Network provider Cisco launched its first ever mobile showcase last Friday packed with its Internet Protocol (IP) networking technologies which it plans to ship to some 30 cities in the region.
Christened as the “Cisco Express – Network on Wheels” (NoW) the showcase, which is retrofitted in a 40-foot container boasts products, solutions and services from Cisco and its partners including regional sponsors CNA, EMC, Emerson Network Power, Linksys, Panduit and SingTel and country sponsors 3D Networks, Avodaq, Common Town, Comstor, Datacraft, NCS, NEC, NexLabs, Qala and SCS.
Currently these technologies can only be found at the Cisco Briefing Center (CBC) in Singapore so the primary aim behind this initiative according to Cisco is to extend its reach and presence to a wider audience as well as to more vertical industries such as healthcare, public sector, manufacturing, tourism, retail and construction; small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs); resellers; schools; and even consumers.
“The CBC is a fixed demonstration and proof-of-concept laboratory that we use to showcase Cisco’s technologies to our large enterprise and service provider customers. Due to limitations in distance and time, the CBC cannot accommodate all our customers,” said Tom Cheong, Cisco’s Managing Director for Singapore and Brunei.
“The Cisco Express-NoW will bring a piece of the CBC to the doorsteps of our customers throughout the region, help educate and train new resellers, and play a role in the communities it visits.”
Starting from Singapore, the Cisco Express will travel to 30 cities in Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan and expects to meet some 20,000 people by the end of its 12 month time frame.
Cisco told journalists who attended the launch that it has invested close to USD 1 million in this project and will also be tying up with local tertiary institution Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) to enrich the pool of local networking technology talent.
Cisco and NYP said they will work together to groom selected students to develop expertise in information and communications technology (ICT) and gain valuable exposure to different regional cultures as they ready themselves for the global workplace. The students will be trained and mentored by Cisco experts, industry partners and NYP staff and will work on industry solutions and innovations on advanced technologies. The students will work under the CBC in Singapore and also be a part of the regional Cisco Express project team.
“Our students will benefit immensely from the development of solutions and technologies for industry, and from their involvement with the regional CBC. The exposure will better equip them with advanced ICT skills and prepare them for the challenges of the global economy. This project seals yet another resounding effort between NYP and Cisco in building capabilities for industry,” said Edward Ho, Deputy Principal/Development of NYP in a statement.
In addition to Cisco employees and the students from NYP, the Cisco Express-NoW will be staffed by local channel partners and staff and students from Cisco Networking Academy institutions in the country where the Cisco Express-NoW is touring, providing them with practical learning experiences. More than 1,300 schools in the region participate in the Networking Academy program.
Equipped with satellite and mobile Internet connectivity and rapid deployable communications in the container, the Cisco Express-NoW will also provide essential communications services for first responders in the advent of a natural disaster in the vicinity.
“… we want the Cisco Express to be more than just a mobile technology showcase. It will integrate into the communities that it visits. We see the Cisco Express as a vehicle to extend the human network further into more parts of the region,” added Christian Hentschel, Cisco’s Director for Marketing, Commercial and Channels in Asia. |
