Cisco expects a lot out of India.
The network giant today it would be investing another $100 million to its venture investment in the country and said up to 20% of its “top talent” will work there in the next four years. And by the way, including India, China the company expects 60-70% growth from such emerging countries.
“I will be disappointed if growth in India over the next two to three years is less than 30%’ chairman and chief executive John Chambers said in a statement. Chambers said the company is well on track for its $1.1 billion investment plans, announced in 2005, and on tripling its headcount in the country. Cisco currently employs over 3,000 people in India. In 2005, Cisco dropped $100 million in venture funding as part of its overall $1.1 billion investment plan for India.
Chambers made the announcement as the company unveiled its state-of-the-art Globalization Centre East (GCE) which will house more than 10,000 professionals by the year 2010. Chambers said that the development center would have 20% of the company’s top talent in the next three to four years to support the growth of its global business.
India’s impact on Cisco will be huge, so much so that Cisco’s country manager Naresh B. Wadhwa, said in a recent interview: “By 2010, 5% of our global revenues will come from India.”IDC says Cisco has a 86% share of the routers and switches market in India, equipment that account for more than 60% of Cisco India’s revenue according to Network World’s Cisco Subnet blog. Cisco India has its sights set on the country’s WiMAX market, and Navini Network – the WiMAX vendor Cisco bought this month has a development center in Bangalore.
In related news Cisco said it was investing $10 million in India’s Satyam Computer Services to healthcare management applications.
Meanwhile to help increase the worldwide availability of network talent, Cisco announced localized versions of the curriculum and exams for its popular CCNA and CCENT certification programs. Both the entry-level CCENT and associate-level CCNA certifications focus on the foundational skills needed to install, operate and support converged networks.
Translated versions of the exams associated with the CCNA and CCENT certifications are scheduled to be released on the following dates: Japanese: Dec. 1, 2007; Simplified Chinese: Dec. 8, 2007; Spanish: Dec. 28, 2007; Russian: Jan. 11, 2008. Additionally, Pearson VUE, Cisco’s primary exam delivery partner, will add new testing facilities to accommodate growing regional demand. Since January, Pearson VUE has activated 69 testing facilities in mainland China, bringing the total number of test centers in the country to 211. Pearson VUE also has added 39 test centers in Latin America during 2007, for a total of 270 sites. Finally, Pearson VUE has added a dozen test centers within the Russian Federation during the past 10 months, for a total of 71 sites, the company said in a statement.
