HANOI, Vietnam -- 14 November 2000 -- Survival in the New Internet Economy is all about managing the rapid pace of change and building a workforce that is competent in key technology areas such as networking. Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced the appointment of the Saigon Center of Techniques and Technology (CTT), a center within the University of Natural Science as the first Regional Cisco Networking Academy in the country.
The Cisco Networking Academy Program will equip young Vietnamese with the skills and knowledge to build computer networks and help the country not only to develop state-of-the art communications infrastructure but also contribute to the growth of a strong, local Internet industry.
"With the increasingly rapid development of telecommunication networks, Internet and the rising demand for skills to calculate and process the information, we need many networking experts to design, implement and maintain anything from simple to complex networks. Currently, Vietnam as well as the world are facing a shortage of networking skills as well as related curriculum, books and laboratories," said Professor Nguyen Huu Anh, Chairman, of Dept. of Math & Computer Sciences, National University of Ho Chi Minh. "In our department, we plan to cooperate with Saigon CTT to implement the Cisco Networking Academy program and train more students in Maths and Applied Informatics. This cooperation helps us in implementing a new education program to meet the short-term as well as the long- term demand for networking skills."
"The Cisco Networking Academy program is necessary for both Internet service providers and end- users in Vietnam while Cisco equipment has proven to be of the highest quality in Vietnam," said Vu Hoang Lien, Director of Vietnam Datacommunication company. "This program will not only decrease the training costs, it will increase the number of highly-trained, networking professionals who will contribute to building the telecommunications infrastructure, and form the foundation for the intellectual economy based on our Party and Government's policy. It also creates favourable conditions for cooperation, technology transfer, research development and global integration."
"We are in a period of tremendous flux where the fast will beat the slow and where IT and Internet skills has become a crucial advantage. Cisco developed the Networking Academy program precisely to alleviate the world's shortage of IT talent and empower the next generation with the tools to succeed in the Internet Economy," said Mr. Gary Jackson, Vice President, Asia Operations, Cisco Systems. "We are pleased to be able to work with an educational institution as prestigious as Saigon CTT, and to have the support of the Vietnam government behind the program."
He added that the fundamental drivers that are causing change to happen faster today - globalization, deregulation and the Internet - are creating new demands on countries, businesses and individuals and call for new, radical approaches.
"In the telecommunications industry for example, the forces of globalization, deregulation and the rapid growth of Internet traffic is causing a major shift away from traditional, bandwidth-constrained circuit-switched networks to Internet Protocol (IP) based, bandwidth unlimited packet networks. Service Providers, in the face of competition from global players and non-traditional communications companies and demands from customers for more value-added services, are responding by building IP networks that integrate data, voice and video traffic and offer even more services than before," said Jackson.
This is an area where Cisco Systems has been actively focusing on, developing innovative technologies and solutions for Service Providers such as IP+Optical, Broadband and Voice over IP that will help them build the infrastructure required in the Internet Economy. Some of the Service Providers that Cisco is working with in the region include China Telecom, Korea Telecom, PLDT, SingTel, Telstra and TOT.
The rapid growth in the Internet and the shift in the telecommunications infrastructure to IP is also creating a huge demand in Internet and networking related skills which is not being met right now. Market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC) estimates this shortfall of networking professionals to be at least 660,000 this year alone, a situation that is being eased by the Cisco Networking Academy program.
Saigon CTT, as a Regional Academy will deliver the Networking Academy curriculum to its own students as well as recruit, train and support 10 Local Academies. Started about three years ago, the Cisco Networking Academy Program, which is in over 5,500 educational institutions in 88 countries around the world, currently has over 140,000 students enrolled in the program.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at www.cisco.com.
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