ACAPULCO, Mexico, Oct. 6, 2010 - Cisco today announced the opening of a Center of Innovation (CoI), in Mexico City to integrate new technical solutions specially tailored for the business needs of its clients in Mexico.
With an initial investment of $2 million, this is the first Center of Innovation outside San Jose, Calif., and Bangalore, India, the two main campuses of Cisco worldwide. The Center of Innovation in Mexico D.F. uses Cisco® technology and services and integrates them with Cisco's ecosystem of partners (hardware and software developers, consultants, and channel partners) to deliver tailored solutions to solve business problems, improve business processes and foster innovation.
The Center of Innovation will support Cisco's global Smart+Connected Communities efforts, which aim to implement Cisco technologies via a service-delivery platform to enhance access to Internet-based services, spur economic development, and reduce the cost of government operations.
The work of the Center of Innovation revolves around three main processes. The first identifies market needs and, based on them, generates business cases to customize replicable solutions. In a second stage, the center engineers the proof of concept that enables the model to be built and showcased. And finally, the Center of Innovation drafts a go-to-market strategy to deliver the solution to clients in a sustainable manner.
The Center of Innovation in Mexico D.F. is initially working in two main areas for Mexico and the region: safety and security, and a health care solution. Additional modules will be integrated in the future, including education.
Main solutions available from the Center of Innovation
- Emergency Response System: The open platform for Cisco security solutions shows that the participation of partners can help customers in the public and private sectors to protect the population and optimize the resources used to respond to situations, improving precision and timeliness. This is achieved through the convergence of security systems such as sensors, video surveillance, telephone, and radios, with systems integrated on a common Internet Protocol platform. Once these systems are integrated, the response of organizations to critical situations will be more appropriate, because they will have the information at the necessary time and place, and in a format that facilitates the operation.
- Health Care: The shortage of medical specialists in certain regions, the rising costs of health care, and the growing proportion of people with chronic diseases and the infirmities of old age are some of the challenges faced by health care institutions. Using the network as a platform, Cisco HealthPresenceTM solutions combine high-definition video, audio and clinical information for patients to increase the efficiency of medical professionals and their organizations; make available health care to more people; improve patient experience; and increase the availability and flow of information.
- Education: Collaboration between students and teachers is becoming ever more important. The Cisco Center of Innovation, with its ecosystem of partners, sets out proposals for schools and educational institutions to expand their outreach to students at any time and in any place with an interactive system combining audio- and video-based virtual meeting technology in a solution for distance education. The education solution comprises Cisco collaboration solutions, security, virtual classrooms, video and multimedia elements, and components for building management and security at educational institutions.
Supporting quotes:
Rogelio Velasco, managing director, Cisco Mexico
"The Cisco Center of Innovation in Mexico was created to drive the development of solutions that will enable our channel partners to better satisfy customer needs. The customizations will integrate Cisco's products and services, as well as products and services from other ecosystem partners, with innovative solutions for the Mexican market."
Rebecca McIntyre, director, Cisco Services Organization
"The Center of Innovation is an initiative that enables Cisco to provide the local market with access to world-class customized vertical solutions in a tangible manner. The ultimate objective is country transformation through technology, solving real needs to foster economic development and to improve the quality of life for the Mexican population."
