SAN JOSE, Calif., August 10, 2005 - Business and technology leaders' say the most critical factor in their company's success is innovation - far outweighing wage and tax issues - according to the Cisco Innovation 2005 Study. The poll of 635 United States information technology (IT) and business leaders also found that emerging technologies such as location technologies and data storage capabilities are fast becoming the most important innovations driving future business success. The polling was conducted by the independent research firm Momentum Research Group.

The respondents to the Cisco study strongly support the modernizing of the U.S. health-care system. Most agreed that family medicine should be the first place to begin modernizing health-care.

"The economic benefits of innovation, which include greater productivity and leadership in new markets, are what will ensure that global economies maintain their competitive edge," said Cisco President and CEO John Chambers. "As countries, companies and even individuals make choices about where to invest, these results underscore the role innovation has in driving global competitiveness at all levels within an economy, from the government to education to private business."

This week, Cisco is sponsoring a series of events focusing on innovation. Today Cisco will host a roundtable discussion about the impact of virtuality and innovation within various industries including education and healthcare. The discussion will include John Chambers and Bob Greifeld, CEO of The NASDAQ Stock Market, other industry CEO's and media. In addition, Cisco is hosting the first virtual NASDAQ opening and closing bell ceremonies from its San Jose headquarters. This is the first time in NASDAQ's 34-year history that the bell will be rung outside of New York.

Key findings from the Cisco Innovation 2005 Study include:

• Innovation is clearly the most important factor in business success, according to business and technology leaders. Fifty-three percent cited it as having the biggest impact on competitiveness, while increasing employee education and skill levels was favored by 26 percent. Reducing wages (14 percent) and cutting corporate taxes (7 percent) were not seen as strong drivers of competitiveness.
• Cutting-edge technologies are clearly on the radar screen of business and technology leaders. While adding communications capability to a product or service was the most likely desired innovation at 32 percent, it was closely followed by location technology (24 percent) and data storage (22 percent). This indicates the emerging realization of what radio frequency identification (RFID) and global positioning satellite (GPS) technology will have on the future competitiveness of businesses.
• Our nation's health-care system is in need of fixing. The overwhelming majority of business and technology leaders surveyed want to focus on modernizing and fixing the healthcare system, not on the medicines and doctors. Healthcare was identified as the economic sector most in need of innovation, by 53 percent of respondents. And just over 70 percent of those polled say that improving the system is the priority, not new medicines and treatments. Where and how to fix it? Start with family medicine (49 percent), and then focus on specialists (21 percent) and long-term care (21 percent).

Polling for the Cisco Innovation 2005 Study was conducted from July 8 to July 18, 2005. A total of 635 business decision-makers were interviewed for the study, including 93 IT leaders. The poll had a margin of error of 3.9% percent.

The virtuality roundtable discussion event is available via Webcast at: http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=28103&script=1010&item_id=1112472

A Podcast of the discussion will also be available 24 hours after the event and can be accessed at: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2005/hd_080505.html

For more information about the NASDAQ virtual market open at Cisco including event photographs, and a summary of the poll findings, please visit http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2005/hd_080505.html.