry, creating a safer and more enjoyable driving experience while improving traffic flow.

16 January 2013
Indiainfoline: CES: Cisco Talks Personal TV; Updates its Videoscape Platform
At the 21st Convergence India, Cisco will demonstrate how its solutions are enabling service providers to lead the way with convergence. Cisco works closely with service providers to transition them to experience providers; enabling them to build unique and compelling experience around content, and monetize it in new ways. As India's leading provider of digital TV solutions, Cisco has a wealth of technologies and business models to benefit all sizes of service provider looking to launch a digital TV service for today, and provide the flexibility and framework for future TV innovation. A selection of these technologies and solutions will be showcased as part of the newly launched Videoscape Unity platform at Convergence India on stand C-62, Hall 18 between 16th - 18th January. About Videoscape Unity Cisco created Videoscape Unity to empower service providers to accelerate the delivery of leading edge, immersive video experiences that bring to life their unique brand visions with innovative services and features.

16 January 2013
Information Week: Our Success in the Industry Clearly Points to an Industry Transition: Cisco Data Center SVP, David Yen
Data center virtualization is one of the fastest growing business units for Cisco, globally. Cisco entered the data center market in 2009 and in just three years, has achieved phenomenal growth. In a detailed interview with InformationWeek, David Yen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Data Center Technology Group, Cisco, shares his views on Cisco's data center strategy, emerging technologies such as SDN and the new technologies that will define the data center of tomorrow. For a company that has been traditionally known for its networking expertise, how has Cisco fared in the data center market with UCS? Cisco prides itself on identifying market transitions before they take place. Our entry into the data center through UCS is also an example of this.

09 January 2013
CIOL: Cisco Expands Linksys Wi-Fi Portfolio
Cisco announced the expansion of its Linksys Wi-Fi portfolio with three new 802.11ac powered routers, a new 802.11ac USB adapter, new features and new Wi-Fi apps. Apart from Wi-Fi connectivity and in-house Wi-Fi coverage, the new routers, AC1200, AC1600 and AC1750, will also offer new tools for home network monitoring and control, and new mobile apps. Linksys AC 1750 HD video Pro, EA6700 - The most powerful Smart Wi-Fi Router in the Linksys portfolio, the AC1750 is designed for 10 or more connected devices and streaming HD in the home. The dual-band AC1750 delivers Wi-Fi speeds up to 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and up to 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band.

09 January 2013
Silicon India: 10 Unimaginable Facts on How the Internet Really Works
Internet has grown into another world where everything is as easy as clicking few buttons or just gliding tip of your finger on smooth screens- be it calls, messages, social connections, information, movies, music, millions of apps, or shopping. As Cisco predicts, by 2016 the data centers will be sending 1.3 zettabytes over internet every year. That's the equivalent of sending all movies ever made across the Internet every 3 minutes.

08 January 2013
ComputerWorld.in: Cisco Working to Fix Broken Patch for VoIP Phones
Cisco Systems plans to release a new patch for a vulnerability in its VoIP phones after the first patch did not fix the problem, which could allow an attacker to eavesdrop on conversations. The vulnerability is one of several discovered by Ang Cui, a doctoral candidate, and computer science professor Salvatore Stolfo, both of Columbia University's engineering department. Cisco issued a patch, but it did not fix the problem. A spokesman said Tuesday that Cisco has its A-Team working on mitigations and a permanent patch. The company plans to issue a security advisory and a detailed mitigation document later this week, he said.

07 January 2013
Information Week: Leading Tech Analyst Publishes Full 2013 Outlook, Including Special Updates on Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Qualcomm, Cisco Systems, and TriQuint Semiconductor
Next Inning Technology Research, an online investment newsletter focused on technology stocks, has published updated outlooks on Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), and TriQuint Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TQNT)… Cisco: McWilliams was quick to advise Next Inning readers that Wall Street was wrong when it pushed Cisco's price under $15 in July and that it should be viewed as a buying opportunity. With Cisco shares well off those lows, does McWilliams believe the stock is still trading at an attractive price? Is Cisco poised for above-trend growth in 2013?

07 January 2013
CRN: Partners and Priorities: Cisco's Channel Chief Talks to CRN
As Bruce Klein succeeded Keith Goodwin atop Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO), Cisco, a few months ago, partners told CRN they wanted continuity and consistency: two hallmarks of what remains one of the industry's most highly regarded channel programs. To hear Klein tell it, that's exactly what partners are going to get, along with a continued evolution that aligns Cisco's tens of thousands of solution providers and integrators with priorities in cloud, data center, video and software-defined networking.

07 January 2013
CRN: Partners and Priorities: Cisco's Channel Chief Talks to CRN
As Bruce Klein succeeded Keith Goodwin atop Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO), Cisco, a few months ago, partners told CRN they wanted continuity and consistency: two hallmarks of what remains one of the industry's most highly regarded channel programs. To hear Klein tell it, that's exactly what partners are going to get, along with a continued evolution that aligns Cisco's tens of thousands of solution providers and integrators with priorities in cloud, data center, video and software-defined networking.

04 January 2013
The Financial Express: Cisco Likely to Name Jeff White as New Head for India Ops
Globalnet-working giant Cisco is expected to name Jeff White as its new head for the India operations replacing Naresh Wadhwa who has left the company, sources told FE. White, currently vice-president of Cisco's service provider business for Asia Pacific, Japan and China will take over as president and country manager, India and Saarc. The likely change will actually see Cisco bringing back an expatriate to head the India operations after a long period of time. White has held varied roles within the technology company in areas such as sales & channels and strategic accounts. When contacted by FS, a spokesperson from Cisco confirmed Wadhwa's exit from the company but did not comment on who will succeed him. Wadhwa, who joined Cisco, India in January 1998, has served in several roles. Prior to his leadership position as the India and Saarc head in 2007, he was based in Hong Kong for four years as part of an APAC leadership team. During that period he took on various key positions includ-ing the company's foray into new markets.

03 January 2013
Biztech 2: Security Appliance Mkt Growth Continues to Slow in 3Q12: IDC
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker, both factory revenue and unit shipments grew in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12) compared to the previous year. Worldwide factory revenue was up 5.7 percent year over year to just over $2.0 billion, as shipments increased 1.0 percent to 499,022 units. In the previous quarter, factory revenue growth was 6.6 percent and unit growth was 5.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011. Cisco continues to lead the overall security appliance market with 16.2 percent share in factory revenue for the third quarter, but this was down from 17.3 percent in the prior year period. Check Point held the number 2 spot with 12.8 percent share for the quarter as revenue increased 12.8 percent compared to the third quarter of 2011. Fortinet saw the largest growth among the top five vendors at 17.2 percent. The share of Others increased primarily due to strong quarters from Palo Alto Networks and Sourcefire.

03 January 2013
CIO: Technologies to Watch 2013: Cisco products, More Maturity for SDNs in 2013
There was a lot of news and hype swirling around Software-Defined Networking in 2012, so what's on tap for 2013? Plenty. Significant advances are in store for SDNs this year, leading to even more in 2014…"2013 is going to be huge for deployments,& says David Ward, chief architect and CTO of Cisco's Service Provider division. "We have a lot in the pipeline that's going to come out" across our enterprise, data center, cloud, mobility and WAN service provider product lines. Besides working to implement onePK across its operating systems, Cisco has been bulking up the orchestration capabilities of a programmable onePK environment, making a few acquisitions in 2012 to support that effort. The goal, Ward says, is to simplify IT operations for Cisco's varied customer sets.

02 January 2013
The Economic Times: Anti-Virus Products Not Good Enough to Beat Computer Viruses
The anti-virus industry has a dirty little secret: Its products are often not very good at stopping viruses. Consumers and businesses spend billions of dollars every year on anti-virus software. But these programmes rarely, if ever, block freshly-minted computer viruses, experts say, because the virus creators move too quickly. That is prompting start-ups and other companies to get creative about new approaches to computer security. &The bad guys are always trying to be a step ahead,& said Matthew D Howard, a venture capitalist at Norwest Venture Partners who previously set up the security strategy at Cisco Systems. "And it doesn't take a lot to be a step ahead." Computer viruses used to be the domain of digital mischief-makers. But in the mid-2000s, when criminals discovered that malicious software could be profitable, the number of new viruses began to grow exponentially. In 2000, there were fewer than one million new strains of malware, most of them the work of amateurs. By 2010, there were 49 million new strains, according to AV-Test, a German research institute that tests anti-virus products. The anti-virus industry has grown as well, but experts say it is falling behind. By the time its products are able to block new viruses, it is often too late. The bad guys have had their fun, siphoning out a company's trade secrets, erasing data or emptying a consumer's bank account.

02 January 2013
The Hindu Business Line: Top Tech Trends in 2012
Big Data - Every IT event, seminar and conference had Big Data as the buzzword. With the amount of data generated by various systems reaching huge proportions, everyone is looking into how best to store this data and analyse it to create more efficiencies. From Silicon Valley to Davos to New Delhi, Big Data is being talked about as the next big thing in IT. Device Size- When it comes to smartphones and tablets, device makers are still grappling with the perfect size. While Apple moved from a 3.5 inch screen to a 4 inch screen for its iPhone5, it launched a smaller version of its iPad tablet - Mini. Samsung on the other hand increased stretched the screen size of Galaxy Note 2 to 5.5 inches… Smartphone Addiction- Mobile users are increasingly getting addicted to their phones. A surevy done by Cisco found out that in India, 70 percent of respondents compulsively check their smartphones for updates. Of those, 42 percent said they would feel anxious if they couldn't check their smartphones and 71 percent wish they didn't feel so compelled, but they like to stay connected.

02 January 2013
VAR India: Cisco's Priority is its Partners!!!
The Networking giant Cisco, has once again taken a step ahead in showing its commitment towards its Partners by making the Partners the centre of attraction in its second edition of Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) Partner Led Network 2012 event in Bangkok, Thailand. From all over the region around 300 Partners participated in the event… Cisco believes that mobility and cloud will see the shift in the market to services and this will drive demand for services… Cisco has recently announced Partner Plus in India. A new global channel program targeting mid-sized customers, partners who are participants in the program receives increased preference, investment and support in the form of business accelerators. VARINDIA talked to Andrew Sage, to know the latest from Cisco. Excerpts from the interview.

28 December 2012
DQ Channels: Unified Communications - Cisco's Best Collaborative Effort
The Indian market for unified communications (UC) is dominated by biggies like Cisco, Microsoft, and Avaya among others. Not only these players have a fairly large market share, but they have also managed to gain significant mindshare of the solution providers/system integrators in the country. This is visible by the fact that in this year's Channel Satisfaction Survey, the solution providers have clearly endorsed these three majors only, out of which, Cisco has emerged as their #1 choice…. Like last year, with its impeccable scores, Cisco has again proved that it is still the reigning leader in the UC space. From the leadership in overall product/service reliability to the convenience in installation, adoption, and scalability, Cisco has scored quite high in overall product quality in comparison to its competitors. After-sales support has been another catalyst for Cisco's UC success, be it the company's technical expertise and geographical reach throughout the country. By concentrating on the credit facility, fairness on claim settlement, promptness with turnaround time in providing online support and having an interactive site for resolving any of the queries of its solution providers, Cisco has redefined its success story in this segment. However, the company needs to focus on the effectiveness with which it manages disruption due to its change in personnel.

28 December 2012
DQ Channels: Networking- Cisco, The Best Networked
Another category added this year in DQC-CMR Channel Satisfaction Survey is networking and the product line evaluated under this segment are routers, switches, and modems. The companies that were part of this survey include HP, D-Link, Cisco, Avaya, and Digilink, and as per the ratings given by the channel partners, Cisco has emerged as the clear winner amongst all. In fact, Cisco has been well endorsed by the partners for its networking line of products. Though the race was quite close between Cisco and HP, the former ruled the roost with its overall product quality, commercial terms, and relationship management. The company is well ahead of its competitors in having diversity of the product range, by scoring 95 in this sub-parameter. Its networking products also offer value for money to both partners as well as customers, which are clearly suggested by its score in price versus performance ratio. While the channel partners are impressed with Cisco's product pricing, credit policy, and flexibility in commercial terms, the company needs to pull up its socks when it comes to being prompt in communicating the schemes/incentive programs to them. On the other hand, HP has been very competent and always made available the services of its account managers/helpdesk for the partners.

28 December 2012
CIOL: Three predictions for 2013: Rajesh Khurana
Key trends predictions for 2013 from Rajesh Khurana, country manager, India & SAARC, Vietnam, Phillipines, Seagate Technology. Storage Drivers Data consumption and creation and global internet connectivity growth continue to be very robust. For example, in 2012, the total digital information in the world is about 2.7 zettabytes. This is increased by almost 50 per cent since 2011. According to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2011-2016), the annual global IP traffic is forecast to be 1.3 zettabytes by 2016. What's more, between 2015 & 2016, the increase of global traffic is more than 330 exabytes, almost equal to the total amount of global traffic in 2011 (369 exabytes)… At the same time, computing is changing fundamentally and at a rapid pace, driven by open source software, cloud infrastructure and architectures, and mobility.

25 December 2012
Global Services: Data Center & Cloud Computing Trends 2013 & Beyond
Cisco forecasts global data center traffic to grow fourfold and reach a total of 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016 and the global cloud traffic, to grow sixfold - a 44 percent combined annual growth rate (CAGR) - from 683 exabytes of annual traffic in 2011 to 4.3 zettabytes by 2016. For the period 2011-2016, Cisco forecasts that roughly 76 percent of data center traffic will stay within the data center and will be largely generated by storage, production and development data. An additional 7 percent of data center traffic will be generated between data centers, primarily driven by data replication and software/system updates. The remaining 17 percent of data center traffic will be fueled by end users accessing clouds for Web surfing, emailing and video streaming.

20 December 2012
The Hindu: Commercial Centres Mooted to Ease Pressure on Bangalore
Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation Chairman C.S. Kedar on Wednesday suggested that developing eight to ten commercial centres along the Peripheral Ring Road in Bangalore would ease pressure on the city. Anil Menon, president of Globalisation and Smart+Connected communities of CISCO Systems, observed that the biggest problem with respect to urban development in India is that none of the cities has a single chief executive officer for all its needs. He also asked town planners "to look into the rural issues to tackle the problems of urban areas because the pressure on cities is increasing due to migration from villages". Pointing out that half the country's population would live in cities by 2040, CII Karnataka State Council Chairman L. Krishnan expressed concern that urban infrastructure creation was not keeping pace with the rapid manner in which the cities were growing.

19 December 2012
Banktech India: Transitioning to IPv6 is the Only Option to Ensure Long-Term Business Continuity
Cisco's Pranay Jhaveri says that the earlier banks move to IPv6, the better it will be for them. Will banks be able to meet RBI's December-end deadline for migrating their core systems to the latest version of the Internet Protocol IPv6? Do you think they should have been given more time? Data released from the Department of Telecommunications indicates that some banks have already started the migration of their core systems to the latest version of IPv6. To adopt IPv6, the banks would need to discuss, develop and initiate the deployment strategies after taking into account the cost of moving on from legacy systems. Most banks in India had already adopted the first wave of technology by deploying datacenters and offering solutions based on cloud, web, mobile or even social media. The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will not be possible overnight for banks as they will require user applications, databases, middleware, servers and network infrastructure to support the transition. Besides planning for IPv6 adoption costs and budgets will be a task for the vertical as it simultaneously deals with reducing additional expenses in a challenging economy. In this aspect, we believe that they will require more time to migrate to the new version. That said, transitioning to IPv6 is the only option to ensure long-term business continuity and the earlier, the better for banks to migrate to IPv6.

17 December 2012
CXO Today: Cisco Hires Barclays to Sell Home Wireless Router Unit: Report
Networking equipment company Cisco Systems has hired Barclays to sell its Linksys home router unit, a report said. The business, which Cisco acquired for $500 million in 2003, will likely be valued for less because it has low margins, according to Bloomberg. The sale is part of Cisco's strategy to shed its consumer unit and focus on its software and technology services businesses. Last year, Cisco axed its Flip camera business as part of this strategy.

15 December 2012
The Financial Express: Cisco Report: Indian Gen Y Obsessively Connected to Smartphone
It is now well established that mobile phones in general, and smartphones in particular, have become intrinsic parts of our daily lives. On balance, this trend has been beneficial-increased efficiency, connectivity and knowledge-sharing-but, as a recent Cisco survey finds, and there are some disturbing pitfalls to this increasing addiction to smartphones as well. In its Connected World Technology Report 2012, Cisco found that 90% of its respondents in the age group 18-30 checked their phones for updates first thing in the morning, even before they performed their daily ablutions, ate breakfast and got ready for school, college or work as the case may be. That, in itself, isn't the worrying part. What is, is that nearly half said that they used their phones in social settings like dinner with the family. Several studies have been conducted about the anti-social tendencies encouraged by mobile phones, and the Cisco findings add weight to this phenomenon-as connected as mobile phones might make us, they are equally weakening the individual bonds that hold society together.

13 December 2012
The Times of India: Mobile Owners Hardly Use Downloaded Apps: Survey
Of all the mobile apps being downloaded everyday, consumers hardly use a handful of them, says the Cisco annual mobile and Internet penetration survey released on Thursday. A majority of the smart phone owners in India use only about 10 apps regularly irrespective of downloading numerous applications. "Vendors advertise thousands of applications in their app stores but are they being used? Of all those apps being downloaded daily, a surprisingly low number are actually used on a regular basis. Globally, the majority (60 percent) reported using fewer than 10 smartphone apps regularly and only one in five (20 percent) of respondents said they use 10 to 25 apps regularly," said VC Gopalratnam, vice president, IT and CIO globalisation of Cisco. "In India, 64 percent use fewer than 10 smartphone apps regularly and 32 percent use 10 to 25 apps." According to the Airtel Mobitude survey 2012, an average of 30 lakh downloads on Airtel App Central were recorded every month. Over 90 percent of downloads were from the free category. While 65 percent of application downloads are games, other popular categories include social networking, video and music players, sports, health and other entertainment.

13 December 2012
Express Computer : Are Ethernet Roads widening?
Cloud computing, virtualization, enterprise mobility and Big Data hog the limelight in any conversation about enterprise IT. Finding little mention is the network, which has been around for the longest. Slow and steady on the growth track, networks have seen innovation, which is staggered in comparison to some of these technologies.So, where does it stand today? Connectivity at the consumer side has gone way past the 56k modem phase and consumers today are experiencing broadband speeds that go up to a few Mbps easily. The story on the enterprise side is also similar. What used to be Mbps yesterday is Gbps today. Organisations which, till a while ago had networks which had fast Ethernet or one Gigabit Ethernet connectivity are today looking at 10 Gigabit (10G) Ethernet as a standard for connectivity within the enterprise. Some are even talking about 40G and 100G at the data centre side. Says Prem Nithin, Business Development Manager, Borderless Networks, Cisco India, Cost enterprises were using 10/100 Mbps links at the access side and application requirements were not very high. However, Fast Ethernet started becoming a bottleneck as applications grew. Furthermore, most organisations traditionally had applications running on a distributed architecture. This model was not scalable and organisations started thinking about consolidating applications. One Gigabit was proving to be insufficient and therefore 10G started finding relevance at the server level."

12 December 2012
Forbes India: Healthcare via Shipping Containers?
Why not? Being classified as prefabricated structures, containers avoid the regulatory hassles associated with floor area rules or land-use agreements that arise in setting up physical infrastructure. Minimalist in design, it can be transported through rail and used in the remotest corner of the country. Two years ago I wrote about Cisco's healthpresence, a low-end version of its bandwidth guzzling telepresence, for developing countries like India. Cisco had then said it had sorted out the thorny issues of delivery and was working with partners like Airtel, Apollo Hospitals and others. As far as I know the large scale roll out that Cisco had anticipated didn't work out as well as they had planned. Aravind Sitaraman, President - Inclusive Growth, Cisco Systems, says the company has piloted the medical solution in 2 states and 7 districts. The Cisco health care solution has currently been implemented in Raichur, Shimoga, Chitradurga, Gwalior, Sehore, Datia and Chindwara in partnership with the governments of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

10 December 2012
Financial Chronicle: Age of the Mobile Worker
Minhaj Zia, director, collaboration business at Cisco India and Saarc
The workplace is no longer confined to one's workstation. Business operations have assumed a global flavour and require offices across geographies to be connected in a way that allows quicker, smarter and more efficient information exchange. Increase in mobility has created a need for users to be connected all the time and access information from anywhere, increasingly through their device of choice. Likewise, the increased numbers of next generation employees across various organisations expect to use social tools like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter and instant messaging at work, just like they do in their personal lives. A fundamental need to allow their employees engage with each other efficiently is prompting organisations across the board to seek the right tools that facilitate virtual meetings and help employees stay more connected with their peers while bringing key people to facilitate discussions, ideas, and decision-making. Business leaders and IT decision-makers recognize that collaboration helps boost productivity and gain competitive advantage within tight budget constraints.

10 December 2012
The Telegraph: Cisco Small Unit Plan
Networking solutions provider Cisco Systems (India) Pvt Ltd will focus on 14 non-metro cities, or the tier II and III cities, to drive business in the small and medium business segments. The networking solutions provider, which is part of US-based $46-billion Cisco Systems, believes a market of about $400 million lies beyond the top six metros. These include cities such as Chandigarh, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Coim-batore. The small and medium business (SMB) segment has so far been the fastest growing busi¬ness division in India, with a year-on-year com¬pounded annual growth rate of 45 per cent in the last three years. "The total IT spend in 2011 was at $73 billion' in India. The market is expected to be around $78.6 billion in 2012. Of this, 30 per cent will be the SMEs. More organisations have started thinking of a cloud strategy and the SMBs will benefit," Amit Malik, vice-president (India-east & Saarc) of Cisco, said on the sidelines of Infocom 2012, organised by Businessworld, an ABP group publication. Cisco follows a go-to-market strategy through its partners in India. It has a network of 2,500 partners in the country.
The company has pegged its research and development spend at $5 billion globally for this financial year between August and July

09 December 2012
The Hindu: R&D Campus
NDS, the tech company recently acquired by Cisco, has set up a research and development campus here. A release from the firm said the new campus would support development for nearly 50 per cent of its service provider customers around the world. It was inaugurated by Jesper Andersen, senior VP and GM, Cisco Service Provider Video Technology Group.

08 December 2012
The Times of India: We Can Innovate Here Without Having the Best Infrastructure
Faiyaz Shahpurwala, India Site Leader & Global Head (Ind Solutions) | Cisco
Faiyaz Shahpur wala calls it the Taj Mahal. Cisco's newest buildings - known simply by numbers like 14, 15, 16 - on its vast campus in Bangalore look like any other commercial building from the outside. But on the inside, they have incorporated some of the most advanced building technologies in the world - many of them developed by Cisco itself in India - to completely re-imagine the workspace. And Shahpurwala, as Cisco's India site leader, is the man leading the initiative. Some floors incorporate global architectural elements. One of the most impressive is what's called The Park. It's based on the Park Guell in Barcelona designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. It has such a fairytale-like look that it is said a stroll through the Park Guell would awaken even the sleepiest imaginations, something that's important for Shahpurwala because innovation is what Cisco expects out of Bangalore, the city which the $46-billion California-based technology company has designated as its second headquarters.

08 December 2012
The Times of India: Cisco Wants to Be No.1 in Profit Margin, Customer Satisfaction
Cisco Systems Inc. isn't content to be the world's largest maker of computer networking gear. It says it wants to become the "No. 1" supplier of information technology to big businesses by broadening its offerings of services and software. But when Cisco says "No. 1 IT company," it doesn't mean that it's going to be the biggest-selling company. That goal is out of reach, as IBM Corp.'s revenue is twice that of Cisco. Rather, Cisco CEO John Chambers says he wants the company to loom largest in the minds of its customers and to be the one setting the pace in the industry. Being No. 1, he says, means having the best customer satisfaction and the best profit margins for products. The strategy statement, articulated Friday at a presentation for Wall Street analysts, follows some lean years that have seen Cisco retrench from even broader goals, which included trying to establish itself as a consumer brand and buying a maker of camcorders. The new direction will be supported by a global advertising campaign with the slogan "Tomorrow starts here."

07 December 2012
CRN: Cisco Enhances Small, Mid-Market Businesses Portfolio
Cisco announced its new portfolio of small and midsize business solutions to over 300 channel partners at the Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) Partner-Led Network Event. The new portfolio will help Cisco partners better serve customers who are looking to increase productivity by enabling mobile employees to work and collaborate with a high degree of security. The launch is about connecting people, a key part of Cisco's Work Your Way vision. Andrew Sage, vice president, Worldwide Partner Led, Cisco said, "Cisco is fully committed to the success of our partners including delivering innovative solutions to help partners and customers differentiate themselves. We're also giving our partners in the small and midsize spaces unprecedented access to Cisco engineers for presales support and to services such as Cisco OnPlus Scanner to help monitor and manage their networks."

07 December 2012
VARIndia: Cisco Announces Recipients of Smart Service Awards
Cisco today announced the recipients of its Smart Service Awards at the Cisco® Partner-Led Network Conference in Bangkok. The awards recognize business partners and customers for exceptionally forward-thinking approaches in the delivery and integration of Cisco Smart Services. The recipients demonstrate innovation, expertise, and highly effective working relationships that enable "Smart Everywhere" for businesses and empower the network with intelligence throughout Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China.

05 December 2012
Business Standard: Now, There is a Social Platform for Creative People
In a move which is aimed at connecting creative people based on their interests, film-maker Shekhar Kapur and Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman have launched a social networking platform, Qyuki. Qyuki is a social media platform where people can showcase their talent in the form of video, audio, images and text. The site has already roped in creative experts such as filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, writer Chetan Bhagat, music director Ranjit Barot and photographer Suresh Natrajan, who will guide the Qyuki members. Though the financial details and shareholding pattern of the media venture was kept under the wraps, networking company Cisco is one of the investors in the start-up. "With Qyuki, we are creating a platform where it doesn't matter where you come from, but what matters the most is your creativity. It is a domain where people can collaborate with like-minded people and showcase their creativity. Through this, we will see new 'Shekhar Kapurs' and 'AR Rahmans' coming out of it," Kapur said reporters here. Besides showcasing the work of members, the site will also premier exclusive contents by Shekhar Kapur and Rehman. On the website's homepage, there is a section called Qyuki Premiere, where short video previews of two creations by Kapur - "War Lord" and "Moments In Motion" - and Rahman's musical creation "Melange", has been showcased. Rahman said that the platform will emerge as a strong medium that will help the Indian youth to follow their creative instincts. "There are platforms like YouTube where people create content and put it online. But what is important is the quality of those content. Qyuki is getting there. It will not only provide creative freedom, but also quality experience," Rahman added. The editorial broad of the site will review the works and each good piece will be awarded with badge/badges depending upon its quality and popularity. Though the platform is yet to come up with revenue models, Kapur said the owners of the content would retain copyright for their content. However, there would be opportunities for users to monetize their contents, the details of which are yet to be worked out, he added.

04 December 2012
InformationWeek: Cisco Makes Deep Inroads into Indian SMB Sector
The SMB sector is one of the biggest revenue generators for Cisco India and over the last three years, it has been growing at a CAGR of 45 percent. A partner-led approach is helping Cisco increase its footprint impressively in the fast growing SMB market in India. The networking major is aggressively expanding its SMB portfolio over the past two years, and is seeing good results for its strategy. Cisco has been meticulously and systematically developing the SMB market. This includes having a dedicated R&D team to build products only for small customers, and making an investment of USD 100 million to develop products for small businesses. "Adoption of technology among SMBs is directly dependent on bringing down the total cost of ownership and increasing ease of use. We have made great efforts to study the exact needs of SMBs and have developed products based on customer feedback," explains Rajesh Shetty, Vice President, Cisco India and SAARC. Shetty says that the focus is on reducing the complexity and making it easy for the SMB to configure.

04 December 2012
Business Standard: NDS Opens R&D Campus in Bangalore
NDS, now part of Cisco, celebrates the opening of its new R&D campus in Bangalore as it reaches 12 years of operations in India. With the changing dynamics of the pay-TV industry in India, this announcement reinforces the company's on-going commitment to the market. The new campus is NDS' largest R&D facility and will support development for nearly 50% of the company's service provider customers around the world… The new R&D campus was inaugurated by Jesper Andersen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco's Service Provider Video Technology Group. Addressing NDS staff at the event, Andersen discussed the evolution of Cisco, with NDS, in India to become the leader in providing digital pay-TV technologies to some of the most important DTH and cable operators in the country with more than 40% market share and technology in over 20 million digital TV homes. He also spoke about the opening of the R&D campus as a reinforcement of Cisco's emphasis on driving innovation in emerging markets.

22 November 2012
The Times of India: 46% Indian Companies Yet to Allow Use of Personal Digital Devices at Work' Reveals Survey
Many business organizations have been encouraging its employees to use personal digital devices for official work as they result in employee satisfaction and higher productivity. However, there are some organizations that are yet to accept the concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Cisco's VC Gopalratnam said the company implemented BYOD policy in 2009 and since then it has proved very beneficial for its organization and employees. "The adoption of BYOD has had a positive impact on us. It has enhanced employee productivity by providing them the freedom to work with their choice of device which in turn allows them to respond faster."

21 November 2012
The Economic Times: IT Firms Let Employees Use Their Favorite Devices at Work
Many IT companies are encouraging BYOD (bring your own device) to work. According to an industry survey, firms feel that with techniques like desktop virtualization their earlier concerns like data theft and network problems have been addressed and therefore they are adopting the idea of employees bringing their own devices to work. The study, which surveyed 1,493 IT and business leaders in India and China, shows that IT leaders are increasingly embracing BYOD in their enterprises. This study was part of networking solutions provider Cisco's initiative to understand acceptance of BYOD among global IT companies in 18 industries. "The new generation employees are using all kinds of devices, including smartphones and tablets. They feel uncomfortable working on systems given by their IT department. The smartphone penetration is very popular in India," said Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, Borderless Networks, Cisco India and SAARC.

21 November 2012
Communications Today: Enterprise Routers & Switches Exploding Traffic to Create Demand
Despite the demand for networking equipment, strong revenue growth is elusive owing to the quest for lower-priced devices, competition, emerging technologies, and economic concerns… In 2011, the Indian switches and routers market is estimated at Rs.1670 crore and Rs. 2560 crore, respectively. Cisco continues to be ahead in the Indian router space with 70 percent market share, and the remaining is together contributed by Avaya, HP, Juniper, Huawei, and Dax Networks… "Organizations need their networks to be intelligent, dynamic, and securely integrate applications in a way that is easy and viable to manage. Many advanced applications need to be integrated into an adaptable, pervasive, and collaborative system. Access has also changed, as thousands of new devices connect to the network via wireless and wired pathways. By providing multiple services on a single platform, solutions like integrated services routers provide a one-stop solution for small offices, branch offices, and teleworkers. Globally and in India, the market is moving toward integrated devices with built-in multiple capabilities. Many vendors are introducing switches/routers that have the capability to integrate key features such as content processing, VPNs, firewalls, and load balancing. Wireless capabilities are also popular, replacing the need for separate wireless access points for small office networks. Security is another focus area as is evident from new products introduced by all vendors," concludes Mahesh Gupta, VP, Borderless Networks, Cisco India & SAARC.

21 November 2012
Voice and Data: Increase in Data Usage Enhances GDP Per Capita: GSMA-Deloitte
Countries with higher level of data usage per 3G connection have witnessed an increase in GDP per capita growth of up to 1.4 percentage points, and a 10% rise from 2G to 3G penetration increases GDP per capita growth by 0.15 percentage points, revealed a report 'What Is the Impact of Mobile Telephony on Economic Growth?' released by GSMA and Deloitte. Dr. Robert Pepper , Vice President, Global Technology Policy, Cisco said, "As people around the world increasingly connect to the Internet via multiple wireless devices to use rich content anytime, anywhere, it is creating a deluge of data that is changing the way we work, live and play. The fact that increasing high-speed mobile broadband data usage leads to greater average per capita income underscores the need for increased investment in wireless networks as well as for government policies to foster that investment, including the allocation of additional spectrum."

19 November 2012
Business Standard: Cisco to Buy Cloud-Networking Start-Up Meraki for $1.2 bn
Cisco Systems said that it had agreed to buy Meraki for about $1.2 billion, as the networking titan continues to bolster its cloud computing services. By buying Meraki, a privately held company backed by the likes of Google and Sequoia Partners, Cisco will add products that allow networks to be controlled through the internet. "These companies have the same IT needs as larger organisations, but without the resources to integrate complex IT solutions," Rob Soderbery, a senior vice president in Cisco's enterprise networking group, said in a statement.

16 November 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Real Time Disruption
The mobile used to be a simple device when we used it only for making voice calls. However, with the deployment of wireless broadband data networks and the availability of powerful smartphones and tablets at reasonable prices, Two-Sided Markets (2SM) and the associated platforms have become the norm. In a typical 2SM, there are two sets of users who complement each other's usage thereby increasing the network effect for enhanced value for both. The users of the mobile device on one side and the application/ content developers on the other side create strong cross-side network effects to complement each other in the wireless broadband market. The mobile operators' network just happens to be a bandwidth pipe that interconnects these two sets of users. This phenomenon is supported by evidence that mobile users are avidly consuming content and mobile data traffic is growing at a compounded rate of about 95 percent and is expected to reach 6.3 exabytes (1 exabyte = 10 raised to the power 18 bytes) per month by 2015 as per Cisco visualization index. This has resulted in US $ 36 billion "post-PC era" of app value chain.

15 November 2012
The Times of India: Cisco Rises as Profit Tops Estimates on Price Cuts
Cisco Systems Inc, the biggest maker of computer networking equipment, rose the most in almost three months after its profit topped analysts' estimates, price reductions helped spur sales and cost cuts kept margins intact. The shares jumped as much as 8.3% on Wednesday after Cisco said in a statement on Tuesday after markets closed that profit excluding some costs was 48 cents a share in the first fiscal quarter ended Oct. 27. Analysts anticipated 46 cents a share, the average of data compiled by Bloomberg.

15 November 2012
Business Standard: Cisco's 1Q Earnings Rise 18 Per Cent
Cisco Systems Inc, the world's largest maker of computer networking gear, said Tuesday that U.S. companies are starting to spend again, helping Cisco find more solid footing after some shaky months early this year. Cisco said its earnings rose 18 per cent in the latest quarter, propelled by a renewed willingness by large U.S. businesses to invest in big-ticket networking gear, even as the federal government continued to hold back. Orders from large business customers in the U.S. rose 9 per cent from a year ago. The company's stock rose $1.11, or 6.6 per cent, to $17.96 in extended trading Tuesday. Cisco made $2.1 billion, or 39 cents per share, in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Oct. 27. That compares with $1.8 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding the cost of stock-based compensation and certain other items, Cisco would have earned 48 cents per share. On that basis, Cisco's earnings were 2 cents above the average analyst estimate, according to FactSet.

09 November 2012
CRN: Array Offers $30,000 Rebates to Replace Cisco ACE Load Balancers
Array Networks, an application delivery networking player, has announced its Cisco ACE 'Race-to-Replace' rebate program for existing Cisco load balancing customers. The company is offering up to $30,000 in rebates on products and services for Cisco customers trading in qualifying ACE equipment for Array APV Series application delivery controllers (ADCs). Applicable till 2012-end, partners and customers should contact Array Networks or an authorized distributor to confirm eligibility and to begin evaluation and testing to qualify for buyback options for Cisco ACE load balancers. Partners can log Cisco ACE replacement opportunities directly within the Array partner portal. The first 100 ACE replacement deals will provide free certification training from Array Networks to both the customer and partner. Shibu Paul, National Sales Manager, India, Array Networks said, "In response to Cisco discontinuing development of its ACE load balancing product, we are offering Cisco customers attractive pricing on next-generation load balancing and application delivery. With Array customers get better performance and features at a better price point, from a company that is committed to the application delivery market."

06 November 2012
Venture Intelligence: Strategic Investor Interview with Joydeep Bose of Cisco
The following interview with Joydeep Bose, Senior Director, Corporate Development, Investments and Acquisitions at Cisco appeared in the latest quarterly Venture Intelligence India Venture Capital report. Venture Intelligence: Can you start by providing us a quick overview of Cisco's venture investment activities in India. Joydeep Bose: Cisco Investments and M&A group is focused on investing in India's growing markets in technology areas such as Video networking and social collaboration, Cloud Computing and enabling software. India is a key geography for Cisco both as a market and as a source market for innovation. We have seen a huge investment opportunities in India, especially in the areas of cloud and broadband services, media and entertainment and the traditional Indian industry strongholds such as software and advanced services. We are also seeking faster the adoptions of technologies like LTE and national broadband network in the Asia Pacific and Japan regions. India ranks number one in terms of our focus followed by Korea, Australia and Japan.

06 November 2012
The Times of India: Diversity Inc.
According to a recent re¬port, Creating inclusive workplaces for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) employees in India - a resource guide for employers by Community Business (a unique membership based non¬profit organisation), though Indian organisations acknowledge the benefits of a diversified workforce, many still do not in¬clude LGBT candidates in their corporate diversity agenda. 'Gay Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Advocates Net¬work (GLBT&A)' at CISCO embraces LGBT individuals as a part of the Cisco family. To ensure LGBT employees feel valued, they have redefined terms like 'spouse', 'partner', etc, in their global policy handbook and have extended benefits globally The company has extended same sex partner benefits in many countries in APAC and is working with other organisations in the industry and service providers to create the right conditions to introduce these benefits in India as well. Cisco is also a member of an inter-company network for LGBT. Their general strategy is to complement local legislation and help ensure that LGBT employees and their fami¬lies feel that they are equal members of the Cisco family.

06 November 2012
CXOtoday: "More than Cost, BYOD is About Operational Efficiency"
Newer and emerging IT trends such as virtualization and unified communication (UC) are revolutionizing the workplace. To survive in this increasingly complex business environment, enterprises need to strategically deploy these technologies for better productivity and efficiency. In a recent interview with Sohini Bagchi of CXOtoday, Daisy Chittilapilly, VP, ITS, Cisco India and SAARC explains why an increased number of organizations are looking to deploy bring-your-own-device (BYOD), as part of the virtualized workplace and unified solutions and what CIOs should keep in mind while implementing these technologies.

05 November 2012
Express Computer: Video Conferencing 2.0
According to available industry data, the video conferencing market in India can be pegged at Rs 500 crores for hardware (end points and bridges) and it is growing at 18-20%. Cisco believed that it was necessary to offer better collaborative tools. "Offering effective ways for enterprise subscribers to collaborate with their customers, partners, and suppliers necessitates the use of premium bandwidth services. Our TelePresence Exchange System ensures the integration of full-high definition video, advanced audio and interactive collaboration tools with the underlying network as the platform to deliver immersive meetings, interoperability and advanced media services. This also enhances the telepresence collaboration experience," said Minhaj Zia, Director, Collaboration Sales, Cisco India and SAARC.

03 November 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Complex value chain, Social Media are Key organisational Challenges: Experts
The challenges faced by organisations are complex value chain, talent war, social media and global competition, said Marc Amblard, Chief Executive Officer, EFQM (formerly known as the European Foundation for Quality Management). Speaking on "Quality and New Reality - Global Challenges and Excellence", at the CII's 20th National Quality Summit 2012, Amblard said there are about eight fundamental models as solutions for these challenges and all of these have been incorporated in the EFQM Excellence model. Sumant Jha, Customer Value Chain Management, Cisco Systems spoke about end-to-end value-chain quality experiences from the company's customers. Nandagopal Prasad, Global Head of Partner Qualification and Certification, SAP Labs India spoke on how the company's customers engaged in process development to ensure that they were moving in the right direction. Gopichand Katragadda, Managing Director, GE India Technology Centre, touched upon issues of understanding of the customer's requirements and identification of business priorities among others.

02 November 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Catch the Biggies in Town Talk About their Taste in Tech
Interview: Sanjay Rohatgi, President, Service Provider, Cisco India and SAARC
HBL: What gadgets do you use? Sanjay: Everything one can think of - Laptop, Desktop, iPAD, Blackberry, Samsung Galaxy SIII, Executive Telepresence, iPOD Touch, iPOD Nano to lead a productive and effective life at work and play. Which is the latest gadget you picked up? Samsung Galaxy SIII HBL: What is your dream machine? Sanjay: All in One Device - probably iPAD mini or Samsung Note, which is also almost getting there. My dream machine is Porsche Panamera (car) and my dream watch is the latest Panarai limited edition HBL: What do you not like about technology? Sanjay: It can be too intrusive these days in your personal life. HBL: What apps or tools are you addicted to? Sanjay: Webex for collaboration, BBM and What's App as messenger platform to talk to peers, friends and colleagues. I am also an avid user of Facebook to keep track of my global and local friends and relatives. And I still use SMS as needed… Data Hogger but not a real gadget freak. HBL: What's the biggest tech disaster according to you? Sanjay: BBM down for few days in India HBL: What's the biggest tech success according to you? Sanjay: Cloud/ Virtualisation is the biggest paradigm shift the industry is witnessing and it will change the way we live, learn, work and play. One instance where technology solved your problem. I had to be on an ad hoc but urgent business meeting using video. I was on a remote Island on holidays but the Island had decent internet connectivity. With the HD Camera on my laptop and leveraging Jabber client using Cisco Collaboration platform I was able to have a successful HD Video call and got the nod to proceed ahead on an important project. Technology sure works and solves so many issues.

02 November 2012
Express Computer: Unified Communications: Joining the Dots
It would be an understatement to say that communication today has become a basic necessity for an individual. Many people today feel helpless or get anxious, even if they do not have Internet connectivity on the smart phones or personal computers. The need to stay always connected is being felt today more than ever. Though this holds true even in the enterprise, the need to have seamless communication is more of a business imperative than a professional luxury. Businesses change fast, customers need quick response, and decisions need to be made in real-time… Says Minhaj Zia, Director, Collaboration Sales, Cisco India & SAARC," Back in the days, employees would start work only after reaching office and work in a nine to five schedule. However today with businesses being spread across different geographies and time zones, they are expected to interact with partners, or suppliers or customers, even during transit or outside office hours." The market drivers for an organization to look at unified communications today are many. Besides growing their business and innovating while reducing cost and improving productivity, organizations are also expected to go-to-market faster and engage customers quicker than before. Today when a product releases it take very little time for the market to understand it and another vendor to catch up with something equally competitive.

02 November 2012
Indian Television: NDS to Showcase Scalable Solutions for Digitisation
NDS which is now a part of Cisco has announced that at the television technology trade event Scat India 2012 which kicks off tomorrow in Mumbai it will showcase proven solutions that enable the streamlined and cost-effective deployment of future-ready digital pay-TV services in India. The event runs from 3-5 November 2012…At SCaT India 2012, NDS will demonstrate proven solutions, developed locally to support the deployment and growth of digital cable TV services in India. Addressing all tiers of operators, NDS technologies provides cost-effective and future-ready solutions to support its customers through the digitisation process and as they expand their services.NDS adds that its solutions are currently deployed in over three million cable TV homes - equivalent to over 50 per cent of all digital cable subscribers in India.

31 October 2012
CIO: Making the Shift to the Next-Gen Customer Care
Paralympics champion H N Girisha, noted critic Dr H S Raghavendra Rao, scholar R L Kashyap, Aravind Seetharaman of Inclusive Growth at Cisco Systems and popular orator Hiremagalur Kannan will be among the 64 recipients of the 57th Kannada Rajyotsava awards, 2012, to be given away on Thursday. The government, which had earlier announced that the number of awardees would be restricted to 50, has overshot the limit. Kannada and Culture Minister Govind M Karjol, who announced the list in Bangalore on Wednesday, said there were many more deserving aspirants, but the selection committee had to round off the number to 57 individual awardees and seven organisations.

31 October 2012
Deccan Herald: Rajyotsava Award List Swells to 64
It would be no exaggeration to say that the customer care market is undergoing a major transition. How customers choose to interact with companies is changing substantially, and businesses of all sizes are challenged with providing customer care in the manner in which customers wish to be served. The explosion of the social Web-Twitter, Facebook and YouTube-is prompting consumers worldwide to engage in an ever-increasing number of online conversations and interactions, where they often talk about the companies with which they do business. There is also a marked increase in the number of consumers who use mobile device-based video to interact with various organizations. Customer interactions have moved beyond simple phone transactions, and in response, the traditional contact center has evolved into a 'customer interaction network' where speed, efficiency, and accuracy are paramount. Leading-edge organizations utilize a variety of media channels including voice, chat, Web, email, and video to deliver content-rich, consumer-centric experience that ultimately and measurably improve client satisfaction.
By Daisy Chittilapilly, VP-Sales, Cisco India and SAARC

26 October 2012
Deccan Herald: Cisco to Launch Cheaper Set-Top Boxes, Bets Big on Data Services
In a bid to take advantage of cable digitisation, networking equipment major Cisco is all set to introduce cost-effective set-top boxes (STBs) from its centres in India. The San Jose-based company is also placing its bets on data services to propel growth. "We have designed a range of STBs that are being deployed in millions of homes in partnership with multi-system operators (MSOs)," said Sanjay Rohatgi, president of Cisco's service provider business for India and Saarc. This according to Rohatgi, was an example of Cisco's strategy of "designing products in India that are made for India and beyond." On the data front, Cisco is developing a series of technologies that help service providers (telecom companies and cable service companies) drive more revenue out of new business models.

25 October 2012
CIOL: Cisco Captures Lead in Enterprise SBC Market
For the first time ever, Cisco captured the lead in the enterprise session border controller market, taking 26 per cent revenue market share in the first half of 2012, finds Infonetics Research. Infonetics Research forecasts the enterprise SBC market to grow strongly, topping $430 million in 2016. Diane Myers, principal analyst, VoIP, UC, and IMS, Infonetics Research, says: "Cisco's been able to turn its market-leading position in IP PBXs, VoIP gateways, and data networking equipment into an advantage, upselling its enterprise SBCs to this customer base as they transition to services such as SIP trunking." Global revenue for enterprise SBCs hit $82.5 million in the first half of 2012 (1H12). Systems with fewer than 800 sessions comprise the largest share of enterprise SBC sales. Cisco and Acme Packet are the top enterprise SBC vendors by 1H12 global revenue share. Competitive pressures during the first half of the year impacted average revenue per session downward.

25 October 2012
Voice and Data: Cloud Traffic to Grow Six fold by 2016: Cisco
Global data center traffic to grow fourfold and reach a total of 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016, Cisco predicted in its second annual Cisco Global cloud index report released Wednesday. This amount of data is equivalent to 92 trillion hours of streaming music equivalent to about 1.5 years of continuous music streaming for the world's population in 2016. The company also predicts global cloud traffic, the fastest-growing component of data center traffic, to grow sixfold " at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44 percent " from 683 exabytes of annual traffic in 2011 to 4.3 zettabytes by 2016. The vast majority of the data center traffic is not caused by end users but by data centers and cloud-computing workloads used in activities that are virtually invisible to individuals. For the period 2011-2016, Cisco forecasts that roughly 76 percent of data center traffic will stay within the data center and will be largely generated by storage, production and development data. An additional 7 percent of data center traffic will be generated between data centers, primarily driven by data replication and software/system updates. The remaining 17 percent of data center traffic will be fueled by end users accessing clouds for web surfing, emailing and video streaming. From a regional perspective, the Cisco Global Cloud Index predicts that through 2016, the Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate, while the Asia Pacific region will process the most cloud workloads, followed by North America.

22 October 2012
VAR India: Newer Technologies, Newer Threats
Cloud, mobility and big data initiatives are helping organizations solve pressing challenges, while driving accelerated innovation, enhanced agility and improved financial management. However, these initiatives also can introduce big security concerns…Manu Bansal, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Channels, Cisco India: Cisco's Smart Solutions like the BYOD, VXI and Remote Expert, are all designed to help service provider and enterprises develop a scalable approach to their mobility initiatives while optimizing user experience and ensuring data security. "Cisco's Smart Solutions like the BYOD, VXI and Remote Expert, are all designed to help service provider and enterprises develop a scalable approach to their mobility initiatives while optimizing user experience and ensuring data security, says Manu Bansal, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Channels, Cisco India.

21 October 2012
The Financial Express: Despite Pandit's Exit, Global Indian CEO's Reputation Intact
Exit of Vikram Pandit as chief of banking giant Citigroup may have come as a big surprise, but experts are convinced that it is a one-off case and Indian-origin CEOs would continue to be prominent players at global firms. Despite Pandit's departure and the charges against another high-profile Indian-origin executive Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director, the number of India-born CEOs at reputed international MNCs remains very impressive, the experts said. Randstad India MD and CEO E Balaji said these incidents are not likely to have an impact because there are hundreds of very successful Indian executives at the helm of global MNCs. Asked whether the cases of Pandit and Gupta are aberrations or an emerging trend about diminishing profile of Indian-origin CEOs at global level, most of the experts said these instances should be generalised. They point out names like Anshu Jain of Deutsche Bank, Padmashree Warrior of Cisco, Rakesh Kapoor of Reckitt Benckiser and Ajay Banga of MasterCard as successful examples as heads of global giants in various sectors.

18 October 2012
Express Computer: Cisco, Citrix Extend Partnership
Cisco and Citrix have announced a significant expansion of their successful desktop virtualization partnership into three strategic areas-cloud networking, cloud orchestration, and mobile workstyles. To help enterprise and service provider customers capture the market transition and transform their business models, Cisco and Citrix will collaborate to unify best-of-breed technologies into innovative solutions for the mobile-cloud era. "Over the past two years, Cisco and Citrix have collaborated to deliver significant innovation into the market. Now we are excited to accelerate our partnership into cloud, networking and mobility", said Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Cisco.

18 October 2012
ZDNET: IT Security Still a Big Challenge for Indian SMBs
India's small and midsize businesses (SMBs) lack complete understanding of the IT security landscape and tend to be reactive, rather than proactive, which can turn out more costly to manage. According to Kishan Bhatt, engagement manager at Zinnov, some common assaults faced by SMBs in India are virus attacks, trojans, phishing, pharming, and man-in-the-middle and man-in-the-browser attacks. He noted that while larger organizations take robust measures to safeguard themselves against such attacks, in the case of smaller organizations, these processes are not well defined. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President For Borderless Network at Cisco Systems India and SAARC, said the company introduced several products that combine high-speed network connectivity with integrated vpn, firewall, e-mail, and web security capabilities designed for SMBS. It also has routers that offer internet access, security, and wireless services on a single, secured device.

17 October 2012
Channel World: Cisco Plans to Release Collaboration Software Products Its Hosting Partners can Offer
Cisco has announced that it is increasing the number of collaboration software products that its hosting partners can offer via the cloud, hoping to make the bundles more attractive to the partners and their customers. At an announcement at its Collaboration Summit in Los Angeles, Cisco also said that it will provide its cloud-based WebEx web conferencing product for the first time as packaged software that customers can deploy on-premise or in a private cloud. "We want to give our customers more choice in how they deploy our collaboration products,"said Murali Sitaram, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Cloud Collaboration Applications Technology Group.

17 October 2012
CTO Forum: Network is Embracing a New Paradigm of Open Network Environment: Cisco
Network has become more important than ever before. It plays a vital role in enabling businesses to adopt new technologies and applications to help them grow. As the network evolves, it is embracing a new paradigm of Open Network Environment, which is transforming the network into an effective business enabler, becoming more open, programmable, and application-aware. Cisco's latest offering, Open Network Environment - referred as 'Cisco ONE' is a multi-pronged strategy that will deliver the industry's broadest approach to programmability built on the industry's most comprehensive networking portfolio and industry standards. Speaking at the Cisco Open Networking Summit today, Shashi Kiran- Senior Director, Market Management Data Center Virtualization and Switching elaborated on the concept of Cisco ONE. According to Shashi, Cisco unifies the various parts of data centers that were traditionally siloed and difficult to combine - compute, networking, and storage functions and Cisco ONE enhances this portfolio. By enhancing open networking through tighter hardware-software coordination, customers can generate greater efficiencies from a data center infrastructure that is already being enhanced by its convergence of compute, storage, and networking.

16 October 2012
Channel World: Cisco Looking to Buy Citrix's Networking Business?
Cisco could buy Citrix's networking business if an expected OEM deal involving the latter's application delivery controller product bears fruit, Oppenheimer analysts said this week. Oppenheimer & Co. issued bulletins stating that Cisco is expected to fill its recent ADC hole with Citrix's NetScaler product under an OEM arrangement. Cisco killed its own Application Control Engine (ACE) product but left open the possibility of revisiting the ADC market once it re-evaluates its strategy. Oppenheimer believes that re-evaluation will result in an OEM deal with Citrix and a possible acquisition of the company's NetScaler assets, according to this post in StreetInsider.com. "From a technology standpoint, NetScaler is a high-quality solution relative to Cisco's discontinued ACE and one that Cisco can sell as a standalone ADC to enterprise/SMBs," the site quotes Oppenheimer as stating. "While OEM relationships are tough to execute, Cisco has a strong sales force and now a strong product to sell. We see little go-to-market conflict as we expect Cisco to focus on standalone

15 October 2012
Dataquest: Cisco Introduces Remote ATM Connectivity for Indian Banks
Cisco announced availability of its Connected ATM Solution that will help banks in India deploy automated teller machine facilities in remote locations across the country. With greater emphasis on financial inclusion, the new solution from Cisco is aimed at helping banks meet the Government of India mandate for ATM network expansion across the country, with specific emphasis on rural connectivity. This solution underscores Cisco's commitment to participate in opportunities to drive inclusive growth and contribute to country transformation.

15 October 2012
CRN: Cisco Xchange to Drive Partner-Led Services Biz
Cisco has launched an exclusive partner engagement program named Cisco Services Xchange (CSX) for the sales executives of its tier-1 and -2 partners in India and Saarc. According to Cisco, 750 sales executives from 300 tier-1 and -2 partner organizations across India and Saarc have registered for CSX since the program was launched two months ago. The CSX is an online platform that covers the entire range of Cisco services including network management, optimization and 24x7 SMTC. It works at multiple levels to create a live engagement engine between the vendor and partners. It offers partners features such as learning and development, training, informal interactions and real-time alerts, and awards achievers through point redemption schemes. "We have launched a sales incentive engine that can drive engagement and revenue, and reduce partner sales force attrition through continuous learning, development and rewards. We will also utilize CSX as a partner enablement engine to introduce new programs," said Amitabh Patney, VP, Services, Cisco.

11 October 2012
Voice&Data: Building Blocks
Cloud computing has moved ahead from the threshold of adoption. The first phase of the technology, i.e., creating awareness of cloud technology has been executed by the cloud vendors and providers successfully; now India is in the second phase, i.e., the adoption phase to reap cloud benefits. It is at the early stages of adoption and is yet to pick pace. From the past one to two years, cloud technology in India has picked up baby steps from crawling. "Cloud is not a "one-size-fits-all" proposition: the right approach depends on your enterprise's needs and priorities. Different service and deployment models can be adopted to match the requirements of applications across the business. Security, Compliance, Reliability, Control and Quality of Service are few of the factors that enterprises need to consider while adopting a cloud strategy," says Rajesh Rege, Senior Vice President, Data Center, Virtualisation and Cloud, Cisco India & SAARC.

11 October 2012
CIOL: Cisco, NetApp Expand Data Centre Infra Soln to Increase Market Coverage
Expanding and extending their family of infrastructure solutions, Cisco and NetApp has introduced ExpressPod, a prepackaged and tested solution for growing small and medium-sized organizations; the addition of new storage clustering capabilities to the FlexPod data center platform, and the release of a validated VMware® solution for Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) on FlexPod…Cisco and NetApp infrastructure solutions are on display this week at VMworld Europe at Cisco booth D200 and NetApp booth D206. ExpressPod - Infrastructure Solution for Small and Midsize Organizations. Darren Adams, general manager and vice president, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas, Cisco Solutions Group "This new pre-packaged and tested ExpressPod solution is ideal for Avnet value added resellers with small-to medium-sized customers whose business could benefit significantly from a low-risk, cost-effective virtualization solution for their networking, storage and computing environments."

10 October 2012
CRN: Cisco, NetApp Revamp FlexPod For SMBs: Call It Express Pod
NetApp and Cisco (NSDQ:CSCO) Wednesday introduced an entry-level version of their FlexPod converged infrastructure, dubbed ExpressPod, in a move to expand the market for the combined server, storage, and networking solutions to smaller-size business customers.The two also expanded their FlexPod offering at the high end with a new clustered version and model with a validated VMware solution Oracle (NSDQ:ORCL) Real Application Cluster (RAC)…The new ExpressPod entry-level converged infrastructure solutions target businesses with up to 500 users where the IT department may be consist of a single generalist struggling to manage the company's entire IT infrastructure, said Adam Fore, NetApp's director of solutions marketing.

10 October 2012
CTO Forum: CTOF Connect
Mahesh Gupta, VP, Borderless Networks, Cisco India talks to Varun Aggarwal about the need for networks to become intelligent…What is the need to have intelligent networks for an enterprise? The initial way of security was to implement security on firewalls and then you put network security as one measure from stopping anybody, any intrusion or any thefts happening from the internet. Similar way you had physical security, if somebody cannot come through virtual means, if somebody comes through physicals means, you have physical security guard, that how you are protected.

10 October 2012
CTO Forum: Time is Ripe for Intelligent Networks
Given the evolution of technology, there is a need for networks to become intelligent. Mahesh Gupta, VP, Borderless Networks, Cisco India talks to Varun Aggarwal to give more details. The initial way of security was to implement security on firewalls and then you put network security as one measure from stopping anybody, any intrusion or any thefts happening from the internet. Similar way you had physical security, if somebody cannot come through virtual means, if somebody comes through physicals means, you have physical security guard, that how you are protected. However, now people have started bringing in their mobile phones and tablets into the company. As authorized user, they come through the physical security gate. These devices could be productivity enabler or productivity damper. Depending on the way you perceive those devices, on the way you enable those devices. So now, the firewall policy needs to be intelligent. What access I should I be given on the network, should be decided by the policy deployed on the firewall.

10 October 2012
Voice&Data: Flexible Workspaces
Gone are the days when the workplace was being confined to a particular place; today's work environment is transitioning. On-the-move work culture is gaining traction; workforce is empowered to deliver work from anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Thanks to the technology which has rewarded both employers and employees equally; Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) which is driven by mobility, consumerization of IT, and proliferation of devices is transforming the traditional corporate structure. This mode of work culture has a great potential and it becoming inevitable. According to a recent global survey, Cisco Connected World Technology Report (CCWTR) 41% of students prefer companies that offer flexibility with devices. Cisco has had a BYOD policy for a couple of years now. VC Gopalratnam, CIO & VP, information technology, Cisco says, "BYOD has helped us enhance employee productivity by enabling employees to do company work when and where they want; provide a better user experience; and foster goodwill. This policy also goes beyond existing employees. The workforce is evolving, and as members of today's new technology-savvy generation enter the workforce, they want to choose how they can be most productive."

05 October 2012
E Gov: Cisco Bets on e-Governance
Interview: Puneet Gupta, Senior Vice President, Public Sector Business, Cisco India and SAARC "Cisco's objective is to create better governance infrastructure, which enables citizens to access information - any place, any device and any time," says Puneet Gupta, Senior Vice President, Public Sector Business, Cisco India and SAARC. Egov: These days most government departments in India are implementing e-Governance to improve their efficiency and to facilitate better interactions with the public. What kinds of solutions is Cisco bringing to public administration in India? Puneet: Cisco has been involved with e-Governance initiatives in public sector for more than 10 years. The public sector vertical of Cisco's IBSG (Internet Business solutions Group) comprises of experts from healthcare, transportation, education, energy management, internal security, etc. The specialists not only understand the unique challenges of government, they also bring years of skill and experience to help solve these challenges. Cisco has been actively involved in all the three pillars of NeGP programme - SWAN, SDC and SC projects. We are working with more than 25 states for rolling out SWAN projects successfully; we are also involved in the setup of data Centres in several states. We have also been able to leverage the IP infrastructure rolled out in the states for delivery of Data, voice and Video services on the same platform. The underlying IP protocol has enabled this entire infrastructure to be future ready and support any new service deployments. Cisco is leading in the transition from IPv4 to IPv6, which has now been mandated by the Department of Telecommunications. We have a team of specialist who are capable of facilitating the migration of existing network infrastructure to IPv6.

05 October 2012
CIOL: Cisco Boosts Virtual Networking with vCider Acquisition
Networking equipment company Cisco Systems said on Thursday it has acquired virtual networking company vCider to defend itself from competitors in the cloud computing business. vCider, a privately held company founded in 2010, specialises in offering products that let organisations create virtual private networks and link data centers. Cisco, which plans to integrate vCider into its cloud computing unit, did not disclose financial terms. Cisco has been sounding out potential acquisitions in the virtualised networking market for some time but in July lost out to joint-venture partner VMware Iv, which bought technology start-up Nicira for 1.05 billion. Nicira like vCider is focussed on software defined networking (SDN), a technology that some analysts see as a threat to Cisco's core business.

05 October 2012
VAR India: Cisco Introduces Unified Access Solution
Cisco on Thursday introduced its Unified Access solution, a highly secure network infrastructure based on one policy source and one management solution to help organizations quickly respond to new business opportunities while managing these rapidly changing network demands. Cisco Unified Access provides a consistent set of network capabilities across wired, wireless and virtual private network (VPN) networks, allowing them to behave as a single entity. According to Cisco research, by 2016, network demands will dramatically expand to manage nearly 19 billion new connected devices and handle 18 times the amount of today's global mobile data traffic. Mahesh Gupta, vice president, Borderless Network, Cisco India and SAARC commented, "Organizations are readying themselves to welcome the millennials into their workforce. This mobile and tech savvy generation has a different perspective towards work, the workplace and concept of being efficient."

05 October 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Anil Bhasin to Head Cisco Services Division in India
Cisco has appointed Anil Bhasin to lead its services division in India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region. Based in Mumbai, Bhasin will head the division as senior vice-president (services). Bhasin began his Cisco career in 2001, as the head of its banking and finance and commercial business for the Western region, where he doubled the revenue for both businesses.

05 October 2012
Business Standard: Cisco Fund Bullish on India Investment
After two successful exits within a period of 9 months Cisco's investment arm Cisco Corporate Development Fund is bullish of the Indian market. Cisco which has made investment in about 14 companies in the country so far is also planning to get active as the technology landscape in India is changing. Joydeep Bose Senior Director for Corporate Development, Investments and Acquisitions, Cisco told Business Standard , "India is an extremely important market for us. We are seeing more number of innovation happening in the country which can be opportunity for us." In January this year the company made its first exit from Netmagic when Japan's NTT Communications bought majority stake in the company for about Rs 900 crore deal. According to a research firm which track VC funding in Cisco along with Fidelity, Nexus Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners has invested $16 million in October 2010.

04 October 2012
CIO: Cisco Announces Plans to Blend Wireless and Wired Enterprise Networks
Cisco revealed new WLAN access points and controllers, along with its latest steps to blend wireless and wired enterprise networks together. The networking vendor announced upgraded server applications for access control, network management, and application management across both types of networks. Also new: virtualization options for these infrastructure products; two new lower-priced 802.11n access points for business networks; a new high-end WLAN controller, with a new high-availability feature for Wi-Fi clients. The changes are part of a strategy that the vendor labels "Cisco Unified Access," now being formally announced though it's been featured on the company Website, and talked about with customers, for over a year. The basic idea, according to Cisco marketers, is to centralize and automate policy enforcement, security and authentication, and network management, regardless of how business end users connect to the company network, or with what kind of de-client device.

02 October 2012
India Education Diary: Dr. Anil Menon, addresses students of TAPMI on 'Transforming Nation with Passion'
Dr. Anil Menon, President of Globalization and Smart+Connected Communities, Cisco Systems Inc. delivered 10th leadership lecture on "Transforming Nations with Passion" at TAPMI. Dr. Menon began his speech by giving insights on some of the aspects that differentiates a developed country from a developing country. Healthcare, education, sports, entertainment are some of the industries in which we can observe major differences. Lack of institutions, structure, business enterprises, and technology in the developing countries are some of the reasons that contribute to these differences, he observed.

01 October 2012
CRN: Cisco Launches Remote ATM Connectivity Solution
Networking major Cisco has launched its 'Connected ATM solution', which will help banks in the country deploy automated teller machines (ATMs) in remote locations faster and in a cost-effective manner. The solution will offer banks connectivity options through 3G and CDMA networks, compared to VSAT and CDMA options available otherwise, Cisco said. "This wireless connectivity option, when coupled with a service provider wireless data plan, provides a cost-effective, rapidly deployable, reliable, and highly secure backup solution for remote sites and branch offices,"Cisco India and Saarc senior VP (systems engineering) Sanjay Kharade said. "A deployment based on VSAT typically would cost Rs 30,000-40,000, but using this architecture and 3G and CDMA based connectivity, the cost can come down to less than Rs 15,000-20,000 per site," Kharade said.

29 September 2012
The Economic Times: Kapil Sibal for Joint Industry-DoT Group on Broadband
Union Minister for HRD, communications & IT Kapil Sibal suggested that a joint working group of industry led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and government be set up to realize the broadband vision for inclusive growth. Addressing the Broadband Summit 2012 co-organized by CII and Department of Telecom, the Minister reiterated his commitment to complete the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by December 2013, saying that "the resultant possibilities for empowerment were limitless." Mr Sibal focused on the need to lower costs and create relevant, multilingual content, said a CII release. Highlighting the potential of broadband, Robert Pepper, vice president, Global Technology Policy, Cisco, informed that more traffic will traverse global networks in 2016 than that from the beginning of internet till today, combined. India's IP traffic is forecast to grow 11 times that in 2011, a CAGR of 62%, by 2016. Internet users are expected to rise to 502 million in the same period.

26 September 2012
The Times of India: Cisco CEO John Chambers: Business community is Very Comfortable with Mitt Romney
Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, a supporter of Mitt Romney, says the country's next head of state should take his cues from former President Bill Clinton, regardless of who emerges as the victor in November's election. "There's a lot to learn from President Clinton. It kills me as a strong Republican saying it, but he was the most effective president during my lifetime," Chambers told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. Chambers said Clinton worked with businesses to generate jobs and growth in real income for families, while taking the budget from a deficit to a surplus. "And when business got out of line, he smacked them," Chambers said.

26 September 2012
Business Standard: Cisco Launches Remote ATM Connectivity Solution
Cisco today announced availability of its Connected ATM Solution that will help banks in India deploy automated teller machine facilities in remote locations across the country. With greater emphasis on financial inclusion, the new solution from Cisco is aimed at helping banks meet the Government of India mandate for ATM network expansion across the country, with specific emphasis on rural connectivity. This solution underscores Cisco's commitment to participate in opportunities to drive inclusive growth and contribute to country transformation. Mr. Avinash Purwar, senior vice president, Cisco India and SAARC, Banks realize that in order to attain sustainable and profitable growth, they must adopt innovative and cost-effective IT solutions that comply with stringent industry regulations. Cisco's solution-led approach and strong play in architectures help BFSI institutions choose and implement the right technology while addressing scalability and security issues. Cisco has been instrumental in developing tailor-made solutions for the BFSI vertical, and integrated solutions like Cisco 3G WWAN HWICs will help Indian banks to significantly increase ATM penetration, while also ensuring security and cost-effectiveness."

25 September 2012
The Statesman: Net Freedom and Spectrum
Growing Internet-based businesses depend on net neutrality, the ideal of treating all communication passing through an electronic network independent of (a) content,(b) application,(c) service,(d) device,(e) sender address, and (f) receiver address. Today, the freedom of the internet is under threat from the very sources of its success: the killer apps, including video conferencing, and file-sharing that take up increasing amounts of bandwidth resulting in congestion. In 2010,worldwide IP traffic stood at 20.2 exabytes (billion billion bytes) per month, according to Cisco. Overall IP traffic is expected to quadruple by 2015. One way to manage congestion is to deploy advanced traffic management techniques that allow for a wide range of operations such as the construction of fast lanes for certain types of data, the provision of guaranteed network capacity for certain types of users, prevention of access to illegal content and authentication of customers. Charging the application and content providers for differentiated access to the Internet is another option that is being explored, giving rise to the prospect of a two speed Internet. This option militates against the principle of net neutrality.

22 September 2012
VAR India: Technologies Trending Today
You can separate human life from technology. You may be thinking the unthinkable. They are as intertwined as Siamese twins. Ergo, constant technology upgradation is the natural course of action… Manu Bansal, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Channels, Cisco India, says, "India is a key growth market and factors like increasing mobile, PC and internet penetration, need for connectivity, social networking, rapid urbanization, entrepreneurship, etc are pushing sales for Cisco in India." Cisco strongly believes in India's growth story and "strengthening our market position in such high-growth markets is an integral part of global strategy to achieve the targeted growth. Going forward, I believe that Tier II and upcountry markets will offer a lot of opportunities and we are looking to increase our focus and presence.

21 September 2012
Information Week: OpenStack Poised for Cloud Leadership
The new OpenStack Foundation is taking shape as a potentially potent force in cloud computing. Its governing board has been elected, and working groups are accelerating development in eight technical areas. Perhaps more important, it has organized itself on a self-sustaining basis and now has USD 10 million in the bank to pursue its goals…he day the Nicira acquisition was announced, nobody was sure whether VMware would use it to aid or slow OpenStack's progress. VMware quickly resolved the issue by publicly announcing its plan to join the organization. "There are a lot of members who compete with each other, yet contribute to the OpenStack code base," said Lew Tucker, CTO of Cloud Computing At Cisco And Vice Chairman of The Board Of Directors Of The Foundation, in an interview with InformationWeek. "Nicira is a heavy contributor. We're confident they [will] keep contributing," he added.

13 September 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Cisco Unveils Security Solutions for Data Centres
Cisco today introduced a set of security solutions designed for securing data centres against the threats they face in moving towards more consolidated and virtualised environment. The offerings include new scalable software for its Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) firewall; virtualised ASA for multitenant environment; a data-centre-grade intrusion prevention system (IPS); and new improvements to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client to meet the stringent requirements of a more mobile workforce. Collectively, the offerings extend data centre and security professionals' power to enforce end-to-end security for high-capacity data centres and mobile workforces. Mahesh Gupta, vice president for Borderless Networks, Cisco India and SAARC said, "As organisations are steadily tapping opportunities offered by the advancement in datacentres, security has emerged as a key component to ensure network differentiation and maintain business continuity.

11 September 2012
MoneyControl: RIL Signs Deal with Cisco for Core Tech Framework for 4G
Reliance is all set to launch its breakthrough 4G platform by the end of the year. CNBC-TV18's Kritika Saxena learns that it has signed global tech major Cisco to create its core technological framework. Instead of bringing out a pricing strategy where the company is slashing prices, RIL plans to have a similar pricing as Bharti . However, it will create a differentiated platform of music and video application. It will create a unique platform, something similar to iTunes. It is will be specialised with Reliance.

07 September 2012
Express Computer: Essar Group Slashes Report Generation Time
For the Essar Group, SAP solutions form an integral part of the IT infrastructure. The entire group has been running on ECC 6.0 ERP for a while now. The Group operates in six business verticals. The SAP system generates a humongous amount of data, which is processed for generating business reports. These are used by business managers for making informed decisions. The challenge lay in crunching this vast amount of data in a defined time frame. After taking a call to implement HANA, the Group floated a technical specification inquiry to its major partners including HP, Cisco and IBM. "We did a detailed technical comparison of the proposals that we received and submitted it to the spend management team, which takes care of the commercial negotiations. We felt that Cisco offered a competitive price and a higher configuration and, therefore, decided to go with its Unifed Computing System (UCS)," added Prabhu.

05 September 2012
IT VAR News: Cisco Router Bags ET Telecom Award
Cisco has declared that the Cisco ASR 901 Router was adjudged the most innovative product at The Economic Times Telecom Awards 2012, under the "Telecom Infrastructure Product" category. The award was presented to Cisco at the recently held Economic Times Telecom Awards night in New Delhi, in the presence of the chief guest, KapilSibal, Union Minister of HRD, Communications & IT- Government of India, and other leaders and dignitaries from the industry. Partho Mishra, VB and GM, Provider Access Business Unit, Cisco Systems, said, "We are extremely proud to receive the ET Telecom Award. This is a reflection of our commitment to innovate and provide the right technology solutions and platforms to help customers meet changing business needs. This is also a testament to Cisco's investment in developing innovative products for India and from India, for the rest of the world. The ASR 901 is a fantastic product and it's good to have that acknowledged by our peers and the industry at large."

03 September 2012
DQ India: DQ Top 20 : Rank # 12 : Cisco Systems India: The New Network
President & Country Manager: Naresh Wadhwa
Cisco asserts that its impact and influence on the industry is far beyond its product revenues. The argument is valid. For every 7 dollars of Cisco's products sold, it generates 5 dollars of services dem and which can be potentially addressed by Cisco and its partner ecosystem. That's nearly a 70% attach rate for services and very few product vendors in the industry can claim such a multiplier effect. The Rescue Factor: For years, Cisco was the routing and switching company. Collaboration and communication were the new markets that got developed in the past 5 years. 2012 helped to prop up the company's business when the old markets failed and new markets showed the path to growth. For years, Cisco was the routing and switching company. Collaboration and communication were the new markets that got developed in the past 5 years. 2012 helped to prop up the company's business when the old markets failed and new markets showed the path to growth.

31 August 2012
CRN: Edit: India's Most Influential Channel Chiefs
In our latest annual edition of the Most Influential Channel Chiefs for 2012, we have chosen 15 heads of channel-driven IT majors. These distinguished people have a massive influence on the channel business as each of their companies is a leader in the IT space. Every move they make, or don't make, affects the channel business. Lenovo's mission to lead the PC market is yielding results, but as the company nears the top it is running the risk of overcrowding its channel and creating margin pressures for partners. On the consumer front Lenovo has embarked on an ambitious marketing blitzkrieg. Amar Babu has his task cut out-to make a dent in the consumer market and to continue with its momentum in the commercial segment. Tushar Sighat is taking D-Link to new heights; the company has almost doubled its turnover since he joined. A founder member of the D-Link team, he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the brand very well, and so far he has been playing to its strengths. Similarly Cisco, with its new partner-led model and emerging new areas of solutions focus, requires Naresh Wadhwa to be agile in the way he reorganizes the company's India business and channel strategies.

31 August 2012
The Economic Times: Video is the Next Voice
Video conferencing and telepresence are the sort of technologies that have a significant place in the corporate lexicon, but they never seem to reach any critical mass. However, with the global boundaries shrinking and India Inc exploring new horizons, greater use of video conferencing and telepresence technologies is inevitable. Minhaj Zia, director, Collaboration, Cisco India and SAARC tends to agree. He believes, "Video is having a profound impact on the way business is done in today's digitally connected world. It is becoming pervasive and is no longer just used in conferencing and training, but in areas such as remote healthcare and banking, live problem resolution in manufacturing, global interviewing in HR and many others." However, Zia previses some challenges too. "One of the key challenges faced today, is that of interoperability. Not all phones, soft phones, gate-ways, call managers are interoperable as they support some proprietary variant of a standard protocol. This limits enterprises from a free mix and match of components. The usage of open stan¬dards can tackle this issue. In addition to this, an¬other challenge faced in the deployment of enterprise video applications is often the kind of bandwidth available for use within the office space. While we have definitely seen the digital divide reduce, we still have a long way to go. In addition to this, traditional IP networks are not well-equipped to deal with interactive and real-time requirements of video, making delivery and quality of media unpredictable and increasing complexity for network operators and managers."

27 August 2012
VarIndia: Cisco Networking Academy congratulates Winners
Cisco Networking Academy has announced the SAARC winners of its prestigious networking technology competition, NetRiders 2012. The Cisco NetRiders National CCNA Competitions 2012 is designed to test students' knowledge of networking technologies and to prepare them for on-the-job challenges as they enter the next-generation workforce. 234 Networking Academy students from four SAARC countries, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, participated in the online competitions, simultaneously, conducted virtually over Cisco Webex Technology. The winners of each country competitions are invited to represent the country at the Asia Pacific NetRiders Challenge, to be held on 25th October, 2012.

21 August 2012
CIOL: Enterprise Security
Despite the hiccups and challenges surrounding cloud adoption and BYOD policy in enterprises, the coming years are going to be exciting and keenly watched, observed experts here at the Nasscom Cloud and Mobility Summit 2012. Research firm Gartner in its recent Hype Cycle report notes that the hype around cloud computing and misuse of the term by some providers create confusion in the market. The report also goes on to caution that if "cloudwashing" continues it could detract from the technology's many benefits. Agreeing with Goudie was Mahesh Gupta, VP, Business Development, Borderless Networks, CISCO, India & SAARC who added that enterprise needs to define policies with regard to providing access from employees' personal devices from different locations. "Providing access to employees from wi-fi public hotspots (to enterprise data) can be quite dangerous. So, networks should be context aware too," he stressed.

16 August 2012
Voice and Data: A Win-Win for All
Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President, Service Provider, Cisco India & Saarc
The cable industry in India has grown rapidly to an estimated 94 mn in 2011 from a trifling 0.4 mn in the beginning of 1992. The total number of TV households in the county is estimated to be around 147 mn. Additionally, the number of pay channels has grown steeply from 20 in 1995 to around 167 and there are more than 800 channels registered with the Information & Broadcast (I&B) ministry. Furthermore, the country is witnessing a drastic shift in consumer behavior; customers today do not shy away from forking out extra money to get best in class services. All these factors put together have provided an impetus to cable digitization in the country.

13 August 2012
Business Standard: Cisco's India Bet Gains Momentum
For Cisco, its India centre has in the recent years been about driving innovations and products that can then be taken to other markets. Naresh Wadhwa's favourite place at his company's Bangalore campus is building number 16. So, the moment Wadhwa, President and country manager of Cisco India and South Asia, walks into the building and swipes his card, he knows the room which will be his work station. Everything in the building is controlled through touch panels and internet protocol (IP)-based phones. Wadhwa does not have to bother telling people about his phone extension number or worry about where his official mails and data are stored. He can personalise the meeting room as his mobile devices - mobile phone, tablet or laptop - will be synchronised with the server. Since all devices are IP connected, details of Wadhwa's usage, like his phone extension, email details, presentations and others become part of the systems in that room. "We have believed in eating our own dog food. So when we moved from products to concepts and providing an end to end framework, we started with ourselves," said Wadhwa. Their infrastructure in Bangalore demonstrates what is possible by using technology to save power cost and build efficiency into cost. For Cisco, its India centre has in the recent years been about driving innovations and products that can then be taken to other markets. Its Globalisation Centre East set up in Bangalore in 2007 has been driving solutions in healthcare, smart connected communities and education in India.

09 August 2012
CIOL: Mobility-Driven Content to Drive Storage Trends
Mobility is driving the need, creation and consumption of content which is growing at an alarming rate, signaling the storage vendors to prepare for an onslaught of future storage requirements. Mobility has reached consumer level big time and we are witnessing a mobile revolution. Smartphones are substituting PCs and tablets are replacing laptops. IDC and Gartner predict that by 2015, two-thirds of the computing devices will be smartphones and media tablets. This growth in mobility is driving newer ways of content creation and consumption which will only increase with time. The global mobile data traffic growth in 2011 was 133 per cent, says Cisco, and this rate has been more than doubling for the fourth year in a row. Cisco predicts that the global mobile data traffic will exceed 6.3 exabytes per month by 2015. Out of this, 27 per cent of the traffic will be from smartphones. The popularity of mobile web will catapult, especially with the marketers. Analysts say that companies will spend more than $56 billion on mobile web marketing. Marketing content initiatives will gain traction as it will be much easier and more ubiquitous to access and engage prospects, both B2B and B2C. In years to come, mobile web access will surpass stationary web access.

08 August 2012
Dataquest: CIO Series: Mumbai: Collaboration and Scalable Architectural Approach is the Solution
New models of IT infrastructure hold the promise of making the organization more agile, responsive, and competitive. There are also cases where the IT infrastructure is aligned to the needs of specific businesses. For example, customer-centric enterprises (enterprises that have customer interactions as a lever for value) need to have flexible and scalable infrastructure. Further, these models also operate on differing economic equations, which is a key consideration in choosing one model over the other. Dataquest hosted an event along with BT to examine the potential and issues related to infrastructure models. Collaboration of the existing technologies with the new and virtualization is increasingly becoming a norm. Minhaj Zia, Cisco India emphasized the importance of smooth collaboration of new mobility technologies with the existing strategies over scalable architecture in the organization. He gave examples of Cisco Jabber (an all-in-one unified communication app) and VXC Differentiators. With the changing and growing enterprise needs, it has to collaborate different media to become a competitive differentiator. And this is certainly a continuous journey and not a one time project, he said.

08 August 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Puneet Gupta to Head Cisco's Public Sector Business
Cisco India today announced the appointment of Puneet Gupta as senior vice-president to drive strategy and sales for its public sector business. In this role, Gupta will focus on driving growth in key segments that include e-governance, Defence and homeland security, and strategic infrastructure projects in Central and State governments. Based in Delhi, he will report to Janesh Moorjani, president, Enterprise and Public Sector, India & SAARC… Speaking on his new role, Gupta said, "India has been making rapid strides in adopting technology for better governance. The breadth of Cisco's technology solutions positions us strongly to help support the country's aspirations and contribute towards driving inclusive growth and development across India and I'm truly excited to be joining Cisco at this juncture."

07 August 2012
CRN: CRN Honors 29 Leading Partners At the 12th Edition Of CRN Xcellence Awards 2012
CRN has awarded 28 leading enterprise VARs and SIs in the 12th edition of CRN Xcellence Awards 2012 during a scintillating evening ceremony on July 27, 2012, at Holiday Inn, Goa. For this year's awards, CRN received 185 nominations from 25 cities. B Raghavendran, Head, Partner Organization, India and Saarc, Cisco; Tushar Sighat, CEO, D-link India; Praveen Sahai, VP, Channels, EMC India and Saarc; Vishak Raman, Regional Director, India and Saarc, Fortinet; Pradeep Khemani, Country Manager, Channel and SMB Sales, ESSN, HP India; Srikanth Doranadula, Director, VAD Channels, Oracle; Ramesh Natarajan, Head, National Sales, Redington; Bimal Raj, CEO, Smartlink Network Systems; Anand Naik, MD, Sales, Symantec; and Ganesan Arumugam, Director, Channels & Alliances, VMware.

06 August 2012
CIOL: Software Defined Networking, Cisco is Also Game for it
Software Defined Networking is already a buzz word in the data centre networking space and is said to bring in major set-back to traditional hardware players such as Cisco and Juniper. However, Cisco, the largest networking hardware equipment vendor, refutes such news. Cisco feels 'there will be new business models and new architectures for infrastructure, but SDN no more minimizes the underlying infrastructure than a new steering wheel undermines the importance of a car engine', writes Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior in the company's official blog. And, that it expects new competitors. "As we often say at Cisco, if you don't have good competitors, then you're probably in the wrong markets." With regards to the oft asked question, 'whether the current transition in the market - a transition defined by terms such as Software Defined Networking and network virtualization -- represents a threat or an opportunity for Cisco', she answers in this fashion. "Cisco has a strong point of view on this. First, SDN, network virtualization and overlay networks (choose your favorite descriptor) are not going to commoditize the underlying networking infrastructure. These architectures actually place more demands on the core infrastructure to enable network virtualization securely, with high performance, at scale."

03 August 2012
CIO: Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff Joins Cisco's Board
Cisco has appointed Marc Benioff, co-founder and CEO of salesforce.com, and Kristina M Johnson, CEO of Enduring Hydro, and former Under Secretary of Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, to its board of directors. John Chambers, Cisco chairman and CEO, said Marc has changed the face of technology through his bold ideas around cloud computing and the social enterprise. Kristina brings an unmatched expertise in science and technology, which will help guide Cisco as it continues to innovate and transform customers' experiences. Benioff co-founded salesforce.com in February of 1999 and has served as chairman of the board of directors since its inception. He has served as CEO of salesforce.com, which was selected by Forbes as the World's Most Innovative Company in 2011, since November of 2001. Prior to launching salesforce.com, Benioff, a 30-year veteran of the software industry, spent 13 years at Oracle.

02 August 2012
The Times of India: Apple, Google, Cisco, Microsoft's Economic Patriotism Questioned
Apple has more than $81 billion parked overseas. Microsoft has $54 billion, Google $43 billion and Cisco $42 billion. Being flush with cash is a good thing, but it also poses a public relations problem for US technology giants amid an election year debate about economic patriotism. Some say the shifting of profits overseas is a huge tax avoidance scheme, and that loopholes should be closed. Others say the situation calls for a "tax holiday" to encourage firms to repatriate funds and invest in the US economy. The cash stockpile is not only a tech phenomenon. Various estimates say more than $1 trillion in US corporate cash is now held overseas. But the most prominent and fastest-growing cash piles come from those tech firms that can easily use transfers among foreign subsidiaries to keep US tax liabilities low.

02 August 20122
"Social" is in: The Financial Express
Dahnesh Dilkhush, Director, Collaboration Business (ITeS & BFSI), Cisco India and SAARC
THE way we work has undergone tremendous change over the years. Globalisation has enabled organisations to tap into talent pools world over and reach new markets. Technology has provided today's work¬force with tools to interact in new ways and share knowledge. Consumer-based collaboration applications (Facebook) are being used for business interactions while various Web 2.0 technologies provide employees access and input to more information, content, and expertise. Mobility meanwhile has changed when, where, and how people work. Today's employees are always connected and demand use of their own devices at work. The need to connect and use a device of choice is so ingrained into the workforce that the Cisco Con¬nected World Technology Report indicates more than 40% of college students and young employees' willingness to accept a lowerpaying job with flexibility in device choice and mobility than a higher-paying job with less flexibility.

01 August 2012
CIOL: Cisco Edges Out Motorola in IP STB Market
Ninety four per cent of service providers participating in Infonetics Research' survey use IP STBs to deliver video services. "In a change from the 2011 edition of our IP set-top box survey, Cisco is now perceived as the overall top IP set-top box supplier by operators, while Motorola was top dog last year," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research. "This is consistent with our set-top box market share reporting, where Cisco has led in global IP STB revenue share for 4 straight quarters. Clearly Cisco's efforts over the past year to expand its IP set-top box line up and customer base, and the major contracts it has scored with AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, and Telus are paying off." Carriers identified the top three critical IP STB applications as video on demand (VOD), electronic program guide (EPG), and whole-home DVR.

31 August 2012
CRN: Edit: India's Most Influential Channel Chiefs
In our latest annual edition of the Most Influential Channel Chiefs for 2012, we have chosen 15 heads of channel-driven IT majors. These distinguished people have a massive influence on the channel business as each of their companies is a leader in the IT space. Every move they make, or don't make, affects the channel business. Lenovo's mission to lead the PC market is yielding results, but as the company nears the top it is running the risk of overcrowding its channel and creating margin pressures for partners. On the consumer front Lenovo has embarked on an ambitious marketing blitzkrieg. Amar Babu has his task cut out-to make a dent in the consumer market and to continue with its momentum in the commercial segment. Tushar Sighat is taking D-Link to new heights; the company has almost doubled its turnover since he joined. A founder member of the D-Link team, he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the brand very well, and so far he has been playing to its strengths. Similarly Cisco, with its new partner-led model and emerging new areas of solutions focus, requires Naresh Wadhwa to be agile in the way he reorganizes the company's India business and channel strategies.

31 August 2012
The Economic Times: Video is the Next Voice
Video conferencing and telepresence are the sort of technologies that have a significant place in the corporate lexicon, but they never seem to reach any critical mass. However, with the global boundaries shrinking and India Inc exploring new horizons, greater use of video conferencing and telepresence technologies is inevitable. Minhaj Zia, director, Collaboration, Cisco India and SAARC tends to agree. He believes, "Video is having a profound impact on the way business is done in today's digitally connected world. It is becoming pervasive and is no longer just used in conferencing and training, but in areas such as remote healthcare and banking, live problem resolution in manufacturing, global interviewing in HR and many others." However, Zia previses some challenges too. "One of the key challenges faced today, is that of interoperability. Not all phones, soft phones, gate-ways, call managers are interoperable as they support some proprietary variant of a standard protocol. This limits enterprises from a free mix and match of components. The usage of open stan¬dards can tackle this issue. In addition to this, an¬other challenge faced in the deployment of enterprise video applications is often the kind of bandwidth available for use within the office space. While we have definitely seen the digital divide reduce, we still have a long way to go. In addition to this, traditional IP networks are not well-equipped to deal with interactive and real-time requirements of video, making delivery and quality of media unpredictable and increasing complexity for network operators and managers."

27 August 2012
VarIndia: Cisco Networking Academy congratulates Winners
Cisco Networking Academy has announced the SAARC winners of its prestigious networking technology competition, NetRiders 2012. The Cisco NetRiders National CCNA Competitions 2012 is designed to test students' knowledge of networking technologies and to prepare them for on-the-job challenges as they enter the next-generation workforce. 234 Networking Academy students from four SAARC countries, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, participated in the online competitions, simultaneously, conducted virtually over Cisco Webex Technology. The winners of each country competitions are invited to represent the country at the Asia Pacific NetRiders Challenge, to be held on 25th October, 2012.

21 August 2012
CIOL: Enterprise Security
Despite the hiccups and challenges surrounding cloud adoption and BYOD policy in enterprises, the coming years are going to be exciting and keenly watched, observed experts here at the Nasscom Cloud and Mobility Summit 2012. Research firm Gartner in its recent Hype Cycle report notes that the hype around cloud computing and misuse of the term by some providers create confusion in the market. The report also goes on to caution that if "cloudwashing" continues it could detract from the technology's many benefits. Agreeing with Goudie was Mahesh Gupta, VP, Business Development, Borderless Networks, CISCO, India & SAARC who added that enterprise needs to define policies with regard to providing access from employees' personal devices from different locations. "Providing access to employees from wi-fi public hotspots (to enterprise data) can be quite dangerous. So, networks should be context aware too," he stressed.

16 August 2012
Voice and Data: A Win-Win for All
Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President, Service Provider, Cisco India & Saarc
The cable industry in India has grown rapidly to an estimated 94 mn in 2011 from a trifling 0.4 mn in the beginning of 1992. The total number of TV households in the county is estimated to be around 147 mn. Additionally, the number of pay channels has grown steeply from 20 in 1995 to around 167 and there are more than 800 channels registered with the Information & Broadcast (I&B) ministry. Furthermore, the country is witnessing a drastic shift in consumer behavior; customers today do not shy away from forking out extra money to get best in class services. All these factors put together have provided an impetus to cable digitization in the country.

13 August 2012
Business Standard: Cisco's India Bet Gains Momentum
For Cisco, its India centre has in the recent years been about driving innovations and products that can then be taken to other markets. Naresh Wadhwa's favourite place at his company's Bangalore campus is building number 16. So, the moment Wadhwa, President and country manager of Cisco India and South Asia, walks into the building and swipes his card, he knows the room which will be his work station. Everything in the building is controlled through touch panels and internet protocol (IP)-based phones. Wadhwa does not have to bother telling people about his phone extension number or worry about where his official mails and data are stored. He can personalise the meeting room as his mobile devices - mobile phone, tablet or laptop - will be synchronised with the server. Since all devices are IP connected, details of Wadhwa's usage, like his phone extension, email details, presentations and others become part of the systems in that room. "We have believed in eating our own dog food. So when we moved from products to concepts and providing an end to end framework, we started with ourselves," said Wadhwa. Their infrastructure in Bangalore demonstrates what is possible by using technology to save power cost and build efficiency into cost. For Cisco, its India centre has in the recent years been about driving innovations and products that can then be taken to other markets. Its Globalisation Centre East set up in Bangalore in 2007 has been driving solutions in healthcare, smart connected communities and education in India.

09 August 2012
CIOL: Mobility-Driven Content to Drive Storage Trends
Mobility is driving the need, creation and consumption of content which is growing at an alarming rate, signaling the storage vendors to prepare for an onslaught of future storage requirements. Mobility has reached consumer level big time and we are witnessing a mobile revolution. Smartphones are substituting PCs and tablets are replacing laptops. IDC and Gartner predict that by 2015, two-thirds of the computing devices will be smartphones and media tablets. This growth in mobility is driving newer ways of content creation and consumption which will only increase with time. The global mobile data traffic growth in 2011 was 133 per cent, says Cisco, and this rate has been more than doubling for the fourth year in a row. Cisco predicts that the global mobile data traffic will exceed 6.3 exabytes per month by 2015. Out of this, 27 per cent of the traffic will be from smartphones. The popularity of mobile web will catapult, especially with the marketers. Analysts say that companies will spend more than $56 billion on mobile web marketing. Marketing content initiatives will gain traction as it will be much easier and more ubiquitous to access and engage prospects, both B2B and B2C. In years to come, mobile web access will surpass stationary web access.

08 August 2012
Dataquest: CIO Series: Mumbai: Collaboration and Scalable Architectural Approach is the Solution
New models of IT infrastructure hold the promise of making the organization more agile, responsive, and competitive. There are also cases where the IT infrastructure is aligned to the needs of specific businesses. For example, customer-centric enterprises (enterprises that have customer interactions as a lever for value) need to have flexible and scalable infrastructure. Further, these models also operate on differing economic equations, which is a key consideration in choosing one model over the other. Dataquest hosted an event along with BT to examine the potential and issues related to infrastructure models. Collaboration of the existing technologies with the new and virtualization is increasingly becoming a norm. Minhaj Zia, Cisco India emphasized the importance of smooth collaboration of new mobility technologies with the existing strategies over scalable architecture in the organization. He gave examples of Cisco Jabber (an all-in-one unified communication app) and VXC Differentiators. With the changing and growing enterprise needs, it has to collaborate different media to become a competitive differentiator. And this is certainly a continuous journey and not a one time project, he said.

08 August 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Puneet Gupta to Head Cisco's Public Sector Business
Cisco India today announced the appointment of Puneet Gupta as senior vice-president to drive strategy and sales for its public sector business. In this role, Gupta will focus on driving growth in key segments that include e-governance, Defence and homeland security, and strategic infrastructure projects in Central and State governments. Based in Delhi, he will report to Janesh Moorjani, president, Enterprise and Public Sector, India & SAARC… Speaking on his new role, Gupta said, "India has been making rapid strides in adopting technology for better governance. The breadth of Cisco's technology solutions positions us strongly to help support the country's aspirations and contribute towards driving inclusive growth and development across India and I'm truly excited to be joining Cisco at this juncture."

07 August 2012
CRN: CRN Honors 29 Leading Partners At the 12th Edition Of CRN Xcellence Awards 2012
CRN has awarded 28 leading enterprise VARs and SIs in the 12th edition of CRN Xcellence Awards 2012 during a scintillating evening ceremony on July 27, 2012, at Holiday Inn, Goa. For this year's awards, CRN received 185 nominations from 25 cities. B Raghavendran, Head, Partner Organization, India and Saarc, Cisco; Tushar Sighat, CEO, D-link India; Praveen Sahai, VP, Channels, EMC India and Saarc; Vishak Raman, Regional Director, India and Saarc, Fortinet; Pradeep Khemani, Country Manager, Channel and SMB Sales, ESSN, HP India; Srikanth Doranadula, Director, VAD Channels, Oracle; Ramesh Natarajan, Head, National Sales, Redington; Bimal Raj, CEO, Smartlink Network Systems; Anand Naik, MD, Sales, Symantec; and Ganesan Arumugam, Director, Channels & Alliances, VMware.

06 August 2012
CIOL: Software Defined Networking, Cisco is Also Game for it
Software Defined Networking is already a buzz word in the data centre networking space and is said to bring in major set-back to traditional hardware players such as Cisco and Juniper. However, Cisco, the largest networking hardware equipment vendor, refutes such news. Cisco feels 'there will be new business models and new architectures for infrastructure, but SDN no more minimizes the underlying infrastructure than a new steering wheel undermines the importance of a car engine', writes Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior in the company's official blog. And, that it expects new competitors. "As we often say at Cisco, if you don't have good competitors, then you're probably in the wrong markets." With regards to the oft asked question, 'whether the current transition in the market - a transition defined by terms such as Software Defined Networking and network virtualization -- represents a threat or an opportunity for Cisco', she answers in this fashion. "Cisco has a strong point of view on this. First, SDN, network virtualization and overlay networks (choose your favorite descriptor) are not going to commoditize the underlying networking infrastructure. These architectures actually place more demands on the core infrastructure to enable network virtualization securely, with high performance, at scale."

03 August 2012
CIO: Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff Joins Cisco's Board
Cisco has appointed Marc Benioff, co-founder and CEO of salesforce.com, and Kristina M Johnson, CEO of Enduring Hydro, and former Under Secretary of Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, to its board of directors. John Chambers, Cisco chairman and CEO, said Marc has changed the face of technology through his bold ideas around cloud computing and the social enterprise. Kristina brings an unmatched expertise in science and technology, which will help guide Cisco as it continues to innovate and transform customers' experiences. Benioff co-founded salesforce.com in February of 1999 and has served as chairman of the board of directors since its inception. He has served as CEO of salesforce.com, which was selected by Forbes as the World's Most Innovative Company in 2011, since November of 2001. Prior to launching salesforce.com, Benioff, a 30-year veteran of the software industry, spent 13 years at Oracle.

02 August 2012
The Times of India: Apple, Google, Cisco, Microsoft's Economic Patriotism Questioned
Apple has more than $81 billion parked overseas. Microsoft has $54 billion, Google $43 billion and Cisco $42 billion. Being flush with cash is a good thing, but it also poses a public relations problem for US technology giants amid an election year debate about economic patriotism. Some say the shifting of profits overseas is a huge tax avoidance scheme, and that loopholes should be closed. Others say the situation calls for a "tax holiday" to encourage firms to repatriate funds and invest in the US economy. The cash stockpile is not only a tech phenomenon. Various estimates say more than $1 trillion in US corporate cash is now held overseas. But the most prominent and fastest-growing cash piles come from those tech firms that can easily use transfers among foreign subsidiaries to keep US tax liabilities low.

02 August 20122
"Social" is in: The Financial Express
Dahnesh Dilkhush, Director, Collaboration Business (ITeS & BFSI), Cisco India and SAARC
THE way we work has undergone tremendous change over the years. Globalisation has enabled organisations to tap into talent pools world over and reach new markets. Technology has provided today's work¬force with tools to interact in new ways and share knowledge. Consumer-based collaboration applications (Facebook) are being used for business interactions while various Web 2.0 technologies provide employees access and input to more information, content, and expertise. Mobility meanwhile has changed when, where, and how people work. Today's employees are always connected and demand use of their own devices at work. The need to connect and use a device of choice is so ingrained into the workforce that the Cisco Con¬nected World Technology Report indicates more than 40% of college students and young employees' willingness to accept a lowerpaying job with flexibility in device choice and mobility than a higher-paying job with less flexibility.

01 August 2012
CIOL: Cisco Edges Out Motorola in IP STB Market
Ninety four per cent of service providers participating in Infonetics Research' survey use IP STBs to deliver video services. "In a change from the 2011 edition of our IP set-top box survey, Cisco is now perceived as the overall top IP set-top box supplier by operators, while Motorola was top dog last year," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research. "This is consistent with our set-top box market share reporting, where Cisco has led in global IP STB revenue share for 4 straight quarters. Clearly Cisco's efforts over the past year to expand its IP set-top box line up and customer base, and the major contracts it has scored with AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, and Telus are paying off." Carriers identified the top three critical IP STB applications as video on demand (VOD), electronic program guide (EPG), and whole-home DVR.

29 September 2012
The Economic Times: Kapil Sibal for Joint Industry-DoT Group on Broadband
Union Minister for HRD, communications & IT Kapil Sibal suggested that a joint working group of industry led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and government be set up to realize the broadband vision for inclusive growth. Addressing the Broadband Summit 2012 co-organized by CII and Department of Telecom, the Minister reiterated his commitment to complete the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) by December 2013, saying that "the resultant possibilities for empowerment were limitless." Mr Sibal focused on the need to lower costs and create relevant, multilingual content, said a CII release. Highlighting the potential of broadband, Robert Pepper, vice president, Global Technology Policy, Cisco, informed that more traffic will traverse global networks in 2016 than that from the beginning of internet till today, combined. India's IP traffic is forecast to grow 11 times that in 2011, a CAGR of 62%, by 2016. Internet users are expected to rise to 502 million in the same period.

26 September 2012
The Times of India: Cisco CEO John Chambers: Business community is Very Comfortable with Mitt Romney
Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, a supporter of Mitt Romney, says the country's next head of state should take his cues from former President Bill Clinton, regardless of who emerges as the victor in November's election. "There's a lot to learn from President Clinton. It kills me as a strong Republican saying it, but he was the most effective president during my lifetime," Chambers told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. Chambers said Clinton worked with businesses to generate jobs and growth in real income for families, while taking the budget from a deficit to a surplus. "And when business got out of line, he smacked them," Chambers said.

26 September 2012
Business Standard: Cisco Launches Remote ATM Connectivity Solution
Cisco today announced availability of its Connected ATM Solution that will help banks in India deploy automated teller machine facilities in remote locations across the country. With greater emphasis on financial inclusion, the new solution from Cisco is aimed at helping banks meet the Government of India mandate for ATM network expansion across the country, with specific emphasis on rural connectivity. This solution underscores Cisco's commitment to participate in opportunities to drive inclusive growth and contribute to country transformation. Mr. Avinash Purwar, senior vice president, Cisco India and SAARC, Banks realize that in order to attain sustainable and profitable growth, they must adopt innovative and cost-effective IT solutions that comply with stringent industry regulations. Cisco's solution-led approach and strong play in architectures help BFSI institutions choose and implement the right technology while addressing scalability and security issues. Cisco has been instrumental in developing tailor-made solutions for the BFSI vertical, and integrated solutions like Cisco 3G WWAN HWICs will help Indian banks to significantly increase ATM penetration, while also ensuring security and cost-effectiveness."

25 September 2012
The Statesman: Net Freedom and Spectrum
Growing Internet-based businesses depend on net neutrality, the ideal of treating all communication passing through an electronic network independent of (a) content,(b) application,(c) service,(d) device,(e) sender address, and (f) receiver address. Today, the freedom of the internet is under threat from the very sources of its success: the killer apps, including video conferencing, and file-sharing that take up increasing amounts of bandwidth resulting in congestion. In 2010,worldwide IP traffic stood at 20.2 exabytes (billion billion bytes) per month, according to Cisco. Overall IP traffic is expected to quadruple by 2015. One way to manage congestion is to deploy advanced traffic management techniques that allow for a wide range of operations such as the construction of fast lanes for certain types of data, the provision of guaranteed network capacity for certain types of users, prevention of access to illegal content and authentication of customers. Charging the application and content providers for differentiated access to the Internet is another option that is being explored, giving rise to the prospect of a two speed Internet. This option militates against the principle of net neutrality.

22 September 2012
VAR India: Technologies Trending Today
You can separate human life from technology. You may be thinking the unthinkable. They are as intertwined as Siamese twins. Ergo, constant technology upgradation is the natural course of action… Manu Bansal, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Channels, Cisco India, says, "India is a key growth market and factors like increasing mobile, PC and internet penetration, need for connectivity, social networking, rapid urbanization, entrepreneurship, etc are pushing sales for Cisco in India." Cisco strongly believes in India's growth story and "strengthening our market position in such high-growth markets is an integral part of global strategy to achieve the targeted growth. Going forward, I believe that Tier II and upcountry markets will offer a lot of opportunities and we are looking to increase our focus and presence.

21 September 2012
Information Week: OpenStack Poised for Cloud Leadership
The new OpenStack Foundation is taking shape as a potentially potent force in cloud computing. Its governing board has been elected, and working groups are accelerating development in eight technical areas. Perhaps more important, it has organized itself on a self-sustaining basis and now has USD 10 million in the bank to pursue its goals…he day the Nicira acquisition was announced, nobody was sure whether VMware would use it to aid or slow OpenStack's progress. VMware quickly resolved the issue by publicly announcing its plan to join the organization. "There are a lot of members who compete with each other, yet contribute to the OpenStack code base," said Lew Tucker, CTO of Cloud Computing At Cisco And Vice Chairman of The Board Of Directors Of The Foundation, in an interview with InformationWeek. "Nicira is a heavy contributor. We're confident they [will] keep contributing," he added.

13 September 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Cisco Unveils Security Solutions for Data Centres
Cisco today introduced a set of security solutions designed for securing data centres against the threats they face in moving towards more consolidated and virtualised environment. The offerings include new scalable software for its Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) firewall; virtualised ASA for multitenant environment; a data-centre-grade intrusion prevention system (IPS); and new improvements to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client to meet the stringent requirements of a more mobile workforce. Collectively, the offerings extend data centre and security professionals' power to enforce end-to-end security for high-capacity data centres and mobile workforces. Mahesh Gupta, vice president for Borderless Networks, Cisco India and SAARC said, "As organisations are steadily tapping opportunities offered by the advancement in datacentres, security has emerged as a key component to ensure network differentiation and maintain business continuity.

11 September 2012
MoneyControl: RIL Signs Deal with Cisco for Core Tech Framework for 4G
Reliance is all set to launch its breakthrough 4G platform by the end of the year. CNBC-TV18's Kritika Saxena learns that it has signed global tech major Cisco to create its core technological framework. Instead of bringing out a pricing strategy where the company is slashing prices, RIL plans to have a similar pricing as Bharti . However, it will create a differentiated platform of music and video application. It will create a unique platform, something similar to iTunes. It is will be specialised with Reliance.

07 September 2012
Express Computer: Essar Group Slashes Report Generation Time
For the Essar Group, SAP solutions form an integral part of the IT infrastructure. The entire group has been running on ECC 6.0 ERP for a while now. The Group operates in six business verticals. The SAP system generates a humongous amount of data, which is processed for generating business reports. These are used by business managers for making informed decisions. The challenge lay in crunching this vast amount of data in a defined time frame. After taking a call to implement HANA, the Group floated a technical specification inquiry to its major partners including HP, Cisco and IBM. "We did a detailed technical comparison of the proposals that we received and submitted it to the spend management team, which takes care of the commercial negotiations. We felt that Cisco offered a competitive price and a higher configuration and, therefore, decided to go with its Unifed Computing System (UCS)," added Prabhu.

05 September 2012
IT VAR News: Cisco Router Bags ET Telecom Award
Cisco has declared that the Cisco ASR 901 Router was adjudged the most innovative product at The Economic Times Telecom Awards 2012, under the "Telecom Infrastructure Product" category. The award was presented to Cisco at the recently held Economic Times Telecom Awards night in New Delhi, in the presence of the chief guest, KapilSibal, Union Minister of HRD, Communications & IT- Government of India, and other leaders and dignitaries from the industry. Partho Mishra, VB and GM, Provider Access Business Unit, Cisco Systems, said, "We are extremely proud to receive the ET Telecom Award. This is a reflection of our commitment to innovate and provide the right technology solutions and platforms to help customers meet changing business needs. This is also a testament to Cisco's investment in developing innovative products for India and from India, for the rest of the world. The ASR 901 is a fantastic product and it's good to have that acknowledged by our peers and the industry at large."

03 September 2012
DQ India: DQ Top 20 : Rank # 12 : Cisco Systems India: The New Network
President & Country Manager: Naresh Wadhwa
Cisco asserts that its impact and influence on the industry is far beyond its product revenues. The argument is valid. For every 7 dollars of Cisco's products sold, it generates 5 dollars of services dem and which can be potentially addressed by Cisco and its partner ecosystem. That's nearly a 70% attach rate for services and very few product vendors in the industry can claim such a multiplier effect. The Rescue Factor: For years, Cisco was the routing and switching company. Collaboration and communication were the new markets that got developed in the past 5 years. 2012 helped to prop up the company's business when the old markets failed and new markets showed the path to growth. For years, Cisco was the routing and switching company. Collaboration and communication were the new markets that got developed in the past 5 years. 2012 helped to prop up the company's business when the old markets failed and new markets showed the path to growth.

31 October 2012
CIO: Making the Shift to the Next-Gen Customer Care
Paralympics champion H N Girisha, noted critic Dr H S Raghavendra Rao, scholar R L Kashyap, Aravind Seetharaman of Inclusive Growth at Cisco Systems and popular orator Hiremagalur Kannan will be among the 64 recipients of the 57th Kannada Rajyotsava awards, 2012, to be given away on Thursday. The government, which had earlier announced that the number of awardees would be restricted to 50, has overshot the limit. Kannada and Culture Minister Govind M Karjol, who announced the list in Bangalore on Wednesday, said there were many more deserving aspirants, but the selection committee had to round off the number to 57 individual awardees and seven organisations.

31 October 2012
Deccan Herald: Rajyotsava Award List Swells to 64
It would be no exaggeration to say that the customer care market is undergoing a major transition. How customers choose to interact with companies is changing substantially, and businesses of all sizes are challenged with providing customer care in the manner in which customers wish to be served. The explosion of the social Web-Twitter, Facebook and YouTube-is prompting consumers worldwide to engage in an ever-increasing number of online conversations and interactions, where they often talk about the companies with which they do business. There is also a marked increase in the number of consumers who use mobile device-based video to interact with various organizations. Customer interactions have moved beyond simple phone transactions, and in response, the traditional contact center has evolved into a 'customer interaction network' where speed, efficiency, and accuracy are paramount. Leading-edge organizations utilize a variety of media channels including voice, chat, Web, email, and video to deliver content-rich, consumer-centric experience that ultimately and measurably improve client satisfaction.
By Daisy Chittilapilly, VP-Sales, Cisco India and SAARC

26 October 2012
Deccan Herald: Cisco to Launch Cheaper Set-Top Boxes, Bets Big on Data Services
In a bid to take advantage of cable digitisation, networking equipment major Cisco is all set to introduce cost-effective set-top boxes (STBs) from its centres in India. The San Jose-based company is also placing its bets on data services to propel growth. "We have designed a range of STBs that are being deployed in millions of homes in partnership with multi-system operators (MSOs)," said Sanjay Rohatgi, president of Cisco's service provider business for India and Saarc. This according to Rohatgi, was an example of Cisco's strategy of "designing products in India that are made for India and beyond." On the data front, Cisco is developing a series of technologies that help service providers (telecom companies and cable service companies) drive more revenue out of new business models.

25 October 2012
CIOL: Cisco Captures Lead in Enterprise SBC Market
For the first time ever, Cisco captured the lead in the enterprise session border controller market, taking 26 per cent revenue market share in the first half of 2012, finds Infonetics Research. Infonetics Research forecasts the enterprise SBC market to grow strongly, topping $430 million in 2016. Diane Myers, principal analyst, VoIP, UC, and IMS, Infonetics Research, says: "Cisco's been able to turn its market-leading position in IP PBXs, VoIP gateways, and data networking equipment into an advantage, upselling its enterprise SBCs to this customer base as they transition to services such as SIP trunking." Global revenue for enterprise SBCs hit $82.5 million in the first half of 2012 (1H12). Systems with fewer than 800 sessions comprise the largest share of enterprise SBC sales. Cisco and Acme Packet are the top enterprise SBC vendors by 1H12 global revenue share. Competitive pressures during the first half of the year impacted average revenue per session downward.

25 October 2012
Voice and Data: Cloud Traffic to Grow Six fold by 2016: Cisco
Global data center traffic to grow fourfold and reach a total of 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016, Cisco predicted in its second annual Cisco Global cloud index report released Wednesday. This amount of data is equivalent to 92 trillion hours of streaming music equivalent to about 1.5 years of continuous music streaming for the world's population in 2016. The company also predicts global cloud traffic, the fastest-growing component of data center traffic, to grow sixfold " at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44 percent " from 683 exabytes of annual traffic in 2011 to 4.3 zettabytes by 2016. The vast majority of the data center traffic is not caused by end users but by data centers and cloud-computing workloads used in activities that are virtually invisible to individuals. For the period 2011-2016, Cisco forecasts that roughly 76 percent of data center traffic will stay within the data center and will be largely generated by storage, production and development data. An additional 7 percent of data center traffic will be generated between data centers, primarily driven by data replication and software/system updates. The remaining 17 percent of data center traffic will be fueled by end users accessing clouds for web surfing, emailing and video streaming. From a regional perspective, the Cisco Global Cloud Index predicts that through 2016, the Middle East and Africa will have the highest cloud traffic growth rate, while the Asia Pacific region will process the most cloud workloads, followed by North America.

22 October 2012
VAR India: Newer Technologies, Newer Threats
Cloud, mobility and big data initiatives are helping organizations solve pressing challenges, while driving accelerated innovation, enhanced agility and improved financial management. However, these initiatives also can introduce big security concerns…Manu Bansal, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Channels, Cisco India: Cisco's Smart Solutions like the BYOD, VXI and Remote Expert, are all designed to help service provider and enterprises develop a scalable approach to their mobility initiatives while optimizing user experience and ensuring data security. "Cisco's Smart Solutions like the BYOD, VXI and Remote Expert, are all designed to help service provider and enterprises develop a scalable approach to their mobility initiatives while optimizing user experience and ensuring data security, says Manu Bansal, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Channels, Cisco India.

21 October 2012
The Financial Express: Despite Pandit's Exit, Global Indian CEO's Reputation Intact
Exit of Vikram Pandit as chief of banking giant Citigroup may have come as a big surprise, but experts are convinced that it is a one-off case and Indian-origin CEOs would continue to be prominent players at global firms. Despite Pandit's departure and the charges against another high-profile Indian-origin executive Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director, the number of India-born CEOs at reputed international MNCs remains very impressive, the experts said. Randstad India MD and CEO E Balaji said these incidents are not likely to have an impact because there are hundreds of very successful Indian executives at the helm of global MNCs. Asked whether the cases of Pandit and Gupta are aberrations or an emerging trend about diminishing profile of Indian-origin CEOs at global level, most of the experts said these instances should be generalised. They point out names like Anshu Jain of Deutsche Bank, Padmashree Warrior of Cisco, Rakesh Kapoor of Reckitt Benckiser and Ajay Banga of MasterCard as successful examples as heads of global giants in various sectors.

18 October 2012
Express Computer: Cisco, Citrix Extend Partnership
Cisco and Citrix have announced a significant expansion of their successful desktop virtualization partnership into three strategic areas-cloud networking, cloud orchestration, and mobile workstyles. To help enterprise and service provider customers capture the market transition and transform their business models, Cisco and Citrix will collaborate to unify best-of-breed technologies into innovative solutions for the mobile-cloud era. "Over the past two years, Cisco and Citrix have collaborated to deliver significant innovation into the market. Now we are excited to accelerate our partnership into cloud, networking and mobility", said Padmasree Warrior, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Cisco.

18 October 2012
ZDNET: IT Security Still a Big Challenge for Indian SMBs
India's small and midsize businesses (SMBs) lack complete understanding of the IT security landscape and tend to be reactive, rather than proactive, which can turn out more costly to manage. According to Kishan Bhatt, engagement manager at Zinnov, some common assaults faced by SMBs in India are virus attacks, trojans, phishing, pharming, and man-in-the-middle and man-in-the-browser attacks. He noted that while larger organizations take robust measures to safeguard themselves against such attacks, in the case of smaller organizations, these processes are not well defined. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President For Borderless Network at Cisco Systems India and SAARC, said the company introduced several products that combine high-speed network connectivity with integrated vpn, firewall, e-mail, and web security capabilities designed for SMBS. It also has routers that offer internet access, security, and wireless services on a single, secured device.

17 October 2012
Channel World: Cisco Plans to Release Collaboration Software Products Its Hosting Partners can Offer
Cisco has announced that it is increasing the number of collaboration software products that its hosting partners can offer via the cloud, hoping to make the bundles more attractive to the partners and their customers. At an announcement at its Collaboration Summit in Los Angeles, Cisco also said that it will provide its cloud-based WebEx web conferencing product for the first time as packaged software that customers can deploy on-premise or in a private cloud. "We want to give our customers more choice in how they deploy our collaboration products,"said Murali Sitaram, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Cloud Collaboration Applications Technology Group.

17 October 2012
CTO Forum: Network is Embracing a New Paradigm of Open Network Environment: Cisco
Network has become more important than ever before. It plays a vital role in enabling businesses to adopt new technologies and applications to help them grow. As the network evolves, it is embracing a new paradigm of Open Network Environment, which is transforming the network into an effective business enabler, becoming more open, programmable, and application-aware. Cisco's latest offering, Open Network Environment - referred as 'Cisco ONE' is a multi-pronged strategy that will deliver the industry's broadest approach to programmability built on the industry's most comprehensive networking portfolio and industry standards. Speaking at the Cisco Open Networking Summit today, Shashi Kiran- Senior Director, Market Management Data Center Virtualization and Switching elaborated on the concept of Cisco ONE. According to Shashi, Cisco unifies the various parts of data centers that were traditionally siloed and difficult to combine - compute, networking, and storage functions and Cisco ONE enhances this portfolio. By enhancing open networking through tighter hardware-software coordination, customers can generate greater efficiencies from a data center infrastructure that is already being enhanced by its convergence of compute, storage, and networking.

16 October 2012
Channel World: Cisco Looking to Buy Citrix's Networking Business?
Cisco could buy Citrix's networking business if an expected OEM deal involving the latter's application delivery controller product bears fruit, Oppenheimer analysts said this week. Oppenheimer & Co. issued bulletins stating that Cisco is expected to fill its recent ADC hole with Citrix's NetScaler product under an OEM arrangement. Cisco killed its own Application Control Engine (ACE) product but left open the possibility of revisiting the ADC market once it re-evaluates its strategy. Oppenheimer believes that re-evaluation will result in an OEM deal with Citrix and a possible acquisition of the company's NetScaler assets, according to this post in StreetInsider.com. "From a technology standpoint, NetScaler is a high-quality solution relative to Cisco's discontinued ACE and one that Cisco can sell as a standalone ADC to enterprise/SMBs," the site quotes Oppenheimer as stating. "While OEM relationships are tough to execute, Cisco has a strong sales force and now a strong product to sell. We see little go-to-market conflict as we expect Cisco to focus on standalone

15 October 2012
Dataquest: Cisco Introduces Remote ATM Connectivity for Indian Banks
Cisco announced availability of its Connected ATM Solution that will help banks in India deploy automated teller machine facilities in remote locations across the country. With greater emphasis on financial inclusion, the new solution from Cisco is aimed at helping banks meet the Government of India mandate for ATM network expansion across the country, with specific emphasis on rural connectivity. This solution underscores Cisco's commitment to participate in opportunities to drive inclusive growth and contribute to country transformation.

15 October 2012
CRN: Cisco Xchange to Drive Partner-Led Services Biz
Cisco has launched an exclusive partner engagement program named Cisco Services Xchange (CSX) for the sales executives of its tier-1 and -2 partners in India and Saarc. According to Cisco, 750 sales executives from 300 tier-1 and -2 partner organizations across India and Saarc have registered for CSX since the program was launched two months ago. The CSX is an online platform that covers the entire range of Cisco services including network management, optimization and 24x7 SMTC. It works at multiple levels to create a live engagement engine between the vendor and partners. It offers partners features such as learning and development, training, informal interactions and real-time alerts, and awards achievers through point redemption schemes. "We have launched a sales incentive engine that can drive engagement and revenue, and reduce partner sales force attrition through continuous learning, development and rewards. We will also utilize CSX as a partner enablement engine to introduce new programs," said Amitabh Patney, VP, Services, Cisco.

11 October 2012
Voice&Data: Building Blocks
Cloud computing has moved ahead from the threshold of adoption. The first phase of the technology, i.e., creating awareness of cloud technology has been executed by the cloud vendors and providers successfully; now India is in the second phase, i.e., the adoption phase to reap cloud benefits. It is at the early stages of adoption and is yet to pick pace. From the past one to two years, cloud technology in India has picked up baby steps from crawling. "Cloud is not a "one-size-fits-all" proposition: the right approach depends on your enterprise's needs and priorities. Different service and deployment models can be adopted to match the requirements of applications across the business. Security, Compliance, Reliability, Control and Quality of Service are few of the factors that enterprises need to consider while adopting a cloud strategy," says Rajesh Rege, Senior Vice President, Data Center, Virtualisation and Cloud, Cisco India & SAARC.

11 October 2012
CIOL: Cisco, NetApp Expand Data Centre Infra Soln to Increase Market Coverage
Expanding and extending their family of infrastructure solutions, Cisco and NetApp has introduced ExpressPod, a prepackaged and tested solution for growing small and medium-sized organizations; the addition of new storage clustering capabilities to the FlexPod data center platform, and the release of a validated VMware® solution for Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) on FlexPod…Cisco and NetApp infrastructure solutions are on display this week at VMworld Europe at Cisco booth D200 and NetApp booth D206. ExpressPod - Infrastructure Solution for Small and Midsize Organizations. Darren Adams, general manager and vice president, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas, Cisco Solutions Group "This new pre-packaged and tested ExpressPod solution is ideal for Avnet value added resellers with small-to medium-sized customers whose business could benefit significantly from a low-risk, cost-effective virtualization solution for their networking, storage and computing environments."

10 October 2012
CRN: Cisco, NetApp Revamp FlexPod For SMBs: Call It Express Pod
NetApp and Cisco (NSDQ:CSCO) Wednesday introduced an entry-level version of their FlexPod converged infrastructure, dubbed ExpressPod, in a move to expand the market for the combined server, storage, and networking solutions to smaller-size business customers.The two also expanded their FlexPod offering at the high end with a new clustered version and model with a validated VMware solution Oracle (NSDQ:ORCL) Real Application Cluster (RAC)…The new ExpressPod entry-level converged infrastructure solutions target businesses with up to 500 users where the IT department may be consist of a single generalist struggling to manage the company's entire IT infrastructure, said Adam Fore, NetApp's director of solutions marketing.

10 October 2012
CTO Forum: CTOF Connect
Mahesh Gupta, VP, Borderless Networks, Cisco India talks to Varun Aggarwal about the need for networks to become intelligent…What is the need to have intelligent networks for an enterprise? The initial way of security was to implement security on firewalls and then you put network security as one measure from stopping anybody, any intrusion or any thefts happening from the internet. Similar way you had physical security, if somebody cannot come through virtual means, if somebody comes through physicals means, you have physical security guard, that how you are protected.

10 October 2012
CTO Forum: Time is Ripe for Intelligent Networks
Given the evolution of technology, there is a need for networks to become intelligent. Mahesh Gupta, VP, Borderless Networks, Cisco India talks to Varun Aggarwal to give more details. The initial way of security was to implement security on firewalls and then you put network security as one measure from stopping anybody, any intrusion or any thefts happening from the internet. Similar way you had physical security, if somebody cannot come through virtual means, if somebody comes through physicals means, you have physical security guard, that how you are protected. However, now people have started bringing in their mobile phones and tablets into the company. As authorized user, they come through the physical security gate. These devices could be productivity enabler or productivity damper. Depending on the way you perceive those devices, on the way you enable those devices. So now, the firewall policy needs to be intelligent. What access I should I be given on the network, should be decided by the policy deployed on the firewall.

10 October 2012
Voice&Data: Flexible Workspaces
Gone are the days when the workplace was being confined to a particular place; today's work environment is transitioning. On-the-move work culture is gaining traction; workforce is empowered to deliver work from anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Thanks to the technology which has rewarded both employers and employees equally; Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) which is driven by mobility, consumerization of IT, and proliferation of devices is transforming the traditional corporate structure. This mode of work culture has a great potential and it becoming inevitable. According to a recent global survey, Cisco Connected World Technology Report (CCWTR) 41% of students prefer companies that offer flexibility with devices. Cisco has had a BYOD policy for a couple of years now. VC Gopalratnam, CIO & VP, information technology, Cisco says, "BYOD has helped us enhance employee productivity by enabling employees to do company work when and where they want; provide a better user experience; and foster goodwill. This policy also goes beyond existing employees. The workforce is evolving, and as members of today's new technology-savvy generation enter the workforce, they want to choose how they can be most productive."

05 October 2012
E Gov: Cisco Bets on e-Governance
Interview: Puneet Gupta, Senior Vice President, Public Sector Business, Cisco India and SAARC "Cisco's objective is to create better governance infrastructure, which enables citizens to access information - any place, any device and any time," says Puneet Gupta, Senior Vice President, Public Sector Business, Cisco India and SAARC. Egov: These days most government departments in India are implementing e-Governance to improve their efficiency and to facilitate better interactions with the public. What kinds of solutions is Cisco bringing to public administration in India? Puneet: Cisco has been involved with e-Governance initiatives in public sector for more than 10 years. The public sector vertical of Cisco's IBSG (Internet Business solutions Group) comprises of experts from healthcare, transportation, education, energy management, internal security, etc. The specialists not only understand the unique challenges of government, they also bring years of skill and experience to help solve these challenges. Cisco has been actively involved in all the three pillars of NeGP programme - SWAN, SDC and SC projects. We are working with more than 25 states for rolling out SWAN projects successfully; we are also involved in the setup of data Centres in several states. We have also been able to leverage the IP infrastructure rolled out in the states for delivery of Data, voice and Video services on the same platform. The underlying IP protocol has enabled this entire infrastructure to be future ready and support any new service deployments. Cisco is leading in the transition from IPv4 to IPv6, which has now been mandated by the Department of Telecommunications. We have a team of specialist who are capable of facilitating the migration of existing network infrastructure to IPv6.

05 October 2012
CIOL: Cisco Boosts Virtual Networking with vCider Acquisition
Networking equipment company Cisco Systems said on Thursday it has acquired virtual networking company vCider to defend itself from competitors in the cloud computing business. vCider, a privately held company founded in 2010, specialises in offering products that let organisations create virtual private networks and link data centers. Cisco, which plans to integrate vCider into its cloud computing unit, did not disclose financial terms. Cisco has been sounding out potential acquisitions in the virtualised networking market for some time but in July lost out to joint-venture partner VMware Iv, which bought technology start-up Nicira for 1.05 billion. Nicira like vCider is focussed on software defined networking (SDN), a technology that some analysts see as a threat to Cisco's core business.

05 October 2012
VAR India: Cisco Introduces Unified Access Solution
Cisco on Thursday introduced its Unified Access solution, a highly secure network infrastructure based on one policy source and one management solution to help organizations quickly respond to new business opportunities while managing these rapidly changing network demands. Cisco Unified Access provides a consistent set of network capabilities across wired, wireless and virtual private network (VPN) networks, allowing them to behave as a single entity. According to Cisco research, by 2016, network demands will dramatically expand to manage nearly 19 billion new connected devices and handle 18 times the amount of today's global mobile data traffic. Mahesh Gupta, vice president, Borderless Network, Cisco India and SAARC commented, "Organizations are readying themselves to welcome the millennials into their workforce. This mobile and tech savvy generation has a different perspective towards work, the workplace and concept of being efficient."

05 October 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Anil Bhasin to Head Cisco Services Division in India
Cisco has appointed Anil Bhasin to lead its services division in India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region. Based in Mumbai, Bhasin will head the division as senior vice-president (services). Bhasin began his Cisco career in 2001, as the head of its banking and finance and commercial business for the Western region, where he doubled the revenue for both businesses.

05 October 2012
Business Standard: Cisco Fund Bullish on India Investment
After two successful exits within a period of 9 months Cisco's investment arm Cisco Corporate Development Fund is bullish of the Indian market. Cisco which has made investment in about 14 companies in the country so far is also planning to get active as the technology landscape in India is changing. Joydeep Bose Senior Director for Corporate Development, Investments and Acquisitions, Cisco told Business Standard , "India is an extremely important market for us. We are seeing more number of innovation happening in the country which can be opportunity for us." In January this year the company made its first exit from Netmagic when Japan's NTT Communications bought majority stake in the company for about Rs 900 crore deal. According to a research firm which track VC funding in Cisco along with Fidelity, Nexus Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners has invested $16 million in October 2010.

04 October 2012
CIO: Cisco Announces Plans to Blend Wireless and Wired Enterprise Networks
Cisco revealed new WLAN access points and controllers, along with its latest steps to blend wireless and wired enterprise networks together. The networking vendor announced upgraded server applications for access control, network management, and application management across both types of networks. Also new: virtualization options for these infrastructure products; two new lower-priced 802.11n access points for business networks; a new high-end WLAN controller, with a new high-availability feature for Wi-Fi clients. The changes are part of a strategy that the vendor labels "Cisco Unified Access," now being formally announced though it's been featured on the company Website, and talked about with customers, for over a year. The basic idea, according to Cisco marketers, is to centralize and automate policy enforcement, security and authentication, and network management, regardless of how business end users connect to the company network, or with what kind of de-client device.

02 October 2012
India Education Diary: Dr. Anil Menon, addresses students of TAPMI on 'Transforming Nation with Passion'
Dr. Anil Menon, President of Globalization and Smart+Connected Communities, Cisco Systems Inc. delivered 10th leadership lecture on "Transforming Nations with Passion" at TAPMI. Dr. Menon began his speech by giving insights on some of the aspects that differentiates a developed country from a developing country. Healthcare, education, sports, entertainment are some of the industries in which we can observe major differences. Lack of institutions, structure, business enterprises, and technology in the developing countries are some of the reasons that contribute to these differences, he observed.

01 October 2012
CRN: Cisco Launches Remote ATM Connectivity Solution
Networking major Cisco has launched its 'Connected ATM solution', which will help banks in the country deploy automated teller machines (ATMs) in remote locations faster and in a cost-effective manner. The solution will offer banks connectivity options through 3G and CDMA networks, compared to VSAT and CDMA options available otherwise, Cisco said. "This wireless connectivity option, when coupled with a service provider wireless data plan, provides a cost-effective, rapidly deployable, reliable, and highly secure backup solution for remote sites and branch offices,"Cisco India and Saarc senior VP (systems engineering) Sanjay Kharade said. "A deployment based on VSAT typically would cost Rs 30,000-40,000, but using this architecture and 3G and CDMA based connectivity, the cost can come down to less than Rs 15,000-20,000 per site," Kharade said.

22 November 2012
The Times of India: 46% Indian Companies Yet to Allow Use of Personal Digital Devices at Work' Reveals Survey
Many business organizations have been encouraging its employees to use personal digital devices for official work as they result in employee satisfaction and higher productivity. However, there are some organizations that are yet to accept the concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Cisco's VC Gopalratnam said the company implemented BYOD policy in 2009 and since then it has proved very beneficial for its organization and employees. "The adoption of BYOD has had a positive impact on us. It has enhanced employee productivity by providing them the freedom to work with their choice of device which in turn allows them to respond faster."

21 November 2012
The Economic Times: IT Firms Let Employees Use Their Favorite Devices at Work
Many IT companies are encouraging BYOD (bring your own device) to work. According to an industry survey, firms feel that with techniques like desktop virtualization their earlier concerns like data theft and network problems have been addressed and therefore they are adopting the idea of employees bringing their own devices to work. The study, which surveyed 1,493 IT and business leaders in India and China, shows that IT leaders are increasingly embracing BYOD in their enterprises. This study was part of networking solutions provider Cisco's initiative to understand acceptance of BYOD among global IT companies in 18 industries. "The new generation employees are using all kinds of devices, including smartphones and tablets. They feel uncomfortable working on systems given by their IT department. The smartphone penetration is very popular in India," said Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, Borderless Networks, Cisco India and SAARC.

21 November 2012
Communications Today: Enterprise Routers & Switches Exploding Traffic to Create Demand
Despite the demand for networking equipment, strong revenue growth is elusive owing to the quest for lower-priced devices, competition, emerging technologies, and economic concerns… In 2011, the Indian switches and routers market is estimated at Rs.1670 crore and Rs. 2560 crore, respectively. Cisco continues to be ahead in the Indian router space with 70 percent market share, and the remaining is together contributed by Avaya, HP, Juniper, Huawei, and Dax Networks… "Organizations need their networks to be intelligent, dynamic, and securely integrate applications in a way that is easy and viable to manage. Many advanced applications need to be integrated into an adaptable, pervasive, and collaborative system. Access has also changed, as thousands of new devices connect to the network via wireless and wired pathways. By providing multiple services on a single platform, solutions like integrated services routers provide a one-stop solution for small offices, branch offices, and teleworkers. Globally and in India, the market is moving toward integrated devices with built-in multiple capabilities. Many vendors are introducing switches/routers that have the capability to integrate key features such as content processing, VPNs, firewalls, and load balancing. Wireless capabilities are also popular, replacing the need for separate wireless access points for small office networks. Security is another focus area as is evident from new products introduced by all vendors," concludes Mahesh Gupta, VP, Borderless Networks, Cisco India & SAARC.

21 November 2012
Voice and Data: Increase in Data Usage Enhances GDP Per Capita: GSMA-Deloitte
Countries with higher level of data usage per 3G connection have witnessed an increase in GDP per capita growth of up to 1.4 percentage points, and a 10% rise from 2G to 3G penetration increases GDP per capita growth by 0.15 percentage points, revealed a report 'What Is the Impact of Mobile Telephony on Economic Growth?' released by GSMA and Deloitte. Dr. Robert Pepper , Vice President, Global Technology Policy, Cisco said, "As people around the world increasingly connect to the Internet via multiple wireless devices to use rich content anytime, anywhere, it is creating a deluge of data that is changing the way we work, live and play. The fact that increasing high-speed mobile broadband data usage leads to greater average per capita income underscores the need for increased investment in wireless networks as well as for government policies to foster that investment, including the allocation of additional spectrum."

19 November 2012
Business Standard: Cisco to Buy Cloud-Networking Start-Up Meraki for $1.2 bn
Cisco Systems said that it had agreed to buy Meraki for about $1.2 billion, as the networking titan continues to bolster its cloud computing services. By buying Meraki, a privately held company backed by the likes of Google and Sequoia Partners, Cisco will add products that allow networks to be controlled through the internet. "These companies have the same IT needs as larger organisations, but without the resources to integrate complex IT solutions," Rob Soderbery, a senior vice president in Cisco's enterprise networking group, said in a statement.

16 November 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Real Time Disruption
The mobile used to be a simple device when we used it only for making voice calls. However, with the deployment of wireless broadband data networks and the availability of powerful smartphones and tablets at reasonable prices, Two-Sided Markets (2SM) and the associated platforms have become the norm. In a typical 2SM, there are two sets of users who complement each other's usage thereby increasing the network effect for enhanced value for both. The users of the mobile device on one side and the application/ content developers on the other side create strong cross-side network effects to complement each other in the wireless broadband market. The mobile operators' network just happens to be a bandwidth pipe that interconnects these two sets of users. This phenomenon is supported by evidence that mobile users are avidly consuming content and mobile data traffic is growing at a compounded rate of about 95 percent and is expected to reach 6.3 exabytes (1 exabyte = 10 raised to the power 18 bytes) per month by 2015 as per Cisco visualization index. This has resulted in US $ 36 billion "post-PC era" of app value chain.

15 November 2012
The Times of India: Cisco Rises as Profit Tops Estimates on Price Cuts
Cisco Systems Inc, the biggest maker of computer networking equipment, rose the most in almost three months after its profit topped analysts' estimates, price reductions helped spur sales and cost cuts kept margins intact. The shares jumped as much as 8.3% on Wednesday after Cisco said in a statement on Tuesday after markets closed that profit excluding some costs was 48 cents a share in the first fiscal quarter ended Oct. 27. Analysts anticipated 46 cents a share, the average of data compiled by Bloomberg.

15 November 2012
Business Standard: Cisco's 1Q Earnings Rise 18 Per Cent
Cisco Systems Inc, the world's largest maker of computer networking gear, said Tuesday that U.S. companies are starting to spend again, helping Cisco find more solid footing after some shaky months early this year. Cisco said its earnings rose 18 per cent in the latest quarter, propelled by a renewed willingness by large U.S. businesses to invest in big-ticket networking gear, even as the federal government continued to hold back. Orders from large business customers in the U.S. rose 9 per cent from a year ago. The company's stock rose $1.11, or 6.6 per cent, to $17.96 in extended trading Tuesday. Cisco made $2.1 billion, or 39 cents per share, in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Oct. 27. That compares with $1.8 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding the cost of stock-based compensation and certain other items, Cisco would have earned 48 cents per share. On that basis, Cisco's earnings were 2 cents above the average analyst estimate, according to FactSet.

09 November 2012
CRN: Array Offers $30,000 Rebates to Replace Cisco ACE Load Balancers
Array Networks, an application delivery networking player, has announced its Cisco ACE 'Race-to-Replace' rebate program for existing Cisco load balancing customers. The company is offering up to $30,000 in rebates on products and services for Cisco customers trading in qualifying ACE equipment for Array APV Series application delivery controllers (ADCs). Applicable till 2012-end, partners and customers should contact Array Networks or an authorized distributor to confirm eligibility and to begin evaluation and testing to qualify for buyback options for Cisco ACE load balancers. Partners can log Cisco ACE replacement opportunities directly within the Array partner portal. The first 100 ACE replacement deals will provide free certification training from Array Networks to both the customer and partner. Shibu Paul, National Sales Manager, India, Array Networks said, "In response to Cisco discontinuing development of its ACE load balancing product, we are offering Cisco customers attractive pricing on next-generation load balancing and application delivery. With Array customers get better performance and features at a better price point, from a company that is committed to the application delivery market."

06 November 2012
Venture Intelligence: Strategic Investor Interview with Joydeep Bose of Cisco
The following interview with Joydeep Bose, Senior Director, Corporate Development, Investments and Acquisitions at Cisco appeared in the latest quarterly Venture Intelligence India Venture Capital report. Venture Intelligence: Can you start by providing us a quick overview of Cisco's venture investment activities in India. Joydeep Bose: Cisco Investments and M&A group is focused on investing in India's growing markets in technology areas such as Video networking and social collaboration, Cloud Computing and enabling software. India is a key geography for Cisco both as a market and as a source market for innovation. We have seen a huge investment opportunities in India, especially in the areas of cloud and broadband services, media and entertainment and the traditional Indian industry strongholds such as software and advanced services. We are also seeking faster the adoptions of technologies like LTE and national broadband network in the Asia Pacific and Japan regions. India ranks number one in terms of our focus followed by Korea, Australia and Japan.

06 November 2012
The Times of India: Diversity Inc.
According to a recent re¬port, Creating inclusive workplaces for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) employees in India - a resource guide for employers by Community Business (a unique membership based non¬profit organisation), though Indian organisations acknowledge the benefits of a diversified workforce, many still do not in¬clude LGBT candidates in their corporate diversity agenda. 'Gay Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Advocates Net¬work (GLBT&A)' at CISCO embraces LGBT individuals as a part of the Cisco family. To ensure LGBT employees feel valued, they have redefined terms like 'spouse', 'partner', etc, in their global policy handbook and have extended benefits globally The company has extended same sex partner benefits in many countries in APAC and is working with other organisations in the industry and service providers to create the right conditions to introduce these benefits in India as well. Cisco is also a member of an inter-company network for LGBT. Their general strategy is to complement local legislation and help ensure that LGBT employees and their fami¬lies feel that they are equal members of the Cisco family.

06 November 2012
CXOtoday: "More than Cost, BYOD is About Operational Efficiency"
Newer and emerging IT trends such as virtualization and unified communication (UC) are revolutionizing the workplace. To survive in this increasingly complex business environment, enterprises need to strategically deploy these technologies for better productivity and efficiency. In a recent interview with Sohini Bagchi of CXOtoday, Daisy Chittilapilly, VP, ITS, Cisco India and SAARC explains why an increased number of organizations are looking to deploy bring-your-own-device (BYOD), as part of the virtualized workplace and unified solutions and what CIOs should keep in mind while implementing these technologies.

05 November 2012
Express Computer: Video Conferencing 2.0
According to available industry data, the video conferencing market in India can be pegged at Rs 500 crores for hardware (end points and bridges) and it is growing at 18-20%. Cisco believed that it was necessary to offer better collaborative tools. "Offering effective ways for enterprise subscribers to collaborate with their customers, partners, and suppliers necessitates the use of premium bandwidth services. Our TelePresence Exchange System ensures the integration of full-high definition video, advanced audio and interactive collaboration tools with the underlying network as the platform to deliver immersive meetings, interoperability and advanced media services. This also enhances the telepresence collaboration experience," said Minhaj Zia, Director, Collaboration Sales, Cisco India and SAARC.

03 November 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Complex value chain, Social Media are Key organisational Challenges: Experts
The challenges faced by organisations are complex value chain, talent war, social media and global competition, said Marc Amblard, Chief Executive Officer, EFQM (formerly known as the European Foundation for Quality Management). Speaking on "Quality and New Reality - Global Challenges and Excellence", at the CII's 20th National Quality Summit 2012, Amblard said there are about eight fundamental models as solutions for these challenges and all of these have been incorporated in the EFQM Excellence model. Sumant Jha, Customer Value Chain Management, Cisco Systems spoke about end-to-end value-chain quality experiences from the company's customers. Nandagopal Prasad, Global Head of Partner Qualification and Certification, SAP Labs India spoke on how the company's customers engaged in process development to ensure that they were moving in the right direction. Gopichand Katragadda, Managing Director, GE India Technology Centre, touched upon issues of understanding of the customer's requirements and identification of business priorities among others.

02 November 2012
The Hindu Business Line: Catch the Biggies in Town Talk About their Taste in Tech
Interview: Sanjay Rohatgi, President, Service Provider, Cisco India and SAARC
HBL: What gadgets do you use? Sanjay: Everything one can think of - Laptop, Desktop, iPAD, Blackberry, Samsung Galaxy SIII, Executive Telepresence, iPOD Touch, iPOD Nano to lead a productive and effective life at work and play. Which is the latest gadget you picked up? Samsung Galaxy SIII HBL: What is your dream machine? Sanjay: All in One Device - probably iPAD mini or Samsung Note, which is also almost getting there. My dream machine is Porsche Panamera (car) and my dream watch is the latest Panarai limited edition HBL: What do you not like about technology? Sanjay: It can be too intrusive these days in your personal life. HBL: What apps or tools are you addicted to? Sanjay: Webex for collaboration, BBM and What's App as messenger platform to talk to peers, friends and colleagues. I am also an avid user of Facebook to keep track of my global and local friends and relatives. And I still use SMS as needed… Data Hogger but not a real gadget freak. HBL: What's the biggest tech disaster according to you? Sanjay: BBM down for few days in India HBL: What's the biggest tech success according to you? Sanjay: Cloud/ Virtualisation is the biggest paradigm shift the industry is witnessing and it will change the way we live, learn, work and play. One instance where technology solved your problem. I had to be on an ad hoc but urgent business meeting using video. I was on a remote Island on holidays but the Island had decent internet connectivity. With the HD Camera on my laptop and leveraging Jabber client using Cisco Collaboration platform I was able to have a successful HD Video call and got the nod to proceed ahead on an important project. Technology sure works and solves so many issues.

02 November 2012
Express Computer: Unified Communications: Joining the Dots
It would be an understatement to say that communication today has become a basic necessity for an individual. Many people today feel helpless or get anxious, even if they do not have Internet connectivity on the smart phones or personal computers. The need to stay always connected is being felt today more than ever. Though this holds true even in the enterprise, the need to have seamless communication is more of a business imperative than a professional luxury. Businesses change fast, customers need quick response, and decisions need to be made in real-time… Says Minhaj Zia, Director, Collaboration Sales, Cisco India & SAARC," Back in the days, employees would start work only after reaching office and work in a nine to five schedule. However today with businesses being spread across different geographies and time zones, they are expected to interact with partners, or suppliers or customers, even during transit or outside office hours." The market drivers for an organization to look at unified communications today are many. Besides growing their business and innovating while reducing cost and improving productivity, organizations are also expected to go-to-market faster and engage customers quicker than before. Today when a product releases it take very little time for the market to understand it and another vendor to catch up with something equally competitive.

02 November 2012
Indian Television: NDS to Showcase Scalable Solutions for Digitisation
NDS which is now a part of Cisco has announced that at the television technology trade event Scat India 2012 which kicks off tomorrow in Mumbai it will showcase proven solutions that enable the streamlined and cost-effective deployment of future-ready digital pay-TV services in India. The event runs from 3-5 November 2012…At SCaT India 2012, NDS will demonstrate proven solutions, developed locally to support the deployment and growth of digital cable TV services in India. Addressing all tiers of operators, NDS technologies provides cost-effective and future-ready solutions to support its customers through the digitisation process and as they expand their services.NDS adds that its solutions are currently deployed in over three million cable TV homes - equivalent to over 50 per cent of all digital cable subscribers in India.

28 December 2012
DQ Channels: Unified Communications - Cisco's Best Collaborative Effort
The Indian market for unified communications (UC) is dominated by biggies like Cisco, Microsoft, and Avaya among others. Not only these players have a fairly large market share, but they have also managed to gain significant mindshare of the solution providers/system integrators in the country. This is visible by the fact that in this year's Channel Satisfaction Survey, the solution providers have clearly endorsed these three majors only, out of which, Cisco has emerged as their #1 choice…. Like last year, with its impeccable scores, Cisco has again proved that it is still the reigning leader in the UC space. From the leadership in overall product/service reliability to the convenience in installation, adoption, and scalability, Cisco has scored quite high in overall product quality in comparison to its competitors. After-sales support has been another catalyst for Cisco's UC success, be it the company's technical expertise and geographical reach throughout the country. By concentrating on the credit facility, fairness on claim settlement, promptness with turnaround time in providing online support and having an interactive site for resolving any of the queries of its solution providers, Cisco has redefined its success story in this segment. However, the company needs to focus on the effectiveness with which it manages disruption due to its change in personnel.

28 December 2012
DQ Channels: Networking- Cisco, The Best Networked
Another category added this year in DQC-CMR Channel Satisfaction Survey is networking and the product line evaluated under this segment are routers, switches, and modems. The companies that were part of this survey include HP, D-Link, Cisco, Avaya, and Digilink, and as per the ratings given by the channel partners, Cisco has emerged as the clear winner amongst all. In fact, Cisco has been well endorsed by the partners for its networking line of products. Though the race was quite close between Cisco and HP, the former ruled the roost with its overall product quality, commercial terms, and relationship management. The company is well ahead of its competitors in having diversity of the product range, by scoring 95 in this sub-parameter. Its networking products also offer value for money to both partners as well as customers, which are clearly suggested by its score in price versus performance ratio. While the channel partners are impressed with Cisco's product pricing, credit policy, and flexibility in commercial terms, the company needs to pull up its socks when it comes to being prompt in communicating the schemes/incentive programs to them. On the other hand, HP has been very competent and always made available the services of its account managers/helpdesk for the partners.

28 December 2012
CIOL: Three predictions for 2013: Rajesh Khurana
Key trends predictions for 2013 from Rajesh Khurana, country manager, India & SAARC, Vietnam, Phillipines, Seagate Technology. Storage Drivers Data consumption and creation and global internet connectivity growth continue to be very robust. For example, in 2012, the total digital information in the world is about 2.7 zettabytes. This is increased by almost 50 per cent since 2011. According to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2011-2016), the annual global IP traffic is forecast to be 1.3 zettabytes by 2016. What's more, between 2015 & 2016, the increase of global traffic is more than 330 exabytes, almost equal to the total amount of global traffic in 2011 (369 exabytes)… At the same time, computing is changing fundamentally and at a rapid pace, driven by open source software, cloud infrastructure and architectures, and mobility.

25 December 2012
Global Services: Data Center & Cloud Computing Trends 2013 & Beyond
Cisco forecasts global data center traffic to grow fourfold and reach a total of 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016 and the global cloud traffic, to grow sixfold - a 44 percent combined annual growth rate (CAGR) - from 683 exabytes of annual traffic in 2011 to 4.3 zettabytes by 2016. For the period 2011-2016, Cisco forecasts that roughly 76 percent of data center traffic will stay within the data center and will be largely generated by storage, production and development data. An additional 7 percent of data center traffic will be generated between data centers, primarily driven by data replication and software/system updates. The remaining 17 percent of data center traffic will be fueled by end users accessing clouds for Web surfing, emailing and video streaming.

20 December 2012
The Hindu: Commercial Centres Mooted to Ease Pressure on Bangalore
Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation Chairman C.S. Kedar on Wednesday suggested that developing eight to ten commercial centres along the Peripheral Ring Road in Bangalore would ease pressure on the city. Anil Menon, president of Globalisation and Smart+Connected communities of CISCO Systems, observed that the biggest problem with respect to urban development in India is that none of the cities has a single chief executive officer for all its needs. He also asked town planners "to look into the rural issues to tackle the problems of urban areas because the pressure on cities is increasing due to migration from villages". Pointing out that half the country's population would live in cities by 2040, CII Karnataka State Council Chairman L. Krishnan expressed concern that urban infrastructure creation was not keeping pace with the rapid manner in which the cities were growing.

19 December 2012
Banktech India: Transitioning to IPv6 is the Only Option to Ensure Long-Term Business Continuity
Cisco's Pranay Jhaveri says that the earlier banks move to IPv6, the better it will be for them. Will banks be able to meet RBI's December-end deadline for migrating their core systems to the latest version of the Internet Protocol IPv6? Do you think they should have been given more time? Data released from the Department of Telecommunications indicates that some banks have already started the migration of their core systems to the latest version of IPv6. To adopt IPv6, the banks would need to discuss, develop and initiate the deployment strategies after taking into account the cost of moving on from legacy systems. Most banks in India had already adopted the first wave of technology by deploying datacenters and offering solutions based on cloud, web, mobile or even social media. The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will not be possible overnight for banks as they will require user applications, databases, middleware, servers and network infrastructure to support the transition. Besides planning for IPv6 adoption costs and budgets will be a task for the vertical as it simultaneously deals with reducing additional expenses in a challenging economy. In this aspect, we believe that they will require more time to migrate to the new version. That said, transitioning to IPv6 is the only option to ensure long-term business continuity and the earlier, the better for banks to migrate to IPv6.

17 December 2012
CXO Today: Cisco Hires Barclays to Sell Home Wireless Router Unit: Report
Networking equipment company Cisco Systems has hired Barclays to sell its Linksys home router unit, a report said. The business, which Cisco acquired for $500 million in 2003, will likely be valued for less because it has low margins, according to Bloomberg. The sale is part of Cisco's strategy to shed its consumer unit and focus on its software and technology services businesses. Last year, Cisco axed its Flip camera business as part of this strategy.

15 December 2012
The Financial Express: Cisco Report: Indian Gen Y Obsessively Connected to Smartphone
It is now well established that mobile phones in general, and smartphones in particular, have become intrinsic parts of our daily lives. On balance, this trend has been beneficial-increased efficiency, connectivity and knowledge-sharing-but, as a recent Cisco survey finds, and there are some disturbing pitfalls to this increasing addiction to smartphones as well. In its Connected World Technology Report 2012, Cisco found that 90% of its respondents in the age group 18-30 checked their phones for updates first thing in the morning, even before they performed their daily ablutions, ate breakfast and got ready for school, college or work as the case may be. That, in itself, isn't the worrying part. What is, is that nearly half said that they used their phones in social settings like dinner with the family. Several studies have been conducted about the anti-social tendencies encouraged by mobile phones, and the Cisco findings add weight to this phenomenon-as connected as mobile phones might make us, they are equally weakening the individual bonds that hold society together.

13 December 2012
The Times of India: Mobile Owners Hardly Use Downloaded Apps: Survey
Of all the mobile apps being downloaded everyday, consumers hardly use a handful of them, says the Cisco annual mobile and Internet penetration survey released on Thursday. A majority of the smart phone owners in India use only about 10 apps regularly irrespective of downloading numerous applications. "Vendors advertise thousands of applications in their app stores but are they being used? Of all those apps being downloaded daily, a surprisingly low number are actually used on a regular basis. Globally, the majority (60 percent) reported using fewer than 10 smartphone apps regularly and only one in five (20 percent) of respondents said they use 10 to 25 apps regularly," said VC Gopalratnam, vice president, IT and CIO globalisation of Cisco. "In India, 64 percent use fewer than 10 smartphone apps regularly and 32 percent use 10 to 25 apps." According to the Airtel Mobitude survey 2012, an average of 30 lakh downloads on Airtel App Central were recorded every month. Over 90 percent of downloads were from the free category. While 65 percent of application downloads are games, other popular categories include social networking, video and music players, sports, health and other entertainment.

13 December 2012
Express Computer : Are Ethernet Roads widening?
Cloud computing, virtualization, enterprise mobility and Big Data hog the limelight in any conversation about enterprise IT. Finding little mention is the network, which has been around for the longest. Slow and steady on the growth track, networks have seen innovation, which is staggered in comparison to some of these technologies.So, where does it stand today? Connectivity at the consumer side has gone way past the 56k modem phase and consumers today are experiencing broadband speeds that go up to a few Mbps easily. The story on the enterprise side is also similar. What used to be Mbps yesterday is Gbps today. Organisations which, till a while ago had networks which had fast Ethernet or one Gigabit Ethernet connectivity are today looking at 10 Gigabit (10G) Ethernet as a standard for connectivity within the enterprise. Some are even talking about 40G and 100G at the data centre side. Says Prem Nithin, Business Development Manager, Borderless Networks, Cisco India, Cost enterprises were using 10/100 Mbps links at the access side and application requirements were not very high. However, Fast Ethernet started becoming a bottleneck as applications grew. Furthermore, most organisations traditionally had applications running on a distributed architecture. This model was not scalable and organisations started thinking about consolidating applications. One Gigabit was proving to be insufficient and therefore 10G started finding relevance at the server level."

12 December 2012
Forbes India: Healthcare via Shipping Containers?
Why not? Being classified as prefabricated structures, containers avoid the regulatory hassles associated with floor area rules or land-use agreements that arise in setting up physical infrastructure. Minimalist in design, it can be transported through rail and used in the remotest corner of the country. Two years ago I wrote about Cisco's healthpresence, a low-end version of its bandwidth guzzling telepresence, for developing countries like India. Cisco had then said it had sorted out the thorny issues of delivery and was working with partners like Airtel, Apollo Hospitals and others. As far as I know the large scale roll out that Cisco had anticipated didn't work out as well as they had planned. Aravind Sitaraman, President - Inclusive Growth, Cisco Systems, says the company has piloted the medical solution in 2 states and 7 districts. The Cisco health care solution has currently been implemented in Raichur, Shimoga, Chitradurga, Gwalior, Sehore, Datia and Chindwara in partnership with the governments of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

10 December 2012
Financial Chronicle: Age of the Mobile Worker
Minhaj Zia, director, collaboration business at Cisco India and Saarc
The workplace is no longer confined to one's workstation. Business operations have assumed a global flavour and require offices across geographies to be connected in a way that allows quicker, smarter and more efficient information exchange. Increase in mobility has created a need for users to be connected all the time and access information from anywhere, increasingly through their device of choice. Likewise, the increased numbers of next generation employees across various organisations expect to use social tools like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter and instant messaging at work, just like they do in their personal lives. A fundamental need to allow their employees engage with each other efficiently is prompting organisations across the board to seek the right tools that facilitate virtual meetings and help employees stay more connected with their peers while bringing key people to facilitate discussions, ideas, and decision-making. Business leaders and IT decision-makers recognize that collaboration helps boost productivity and gain competitive advantage within tight budget constraints.

10 December 2012
The Telegraph: Cisco Small Unit Plan
Networking solutions provider Cisco Systems (India) Pvt Ltd will focus on 14 non-metro cities, or the tier II and III cities, to drive business in the small and medium business segments. The networking solutions provider, which is part of US-based $46-billion Cisco Systems, believes a market of about $400 million lies beyond the top six metros. These include cities such as Chandigarh, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Coim-batore. The small and medium business (SMB) segment has so far been the fastest growing busi¬ness division in India, with a year-on-year com¬pounded annual growth rate of 45 per cent in the last three years. "The total IT spend in 2011 was at $73 billion' in India. The market is expected to be around $78.6 billion in 2012. Of this, 30 per cent will be the SMEs. More organisations have started thinking of a cloud strategy and the SMBs will benefit," Amit Malik, vice-president (India-east & Saarc) of Cisco, said on the sidelines of Infocom 2012, organised by Businessworld, an ABP group publication. Cisco follows a go-to-market strategy through its partners in India. It has a network of 2,500 partners in the country.
The company has pegged its research and development spend at $5 billion globally for this financial year between August and July

09 December 2012
The Hindu: R&D Campus
NDS, the tech company recently acquired by Cisco, has set up a research and development campus here. A release from the firm said the new campus would support development for nearly 50 per cent of its service provider customers around the world. It was inaugurated by Jesper Andersen, senior VP and GM, Cisco Service Provider Video Technology Group.

08 December 2012
The Times of India: We Can Innovate Here Without Having the Best Infrastructure
Faiyaz Shahpurwala, India Site Leader & Global Head (Ind Solutions) | Cisco
Faiyaz Shahpur wala calls it the Taj Mahal. Cisco's newest buildings - known simply by numbers like 14, 15, 16 - on its vast campus in Bangalore look like any other commercial building from the outside. But on the inside, they have incorporated some of the most advanced building technologies in the world - many of them developed by Cisco itself in India - to completely re-imagine the workspace. And Shahpurwala, as Cisco's India site leader, is the man leading the initiative. Some floors incorporate global architectural elements. One of the most impressive is what's called The Park. It's based on the Park Guell in Barcelona designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. It has such a fairytale-like look that it is said a stroll through the Park Guell would awaken even the sleepiest imaginations, something that's important for Shahpurwala because innovation is what Cisco expects out of Bangalore, the city which the $46-billion California-based technology company has designated as its second headquarters.

08 December 2012
The Times of India: Cisco Wants to Be No.1 in Profit Margin, Customer Satisfaction
Cisco Systems Inc. isn't content to be the world's largest maker of computer networking gear. It says it wants to become the "No. 1" supplier of information technology to big businesses by broadening its offerings of services and software. But when Cisco says "No. 1 IT company," it doesn't mean that it's going to be the biggest-selling company. That goal is out of reach, as IBM Corp.'s revenue is twice that of Cisco. Rather, Cisco CEO John Chambers says he wants the company to loom largest in the minds of its customers and to be the one setting the pace in the industry. Being No. 1, he says, means having the best customer satisfaction and the best profit margins for products. The strategy statement, articulated Friday at a presentation for Wall Street analysts, follows some lean years that have seen Cisco retrench from even broader goals, which included trying to establish itself as a consumer brand and buying a maker of camcorders. The new direction will be supported by a global advertising campaign with the slogan "Tomorrow starts here."

07 December 2012
CRN: Cisco Enhances Small, Mid-Market Businesses Portfolio
Cisco announced its new portfolio of small and midsize business solutions to over 300 channel partners at the Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) Partner-Led Network Event. The new portfolio will help Cisco partners better serve customers who are looking to increase productivity by enabling mobile employees to work and collaborate with a high degree of security. The launch is about connecting people, a key part of Cisco's Work Your Way vision. Andrew Sage, vice president, Worldwide Partner Led, Cisco said, "Cisco is fully committed to the success of our partners including delivering innovative solutions to help partners and customers differentiate themselves. We're also giving our partners in the small and midsize spaces unprecedented access to Cisco engineers for presales support and to services such as Cisco OnPlus Scanner to help monitor and manage their networks."

07 December 2012
VARIndia: Cisco Announces Recipients of Smart Service Awards
Cisco today announced the recipients of its Smart Service Awards at the Cisco® Partner-Led Network Conference in Bangkok. The awards recognize business partners and customers for exceptionally forward-thinking approaches in the delivery and integration of Cisco Smart Services. The recipients demonstrate innovation, expertise, and highly effective working relationships that enable "Smart Everywhere" for businesses and empower the network with intelligence throughout Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China.

05 December 2012
Business Standard: Now, There is a Social Platform for Creative People
In a move which is aimed at connecting creative people based on their interests, film-maker Shekhar Kapur and Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman have launched a social networking platform, Qyuki. Qyuki is a social media platform where people can showcase their talent in the form of video, audio, images and text. The site has already roped in creative experts such as filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, writer Chetan Bhagat, music director Ranjit Barot and photographer Suresh Natrajan, who will guide the Qyuki members. Though the financial details and shareholding pattern of the media venture was kept under the wraps, networking company Cisco is one of the investors in the start-up. "With Qyuki, we are creating a platform where it doesn't matter where you come from, but what matters the most is your creativity. It is a domain where people can collaborate with like-minded people and showcase their creativity. Through this, we will see new 'Shekhar Kapurs' and 'AR Rahmans' coming out of it," Kapur said reporters here. Besides showcasing the work of members, the site will also premier exclusive contents by Shekhar Kapur and Rehman. On the website's homepage, there is a section called Qyuki Premiere, where short video previews of two creations by Kapur - "War Lord" and "Moments In Motion" - and Rahman's musical creation "Melange", has been showcased. Rahman said that the platform will emerge as a strong medium that will help the Indian youth to follow their creative instincts. "There are platforms like YouTube where people create content and put it online. But what is important is the quality of those content. Qyuki is getting there. It will not only provide creative freedom, but also quality experience," Rahman added. The editorial broad of the site will review the works and each good piece will be awarded with badge/badges depending upon its quality and popularity. Though the platform is yet to come up with revenue models, Kapur said the owners of the content would retain copyright for their content. However, there would be opportunities for users to monetize their contents, the details of which are yet to be worked out, he added.

04 December 2012
InformationWeek: Cisco Makes Deep Inroads into Indian SMB Sector
The SMB sector is one of the biggest revenue generators for Cisco India and over the last three years, it has been growing at a CAGR of 45 percent. A partner-led approach is helping Cisco increase its footprint impressively in the fast growing SMB market in India. The networking major is aggressively expanding its SMB portfolio over the past two years, and is seeing good results for its strategy. Cisco has been meticulously and systematically developing the SMB market. This includes having a dedicated R&D team to build products only for small customers, and making an investment of USD 100 million to develop products for small businesses. "Adoption of technology among SMBs is directly dependent on bringing down the total cost of ownership and increasing ease of use. We have made great efforts to study the exact needs of SMBs and have developed products based on customer feedback," explains Rajesh Shetty, Vice President, Cisco India and SAARC. Shetty says that the focus is on reducing the complexity and making it easy for the SMB to configure.

04 December 2012
Business Standard: NDS Opens R&D Campus in Bangalore
NDS, now part of Cisco, celebrates the opening of its new R&D campus in Bangalore as it reaches 12 years of operations in India. With the changing dynamics of the pay-TV industry in India, this announcement reinforces the company's on-going commitment to the market. The new campus is NDS' largest R&D facility and will support development for nearly 50% of the company's service provider customers around the world… The new R&D campus was inaugurated by Jesper Andersen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco's Service Provider Video Technology Group. Addressing NDS staff at the event, Andersen discussed the evolution of Cisco, with NDS, in India to become the leader in providing digital pay-TV technologies to some of the most important DTH and cable operators in the country with more than 40% market share and technology in over 20 million digital TV homes. He also spoke about the opening of the R&D campus as a reinforcement of Cisco's emphasis on driving innovation in emerging markets.

28 January 2013
The Financial Express: Video is the Game Changer for SMBs
Competing in today's competitive market that tends to be dominated by larger companies, small and medium businesses (SMBs) often struggle to make it big. Expected to perform at par with large companies SMBs need to provide high levels of quality in products and services with fewer resources, lesser staff, and limited budgets to very astute customers. So it is critical for them to use technology and make the right investments to create a sustainable business model that would help achieve scale. The SMB sector in India contributes to about 45 percent of the industrial output and employs 42 million people. Adopting an enhanced collaborative framework can help this sector improve business efficiency by ensuring that customers, employees, and suppliers get secure access to real-time data. This in turn improves decision making and customer loyalty. Many small companies worldwide are transforming themselves into global players by effectively using technology to grow, expand and among other things, manage costs. Unified communications technologies are ideal for such organisations because they help weave together phone, email, instant messaging, and video conferencing, which in turn increase productivity and organisational agility.
Dahnesh Dilkhush- The writer is director, collaboration business - ITES & BFSI at Cisco India and SAARC.

25 January 2013
The Economic Times: Belkin to Acquire Cisco's Home Networking Business Unit
Electronics major Belkin today said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cisco's home networking business unit. The agreement is to acquire the unit including its products, technology, Linksys brand and employees, Belkin said in a statement. However, specific financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in March 2013, it said.

25 January 2013
Express Computer: Cisco Partners with NetAPP
Cisco and NetApp has announced an expanded partnership to deliver new converged infrastructure innovation to unify branch office, data center and public cloud infrastructures under the FlexPod architecture. The partnership expansion includes efforts in technology integration, solution development, and continued go-to-market collaboration - all designed to make it easier for customers to deploy and access next-generation cloud infrastructure solutions. Padmasree Warrior, chief technology and strategy officer, Cisco said, "The past 10 years of partnering with NetApp have proven to be successful in bringing a Cisco validated, FlexPod architecture to our customers. Building on that success, we're now expanding our partnership to deliver deeper technology integration and broader solution development across the unified data center for an open, scalable, multicloud infrastructure. Together we can help our customers use their current data center investment to address the challenges of a mobile-cloud era."

23 January 2013
CIOL: What 2013 Has in Store: Cisco
Network has become the platform for delivering a wide array of services to businesses, consumers and government and the recent years have witnessed a big jump in Internet traffic. The network will be at the centre of the megatrends in 2013 and beyond. These trends are: 1. Internet of Everything: About 2.5 billion people world over and 37 billion things are expected to connect to the Internet by 2020. Ninety nine per cent of physical objects are currently unconnected and once they join the network we expect a whole new connected world to be formed. Cisco terms this transition as the 'Internet of Everything', and believes it will drive the next wave of business innovation, productivity and customer engagement for years to come. 2. Mobile device battle and mobile applications: Mobile devices will overtake PCs as the most common web access device worldwide. With an increasing number of smart, tech savvy employees, BYOD as a trend will see greater acceptability among organizations. Author is Janesh Moorjani, president- Enterprise and Public Sector, Cisco India.

23 January 2013
CRN: Cisco Plans Geo Expansion into 18 New Cities
Cisco is planning an aggressive geo-expansion strategy in India by expanding its active reach to 18 new tier-2 and tier-3 cities. "Over the past 2-3 years we have expanded our geographical reach in India to 20 cities compared to 6 metros earlier. Now we have planned a strategy to expand to the next level of cities. We have identified 18 such cities where we will expand our partner and market coverage," said Stanimira Koleva, Managing Director, Partner Business Group, Cisco Systems, Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) region.

21 January 2013
CXO Today: There Will Be an Increased Focus on Cloud Datacenter
There's a lot of changes happening in the data center environment in the recent past. In an exclusive interaction with Sohini Bagchi of CXOtoday, Ashok Shenoy, VP, Data Centre and Visualization, Cisco India and SAARC, elucidates the trends that will transform datacenter in the future and how CIOs can effectively migrate their datacenter environment to the cloud. Excerpt:

What according to you are the trends that will transform datacenter in the coming days?

The datacenter in 2013 and beyond is set to undergo a massive transformation. In the past couple of years, the datacenter has moved from traditional and virtualized infrastructure into a service-oriented and cost-efficient environment. Availability of datacenter space is the most critical issue today.

20 January 2013
Melodika.net: Ready for Takeoff: Cisco's Cloud Strategy
One of NASDAQ's best performers, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is considering the development of a personal cloud storage to offer in the global market. With new companies competing with Cisco in various areas of the communication network business, Cisco recently introduced "Videoscape Unity," a video services delivery platform that is designed to redefine video entertainment. This new platform boasts of an intuitive and synchronized multiscreen video screening that allows the consumers to play back their favorite shows and programs. Through a multiscreen cloud digital video recorder (DVR), consumers can access their records on any screen - no matter where they are. In a study conducted by Forrester Research, the number of Americans who are subscribed to personal cloud is expected to increase by 400%, equating to 196 million people over the next five years.

18 January 2013
Hindustan Times: Cisco Acquires Minority Stake in Russia's Parallels
Networking equipment company Cisco Systems Inc has acquired a small stake in Russian software developer Parallels, Parallels said on Thursday. Parallels said in a statement that Cisco has bought about 1 percent of the company and added that the stake sale does not rule out a possible initial public offering of the Russian firm. "We are looking at all possible ways to ensure liquidity options: dividend payouts, IPO, mergers and acquisitions," Parallel's press service said. The price of the deal with Cisco has not been revealed, but Cisco will get a seat on Parallels board of directors, the press service said.

18 January 2013
Business Standard: Cisco Announces New Leadership in India
Cisco introduced Jeff White as President of India & SAARC, assuming leadership for Cisco's sales and operations in the region. White will also take on the role of leader of a new India Board, which comprises senior executives from Cisco's headquarters as well as India and will chart Cisco's continued engagement with one of the largest emerging economies in the world. Reporting to Jaime Valles, President of Cisco in Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, White will partner with Faiyaz Shahpurwala, Senior Vice President , Industry solutions and India Site Leader, to drive innovation and talent in alignment with the national agenda to transform the economy through technology. White will also be working closely with Wim Elfrink, Executive Vice President, industry solutions and Chief Globalization Officer, who is also Cisco's Executive Sponsor for India. Elfrink was one of the primary drivers for Cisco's investments in the Globalisation Centre East in 2007 and was based out of Bangalore until 2011.

17 January 2013
EFY Times: Cisco, NXP Invest in Cohda Wireless to Enable the Connected Car
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) today announced that they have each made an investment in Cohda Wireless to advance intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and car-to-X communications. Cohda Wireless is a leading specialist in wireless communication for automotive safety applications. Today's announcement brings together the expertise of the three organizations to make the Internet of Everything a reality for the automotive industry, creating a safer and more enjoyable driving experience while improving traffic flow.

16 January 2013
Indiainfoline: CES: Cisco Talks Personal TV; Updates its Videoscape Platform
At the 21st Convergence India, Cisco will demonstrate how its solutions are enabling service providers to lead the way with convergence. Cisco works closely with service providers to transition them to experience providers; enabling them to build unique and compelling experience around content, and monetize it in new ways. As India's leading provider of digital TV solutions, Cisco has a wealth of technologies and business models to benefit all sizes of service provider looking to launch a digital TV service for today, and provide the flexibility and framework for future TV innovation. A selection of these technologies and solutions will be showcased as part of the newly launched Videoscape Unity platform at Convergence India on stand C-62, Hall 18 between 16th - 18th January. About Videoscape Unity Cisco created Videoscape Unity to empower service providers to accelerate the delivery of leading edge, immersive video experiences that bring to life their unique brand visions with innovative services and features.

16 January 2013
Information Week: Our Success in the Industry Clearly Points to an Industry Transition: Cisco Data Center SVP, David Yen
Data center virtualization is one of the fastest growing business units for Cisco, globally. Cisco entered the data center market in 2009 and in just three years, has achieved phenomenal growth. In a detailed interview with InformationWeek, David Yen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Data Center Technology Group, Cisco, shares his views on Cisco's data center strategy, emerging technologies such as SDN and the new technologies that will define the data center of tomorrow. For a company that has been traditionally known for its networking expertise, how has Cisco fared in the data center market with UCS? Cisco prides itself on identifying market transitions before they take place. Our entry into the data center through UCS is also an example of this.

09 January 2013
CIOL: Cisco Expands Linksys Wi-Fi Portfolio
Cisco announced the expansion of its Linksys Wi-Fi portfolio with three new 802.11ac powered routers, a new 802.11ac USB adapter, new features and new Wi-Fi apps. Apart from Wi-Fi connectivity and in-house Wi-Fi coverage, the new routers, AC1200, AC1600 and AC1750, will also offer new tools for home network monitoring and control, and new mobile apps. Linksys AC 1750 HD video Pro, EA6700 - The most powerful Smart Wi-Fi Router in the Linksys portfolio, the AC1750 is designed for 10 or more connected devices and streaming HD in the home. The dual-band AC1750 delivers Wi-Fi speeds up to 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and up to 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band.

09 January 2013
Silicon India: 10 Unimaginable Facts on How the Internet Really Works
Internet has grown into another world where everything is as easy as clicking few buttons or just gliding tip of your finger on smooth screens- be it calls, messages, social connections, information, movies, music, millions of apps, or shopping. As Cisco predicts, by 2016 the data centers will be sending 1.3 zettabytes over internet every year. That's the equivalent of sending all movies ever made across the Internet every 3 minutes.

08 January 2013
ComputerWorld.in: Cisco Working to Fix Broken Patch for VoIP Phones
Cisco Systems plans to release a new patch for a vulnerability in its VoIP phones after the first patch did not fix the problem, which could allow an attacker to eavesdrop on conversations. The vulnerability is one of several discovered by Ang Cui, a doctoral candidate, and computer science professor Salvatore Stolfo, both of Columbia University's engineering department. Cisco issued a patch, but it did not fix the problem. A spokesman said Tuesday that Cisco has its A-Team working on mitigations and a permanent patch. The company plans to issue a security advisory and a detailed mitigation document later this week, he said.

07 January 2013
Information Week: Leading Tech Analyst Publishes Full 2013 Outlook, Including Special Updates on Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Qualcomm, Cisco Systems, and TriQuint Semiconductor
Next Inning Technology Research, an online investment newsletter focused on technology stocks, has published updated outlooks on Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), and TriQuint Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TQNT)… Cisco: McWilliams was quick to advise Next Inning readers that Wall Street was wrong when it pushed Cisco's price under $15 in July and that it should be viewed as a buying opportunity. With Cisco shares well off those lows, does McWilliams believe the stock is still trading at an attractive price? Is Cisco poised for above-trend growth in 2013?

07 January 2013
CRN: Partners and Priorities: Cisco's Channel Chief Talks to CRN
As Bruce Klein succeeded Keith Goodwin atop Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO), Cisco, a few months ago, partners told CRN they wanted continuity and consistency: two hallmarks of what remains one of the industry's most highly regarded channel programs. To hear Klein tell it, that's exactly what partners are going to get, along with a continued evolution that aligns Cisco's tens of thousands of solution providers and integrators with priorities in cloud, data center, video and software-defined networking.

07 January 2013
CRN: Partners and Priorities: Cisco's Channel Chief Talks to CRN
As Bruce Klein succeeded Keith Goodwin atop Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO), Cisco, a few months ago, partners told CRN they wanted continuity and consistency: two hallmarks of what remains one of the industry's most highly regarded channel programs. To hear Klein tell it, that's exactly what partners are going to get, along with a continued evolution that aligns Cisco's tens of thousands of solution providers and integrators with priorities in cloud, data center, video and software-defined networking.

04 January 2013
The Financial Express: Cisco Likely to Name Jeff White as New Head for India Ops
Globalnet-working giant Cisco is expected to name Jeff White as its new head for the India operations replacing Naresh Wadhwa who has left the company, sources told FE. White, currently vice-president of Cisco's service provider business for Asia Pacific, Japan and China will take over as president and country manager, India and Saarc. The likely change will actually see Cisco bringing back an expatriate to head the India operations after a long period of time. White has held varied roles within the technology company in areas such as sales & channels and strategic accounts. When contacted by FS, a spokesperson from Cisco confirmed Wadhwa's exit from the company but did not comment on who will succeed him. Wadhwa, who joined Cisco, India in January 1998, has served in several roles. Prior to his leadership position as the India and Saarc head in 2007, he was based in Hong Kong for four years as part of an APAC leadership team. During that period he took on various key positions includ-ing the company's foray into new markets.

03 January 2013
Biztech 2: Security Appliance Mkt Growth Continues to Slow in 3Q12: IDC
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker, both factory revenue and unit shipments grew in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12) compared to the previous year. Worldwide factory revenue was up 5.7 percent year over year to just over $2.0 billion, as shipments increased 1.0 percent to 499,022 units. In the previous quarter, factory revenue growth was 6.6 percent and unit growth was 5.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011. Cisco continues to lead the overall security appliance market with 16.2 percent share in factory revenue for the third quarter, but this was down from 17.3 percent in the prior year period. Check Point held the number 2 spot with 12.8 percent share for the quarter as revenue increased 12.8 percent compared to the third quarter of 2011. Fortinet saw the largest growth among the top five vendors at 17.2 percent. The share of Others increased primarily due to strong quarters from Palo Alto Networks and Sourcefire.

03 January 2013
CIO: Technologies to Watch 2013: Cisco products, More Maturity for SDNs in 2013
There was a lot of news and hype swirling around Software-Defined Networking in 2012, so what's on tap for 2013? Plenty. Significant advances are in store for SDNs this year, leading to even more in 2014…"2013 is going to be huge for deployments,& says David Ward, chief architect and CTO of Cisco's Service Provider division. "We have a lot in the pipeline that's going to come out" across our enterprise, data center, cloud, mobility and WAN service provider product lines. Besides working to implement onePK across its operating systems, Cisco has been bulking up the orchestration capabilities of a programmable onePK environment, making a few acquisitions in 2012 to support that effort. The goal, Ward says, is to simplify IT operations for Cisco's varied customer sets.

02 January 2013
The Economic Times: Anti-Virus Products Not Good Enough to Beat Computer Viruses
The anti-virus industry has a dirty little secret: Its products are often not very good at stopping viruses. Consumers and businesses spend billions of dollars every year on anti-virus software. But these programmes rarely, if ever, block freshly-minted computer viruses, experts say, because the virus creators move too quickly. That is prompting start-ups and other companies to get creative about new approaches to computer security. &The bad guys are always trying to be a step ahead,& said Matthew D Howard, a venture capitalist at Norwest Venture Partners who previously set up the security strategy at Cisco Systems. "And it doesn't take a lot to be a step ahead." Computer viruses used to be the domain of digital mischief-makers. But in the mid-2000s, when criminals discovered that malicious software could be profitable, the number of new viruses began to grow exponentially. In 2000, there were fewer than one million new strains of malware, most of them the work of amateurs. By 2010, there were 49 million new strains, according to AV-Test, a German research institute that tests anti-virus products. The anti-virus industry has grown as well, but experts say it is falling behind. By the time its products are able to block new viruses, it is often too late. The bad guys have had their fun, siphoning out a company's trade secrets, erasing data or emptying a consumer's bank account.

02 January 2013
The Hindu Business Line: Top Tech Trends in 2012
Big Data - Every IT event, seminar and conference had Big Data as the buzzword. With the amount of data generated by various systems reaching huge proportions, everyone is looking into how best to store this data and analyse it to create more efficiencies. From Silicon Valley to Davos to New Delhi, Big Data is being talked about as the next big thing in IT. Device Size- When it comes to smartphones and tablets, device makers are still grappling with the perfect size. While Apple moved from a 3.5 inch screen to a 4 inch screen for its iPhone5, it launched a smaller version of its iPad tablet - Mini. Samsung on the other hand increased stretched the screen size of Galaxy Note 2 to 5.5 inches… Smartphone Addiction- Mobile users are increasingly getting addicted to their phones. A surevy done by Cisco found out that in India, 70 percent of respondents compulsively check their smartphones for updates. Of those, 42 percent said they would feel anxious if they couldn't check their smartphones and 71 percent wish they didn't feel so compelled, but they like to stay connected.

02 January 2013
VAR India: Cisco's Priority is its Partners!!!
The Networking giant Cisco, has once again taken a step ahead in showing its commitment towards its Partners by making the Partners the centre of attraction in its second edition of Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) Partner Led Network 2012 event in Bangkok, Thailand. From all over the region around 300 Partners participated in the event… Cisco believes that mobility and cloud will see the shift in the market to services and this will drive demand for services… Cisco has recently announced Partner Plus in India. A new global channel program targeting mid-sized customers, partners who are participants in the program receives increased preference, investment and support in the form of business accelerators. VARINDIA talked to Andrew Sage, to know the latest from Cisco. Excerpts from the interview.