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Cisco India innovations get global traction

Largest non-US centre recently won top prize for an innovation
Last Updated 24 February 2015, 17:10 IST

 Cisco India, a division of the $47.14-billion revenue Silicon Valley-based networking solutions giant, has made a mark with reverse innovation and engagement with startups in the country.

Cisco India President (Engineering and Site Leader) Amit Phadnis told Deccan Herald the company has transformed from a cost-effective operational solutions provider to a force of innovation shaping market trends.

“Even though Cisco started its journey in India in 1995 with about 10 engineers, driven by product mindsets and technology excellence, the centre has started executing large engineering product development activities for global markets,” he said.

With an employee strength of 11,000, which includes 6,500 engineers, and 900-plus filed patents  in 20 years, Cisco India has become the company’s largest global development centre outside the US.

“Today, Cisco India has capabilities to conceptualise and innovate based on market trends and customer requirements. When we design products in India, we mainly design for footprint, energy consumption and scalability which not only meets the requirements of emerging countries like India, but end up being attractive and relevant globally. Our India-designed products gain tremendous traction in developed markets as well,” said Phadnis.

Cisco annually invests $5.9 billion in research and development (R&D) worldwide. Products like the ASR 920-O, ISR 800M, and MDS 9250i developed in India have won laurels. “A recent innovation from India which won wide recognition was the autonomic networking solution.

It won the Pioneer award, Cisco’s highest company-wide recognition of engineering innovation,” he said. Of the $250-million global fund for startups, Cisco India got $40 million under the India Innovation theme for early stage startups in 2014.

“We have evolved our investment focus, from business unit (BU) to venture capital (VC) style investments made under various themes, known as ‘Thematic investments’. We focus mainly on IoT (internet of things), connected mobility, Big Data, silicon technologies, storage and content technologies,” said Phadnis.

“Our aim is to learn the market, know the technology trends, and integrate with Cisco’s talent pool. We have invested in 25-plus companies till date in India. Here we offer them market access and technology collaboration,” he said.

Cisco India has invested in companies like Mobstac (a Bengaluru-based firm which offers mobile publishing solutions), Covacsis (a Mumbai-based enterprise software provider) and Ineda (a Hyderabad- and California- based developer of IP chips for wearable and IoT markets).

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(Published 24 February 2015, 17:10 IST)

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