The Hindu Business Line : Cisco keen on IP telephony

CISCO Capital, the investment arm of Cisco Systems, is holding parleys with several Indian companies on the possibility of making investments in their operations possibly through providing networking infrastructure.

The Country Manager, ITS (information technology services), Cisco Systems India, Mr B. Ashok, said that the operations of the investment arm of Cisco Systems was launched about two months ago with the objective of investing in technology companies.

Addressing a press conference here today with Mr Sunil Lalvani, Business Development Manager-ITS, India and SAARC, Mr Ashok, said the company was eyeing the growing Internet Protocol (IP) based telephony market in the country. It is projected to grow rapidly with the roll-out of broadband services.

The company is in talks with several telecom carriers to reach out IP telephony solutions.

Mr Lalvani said that about 3 million IP telephones have been shipped across the world so far. and the data reflect that after the millionth phone, the time taken to add additional million is getting shorter, as reflected from one million new additions in last eight months.

Significantly, Cisco has shipped 50,000 IP telephones in India and plans to line up yet another innovative product that integrates video capability by early next year.