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Seated left to right: Mr Mohamed Al Thawadi. Director BIX; His Excellency Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatallah Al Khalifa, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Minister Responsible for Telecommunications sector, the Kingdom of Bahrain; Mr Duncan Mitchell Senior Vice President Cisco Emerging Central and Executive Sponsor, Cisco Networkers Bahrain; Mr Tarek Ghoul, General Manager, Cisco, Gulf Region

SAKHIR, Bahrain, May 5, 2010 - Cisco has announced that it is holding discussions with the Bahrain Internet Exchange (BIX) on how to help accelerate the kingdom of Bahrain's national development priorities as well as boost its presence in the Gulf region. Cisco will advise BIX on various technology deployments and effective business processes. One of BIX's first priorities will be to reduce the cost of international Internet connectivity in the kingdom, as well as provide high-speed Internet services at a lower cost. BIX also aims to enhance broadband services in the kingdom and further support increasing the availability of local Internet websites for businesses.

As part of its goal to enhance the country's infrastructure, and in line with the country's transformational plan, BIX has also launched two other major initiatives. The first involves the building of the country's cable landing station to connect Bahrain to the new undersea cable that Tata Communications is laying across the Gulf Corporation Countries (GCC). The second initiative is to develop the optical infrastructure of the Bahraini Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) to transform it into a national communications highway.

Highlights / Key Facts:

• BIX is working on a number of projects including the building of an Internet Protocol next-generation network (NGN) and IP Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) core network for integrated network services throughout the kingdom. The objective is to help Bahrain stay at the forefront of technology updates and market transformations while harnessing new trends and translating them into business opportunities for its citizens.
• Beyond their proven routing and switching strengths, Cisco solutions provide service-specific innovations that deliver enhanced video, mobile, and cloud or managed services. These solutions could help to provide a strong foundation for Bahrain's current and future networking needs in the core and data center.
• BIX's primary service is to provide cost-effective, high-volume and high-performance Internet connectivity. These services are designed for companies such as Internet service providers (ISPs) reselling Internet access to end users. BIX connects ISPs to increase local traffic and content, as well as to reduce the cost of purchasing international bandwidth. BIX's policy is to encourage investors to set up ISPs and reduce the barriers of entry into the Bahraini market.

Executive Quotes:

• His Excellency Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatallah Al Khalifa, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, minister responsible for telecommunications sector, the kingdom of Bahrain

"A state-of-the-art next-generation network platform, delivering faster, reliable and cost-effective Internet connectivity, will be key to the next phase of development for the kingdom of Bahrain. It will enable us to attract foreign and local investment that will help build the kingdom into a commercial hub for the Gulf region. This is vital for the country transformation plan, which is well under way."

• Duncan Mitchell, senior vice president, Cisco Emerging Markets East, and executive sponsor, Cisco Networkers 2010, Bahrain

"I would like to recognise Bahrain for its progressive ICT regulatory environment. Technology thrives within the kingdom, and the government clearly understands the fundamental role that ICT plays in continually improving productivity and competitiveness, leading to sustainable economic success and increasing standards of living. Bahrain aims to continue to evolve the business-friendly environment that has been created, further encouraging international organisations to locate their Gulf-based operations in the country."

Links / URLs:

• Emerging Markets RSS Feed:
  http://newsroom.cisco.com/data/syndication/rss2/EmergingMarkets.xml
• Middle East News: 
  http://newsroom.cisco.com/me
• For more details about Cisco IP NGN: Platform for the Connected Life visit:
  http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns537/networking_solutions_solution_category.html#~overview
• For more about Cisco's IPoDWDM technology visit:
  http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/ns341/ns525/ns537/ipodwdm_announcement.html

About The BIX

The Bahrain Internet Exchange (BIX) was established in 2003 by Decree (47) of 2003. The Decree that established the BIX is associated with the Telecommunications Law that was passed in October 2002, and the National Telecommunications Plan that have set forth policies to completely open the Bahrain telecommunications market. For more information visit: http://www.bix.bh

About Cisco

Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in emerging markets is supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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