The Hindu Business Line : All forms of communications shifting to network: Cisco chief

For the $30-billion Cisco Inc, which makes networks work seamlessly, these continue to be exciting times. As we are headed to converged networks, all communication is seen to be migrating to the network. `Networking' seems to be the message.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cisco, Mr John Chambers, and an icon in the IT industry, is visiting India this week to take stock of the market here, which is doing extremely well for Cisco. In an email interview, he provides insights into the networking marketplace and Cisco's strategy. Excerpts.

What are Cisco plans? How do you envision Cisco in the future?

All forms of communication and IT are migrating to the network. The network is what enables how we connect, communicate and collaborate whether we are at work or at home. We anticipated this market transition 5-7 years ago and built our strategy and execution around capturing this market transition.

When people ask why I believe in the future of our company and our industry, the answer is not based on technology alone, but on what we hear from business and government leaders from around the world. They clearly understand the productivity opportunities and the associated standard of living implications that Internet business solutions provide. In fact, they now see what Cisco can offer in terms of the ability to drive business process change. There are two reasons for this: first, because of how we use the network to gain productivity, and second, because we help our partners and customers utilise the network for their own productivity. As dramatic changes occur in the marketplace, Cisco focuses its technology innovation on where the market is going, not where it has been.

Service Provider business has been a big focus area for Cisco in the last few years. What is the strategy to compete with the traditional SP competitors?

Service providers are an extremely important customer segment for Cisco. We believe we can work closely with our service provider partners in four key ways - to build more efficient networks as they migrate to an open, IP-based infrastructure, to deploy new innovative services that help increase revenue and customer loyalty, to accelerate demand by connecting end-user customers to the providers' services, and to optimise their business in both back office and customer facing operations for better return on investment.

For service providers, the provision of basic connectivity is just the beginning of the networking opportunity. For example, in terms of bandwidth requirements and increased network traffic volume, a half hour of video download equals a year and a half of normal e-mail traffic.

There are many exciting opportunities for service providers in the area of home networking, storage area networking, optical, data, voice, video integration, wireless, mobility and security, just to name a few. The speed, volume and way in which we communicate will evolve dramatically over the next decade. In many ways, we are just getting started, and both the possibilities and opportunities for service providers are almost endless.

Moreover, Cisco invests 50 per cent of its R&D budget in the service provider market. Service provider networks are no longer just infrastructure or bandwidth, but are emerging as a secure platform for delivering the customised experience that 21st century end-users expect. The basis for the convergence of data, voice, video and mobile communications systems is to offer a secure integrated architecture with tightly coupled applications, networks and devices. With our architectural approach, our strong industry partnerships, and our focus on IP, we feel we are well positioned in the market.

How is the Service Provider industry evolving globally and in India?

The service provider industry is undergoing immense transformation from its voice-only days and the role of data services has never been more important for service providers - both wireless and wireline. Today, service providers are offering a wide variety of services to drive bottom-line profits and we believe that this will continue into the future.

We are seeing an increased acceptance of `converged' networks at the core from service providers. With IP enabled - Next Generation Networks, such as MPLS (multi protocol label switching), service providers are enhancing their service offerings to customers and are in turn seeing an increase to their bottom line.

Today, all major telecommunications companies world-wide are adopting IP/MPLS as their foundation for next-generation networks.

Beyond that, each segment of the industry is pursuing unique approaches to address the market. For example, traditional phone companies are deploying fibre optic networks closer to the "curb" - bringing the potential for much higher speed broadband access to many residential and business customers. At the same time, they are also expanding the deployment of Metro Ethernet, which makes it possible to run LAN-like communications over a much wider area creating new services opportunities like managed services and interactive entertainment among others.

How has Cisco performed in the service provider segment in India?

Our service provider business in India is one of our fastest growing areas. We have relationships with Bharti, Reliance, BSNL and Tata to offer IP-based next generation network services.

We are very committed to our partners as they migrate to an open IP-based infrastructure and look for new ways to drive revenue streams.

Cisco has deployed India's largest broadband metro ethernet for Tata VSNL that will allow them to provide data, voice and video services across eight cities, in the first phase. This is just one example of how we are playing a role in helping service providers to accelerate the future of telecommunications. The upside is that consumers and businesses benefit from these new service offerings. It is not just taking things to the next level, but it is an entirely different game.