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 Cisco taps SMBs in TN
With Tamil Nadu itself boasting of at least four distinct clusters - Chennai in the north is known for auto component manufacturing and leather products, Tiruchirappalli in the east for engineering equipment, Coimbatore in the west for hosiery, and Madurai in the south for readymade garments - Cisco will develop domain specific solutions to help SMB customers in each market plan, design and operate business critical networks more efficiently, said Jangoo Dalal, senior vice-president, Cisco Systems (India and SAARC) in
Chennai.
Small-Medium Businesses (SMBs) in India spent $ 17.5 billion on IT and telecom in 2003-04, with expectations to touch $ 34 billion in 2008
(NASSCOM).
In 2004, more than 20,500 medium businesses in India invested almost $ 596 million in various kinds of telecommunication-related technologies. (AMI Partners). Going forward, IP PBX spend (approximately $ 1.23 million at present) shows a very high future growth rate - around 129 per cent CAGR for the next five years.
Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, has drawn up its plans to tap into the country's fast growing SMB in the auto component manufacturing, retail, textile and garment sectors. The company, whose market strategy is broadly defined under Services, Enterprise & SMB, Service Provider & Government, is looking to develop sub-vertical specialisations to penetrate the market.
This initiative is in keeping with Cisco's recently launched SMB campaign to address the growing small business IT spending in the country.
Says Jangoo Dalal, "Propelled by an open economy, sectors such as auto manufacturing, retail, textile and garments are going through some fast-paced changes. SMBs within these sectors are finding an increased need to adopt advanced inter-networking and telecommunication technologies such as VoIP (Internet telephony), lP-based video conferencing and Internet applications to stay competitive. At Cisco we are looking to tailor make solutions that suit the business needs of these verticals, thus customising our approach in every market."
Favourable business conditions have led to the rapid proliferation of regional clusters in the country.
Cisco is also promoting Networking Academies, particularly in educational institutions, Dalal said, adding that 30 such academies were being promoted in Tamil
Nadu.
The organisation will organise industry specific seminars providing access to industry stalwarts from the company's Internet Business Solution Group (a US-based Strategic Executive Council comprising domain gurus) to address the issues facing that particular vertical and the opportunities that abound. Another programme includes the Cisco SMB Support Assistant - a technical service offering providing access to Cisco technical experts, advance hardware replacement and operating system software maintenance. Available through the company's network of channel partners, the programme combines basic setup, diagnostic and troubleshooting assistance to deliver cost-effective support for small to medium-sized businesses.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Information about Cisco can be found at
www.cisco.com For ongoing news, go to
www.newsroom.cisco.com,
Asia Pacific news and information are available at www.cisco.com/asiaDac/news.
R Rangaraj
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