The Hindu Business Line : Cisco sees 30 pc rise in revenues this year

Cisco Systems Inc, a $28-billion global leader in networking for the Internet, is expecting a 30 per cent revenue growth in India this year over the previous fiscal. Its revenue for fiscal ending March 2006 was around Rs 3,250 crore, according to Mr B. Ashok, Country Manager, IT Services, Cisco Systems (India) Pvt Ltd.

The US-based company's employee strength in India is expected to more than double to around 3,000 in the next three years, he told Business Line.

According to Mr Ashok, revenue growth for Cisco in India comes from key sectors such as telecom, financial services, small and medium-size businesses and IT services. The home sector is also catching for networking solutions, he said.

IP telephony

On Internet Protocol (IP)-based products, Mr Ashok said it took nearly two years for the company to sell 1.78 lakh IP-based telephones. However, every year the company would sell about one lakh IP telephones in India, he said.

"In just over a year Cisco doubled its IT telephone shipments in India. There is a growing acceptance of IP telephones in India. It took some time for the market to realise the potential of IP telephones," he said.

"The future of voice is IP and Cisco will strengthen its technology and solutions expertise by offering solutions that address communication needs of its Indian customers," he added.

Cisco uses IP telephony to transport voice conversations alongside corporate data. Unlike traditional circuit-based analogue phones, IP telephony breaks voice conversations into separate digital packets.

Expansion in Chennai

Cisco expanded its presence in Chennai by inaugurating a new sales centre with 20 employees. The centre's customers include the TVS Group, Sify, Cognizant, Covansys, Ford and Inautix, he said.

The company also plans to launch in Chennai its "Cisco Systems Customer" proof-of-concept lab to provide live demonstrations of the company's products to customers. Cisco has such a lab in Bangalore. The Chennai lab would be scaled-down version of the Bangalore lab and would be functional in the next 2-3 months, said Mr Ashok.

The lab offers testing on all Cisco core technologies, including routing, services, software and switching, he said.

Cisco is focusing a lot on the country's huge SMB sector. "The SMBs are networking like never before. The sector is hot for us," he said.