San Jose, California -- March 12, 1998 - Cisco Systems is pleased to host and welcome Russias Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, and Vice President Gore to todays roundtable discussion with Silicon Valley business leaders.
Todays gathering highlights the importance of Internet technology in todays global economy. We believe we are in the early stages of an Internet Revolution, a global phenomenon very similar to the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago. We believe this Internet Revolution will change the way people work, live, play and learn in ways we are just beginning to imagine. This Internet Revolution also will help shape the destiny of people, companies, and countries in the new Internet economy.
Todays Internet is already being re-made for the future. A next-generation Internet is being built, extending faster broadband networks from businesses to the home. This build-out creates many new opportunities for economic growth. This new Internet will be up to 100 times faster, and deliver a mix of integrated data/voice/video services. To help deploy this new Internet, Russia has a wealth of technical expertise and many skilled professionals in computer-related fields. These will be valuable resources as Russia seeks its own place in the Internet Revolution and the world economy. Cisco Systems is working with government and business leaders in Russia in several areas using Internet technologies to create a new communications infrastructure that will enable long-term economic growth. Those efforts include:
- helping railways leverage their rights-of-way into conduits for communications lines
- working with financial institutions to design and install networks that will improve the efficiency and speed of financial transactions
- collaborating with Rostelcom, the largest telecommunications provider in Russia, on upgrading its network to digital status
- demonstrating the effectiveness of distance learning
- creating training programs to increase the number of skilled networking professionals able to build and operate new communication networks
Building out the new Internet -- capable of carrying voice, data and video traffic all at once -- will enable beneficial applications such as distance learning and telemedicine, which will be very beneficial to Russia, a nation with a large population spread across a large land mass.
Additional Information
Cisco Systems has had an office in Russia since late 1995. Currently, the office has about 20 employees; all but three are Russian nationals. Cisco does not release specific revenues by country, but the companys volume of business in Russia has been growing in the high double digits year over year. For more information about Cisco international operations, Ciscos award-winning web site, Cisco Connection Online, is available in Russian at www.cisco.com/russian/ (Cyrillic character-recognition software required).
Cisco Systems
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