Cisco expands in India with WiPro alliance

Broadens arrangement with integrator Wipro

Cisco today will announce a strategic alliance with Indian integrator Wipro to jointly develop networked IT systems for global markets.

Initially, the two companies will focus on penetrating emerging markets in India, the Middle East and Africa. Europe and the rest of the world will follow, said Srini Srinivasan, director of strategic alliances for Cisco.

The companies will also establish in November the Cisco Solution Centre at the Wipro campus in Bangalore, India, to develop and demonstrate systems and integration services for specific vertical markets. Wipro will invest in developing competencies in Cisco’s products and services through its Cisco Solution Centre, Cisco said.

Initial vertical market targets include financial services and insurance, as well as construction, Srinivasan said. In the future, Cisco and Wipro will collaborate on systems for healthcare, retail and transportation.

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Cisco today will announce a strategic alliance with Indian integrator Wipro to jointly develop networked IT systems for global markets.

Initially, the two companies will focus on penetrating emerging markets in India, the Middle East and Africa. Europe and the rest of the world will follow, said Srini Srinivasan, director of strategic alliances for Cisco.

The companies will also establish in November the Cisco Solution Centre at the Wipro campus in Bangalore, India, to develop and demonstrate systems and integration services for specific vertical markets. Wipro will invest in developing competencies in Cisco’s products and services through its Cisco Solution Centre, Cisco said.

Initial vertical market targets include financial services and insurance, as well as construction, Srinivasan said. In the future, Cisco and Wipro will collaborate on systems for healthcare, retail and transportation.

The arrangement builds upon a 12-year resale relationship between Cisco and Wipro in India, Srinivasan said. Cisco did not disclose the financial terms of this deeper relationship but the company this week injected another $100 million into the region on top of its initial $100 million investment in 2005 as part of an overall $1 billion investment in India.

Cisco also this week opened a campus in Bangalore – called the Globalisation Centre East – and allied with Satyam Computer Services to develop integrated healthcare management systems and offer them globally for that vertical market.
Cisco is also engaged with IBM and Accenture in India and the Middle East, and has a channel arrangement with Dimension Data in Africa, Srinivasan said. But Wipro represents Cisco’s “key insertion point” into the Middle Eastern and African emerging markets, he said.

“Wipro is the big one,” Srinivasan said.

Wipro will offer systems based on Cisco products and services on a global basis. Cisco will also become the preferred networking partner for Wipro’s portfolio of services, including outsourcing, managed-services and other solutions. Cisco said it will also take advantage of Wipro’s services and business process re-engineering expertise to address new growth opportunities in remote services delivery.

Joint offerings will include Cisco’s products for application networking services, data center, security, telepresence and unified communications.

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