TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL - April 9, 1997 - Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader innetworking for the Internet, has opened a development centre in Israel tosatisfy the growing potential in the global marketplace for its networkingsolutions aimed at large corporations, service providers andsmall-to-medium-sized businesses. Based in Natanya, the new centre will beheaded by Mr. Michael Laor, who will be working closely together with Cisco'sNear East office managed by Mr. Joseph Gal.
The development centre, which was officially opened today by Mr. JamesRichardson, president, Cisco EMEAAN (Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia, NewZealand), will operate as an extension to the engineering facilities of theorganisation's headquarters in San Jose, California. One of its first prioritieswill be to support Cisco's push into gigabit switching and routing technology.
"Cisco has chosen Israel as the ideal location for this centre in recognition ofthe booming local engineering talent and experience in networking, hardware andsoftware product development", said Mr. Richardson. "The rapid growth of the chipdesign industry in Israel in the last few years has proven the commitment of thiscountry to be a leader rather than a follower in the IT market. We believe thatour expanded operations in Israel will contribute significantly to themaintenance of Cisco's leadership position in the networking market."
Expanding Marketing efforts in Israel
At the same time, Cisco is announcing the expansion of its sales operations inIsrael with the appointment of a new distributor, AccessCom Ltd. AccessCom isCisco's first two-tier distributor in Israel and will focus on exploiting thegrowing opportunities in the small-to-medium-sized market.
As a result of its partnership with silver-certified partner Netcom, and morerecently with Motorola ISG as well, Cisco has already managed to gain 75% of thenetworking market in Israel since 1994. Vertical markets in which Cisco has beenparticularly successful include government (especially the Armed Forces),enabling better customer service through a faster processing of client needs; andtelecommunications for faster information exchange.
According to Joseph Gal: "With the deregulation in telecommunications and activeinvolvement in the development of leading-edge technologies, Israel has become asignificant market in the Near East. Israeli organisations are looking to buildnetworks that can help them deliver business advantage. In doing so, they will beable to support their economical development, and will allow them to compete at aglobal level."
Mr. Richardson added, "We have consistently said that Cisco will undertake aprogramme of European expansion into appropriate markets. Israel has greatpotential for the implementation of Cisco technology. Working with our partners,we aim to maintain our leadership position in the Israeli market by providingthe most reliable and advance networking solutions and offering a vision for thefuture.
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