Cisco Systems announces strategic focus on Saudi Arabia

Kingdom elevated to "Country A" status and Dr. Badr Al Badr, General Manager to report directly to the VP of MEA

Riyadh, October 16, 2005 – Cisco Systems has renewed its focus on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by aligning its business priorities in the Kingdom with the market's growing demand for information technology solutions. The move forms part of Cisco's strategy in aligning the activities in the kingdom with the new Emerging Markets Theatre structure announced recently.

In a bid to leverage the growth acceleration of the past 12 months in the county and focus on increased customer interaction as a platform for regional long term growth strategy, Cisco Systems' General Manager, Dr. Badr Al Badr will report directly to the Vice President of Middle East and Africa. This step will reinforce Cisco's strong local presence, align the necessary resources and further create value-add to its customer.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the central pillar to Cisco's growth potential in the Middle East region and underpins our strategy of increased customer focus and consolidation of existing client base," said Mark De Simone, Vice President for Middle East and Africa . "Through the realignment of Cisco's KSA activities in the Middle East and Africa theatre, we aim to push forward by further continuing to reinforce our strong local presence matched with unique skill sets and resources in order to increase productivity and optimize performance."

The Emerging Market Theatre will bring together a new common corporate approach by Cisco for a set of regions, covering Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Russia and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Eastern Europe .

"All emerging markets are high growth markets for Cisco in the coming years, but Middle East and Africa remains the region with the highest growth potential.  Cisco is the first company to take a bold step by investing now and create demand in its favor as well as accelerate growth for years to come.  Creating a theatre devoted to these markets will enable Cisco to satisfy unique local market requirements with tailored, yet scaleable go-to-market models.  The competitive challenges in these markets can be significantly different.  This approach makes us more focused with our investments and processes versus key competitors in each category," he added.

Over the past three years, Cisco Systems' business has been organized into five theatres: U.S. , Americas International, Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific and Japan . While the traditional markets continue to produce significant growth for Cisco Systems, the company is eyeing further growth opportunities in emerging markets.