NAIROBI, Kenya, September 16, 2008 - Cisco today announced that the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AFRALTI) in Nairobi, Kenya, is to become the second Cisco® Academy Training Center (ATC) in Africa serving the East African region.

AFRALTI, a centre of excellence for telecommunications training for English-speaking countries in Africa, is already an accredited regional Cisco Networking Academy® for Kenya and is supported by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Cisco. Students at the academy spend considerable time in the well-equipped lab performing hands-on activities such as building and testing networks so as to gain insight, skill and experience in network design, configuration and troubleshooting.

Officiating at the launch ceremony held at AFRALTI's headquarters in Nairobi, on 11 September 2008, AFRALTI's director, Mr Vusumuzi Mkhumane, commented: "We have the utmost respect for Cisco Networking Academy, as we appreciate the vital importance of providing information and communications technology skills to improve career and economic opportunities for everyone. For AFRALTI to be appointed as the second Cisco ATC in Africa is a significant endorsement and will give us the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the program by providing the vital skills training and support for instructors of networking academies in East Africa."

In common with all other Cisco Academy Training Centers around the world, AFRALTI will now also provide training, support, and monitoring of instructors for Cisco's 10 regional academies and 85 local academies the East African region, covering 11 counties* overall. The Cisco ATC is responsible for the quality of academic and professional training of regional Networking Academy instructors, who train local academy instructors. The Cisco centers have a direct role in contributing to the learning success of the students. Along with Cisco, the Academy Training Centers set the standard of quality for the entire Cisco Networking Academy program in the region. There are now more than 60 Cisco ATCs worldwide, of which 17 are in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and two specifically now in Africa.

"The East African region is experiencing tremendous growth, particularly in information and communications technology, and it is critically important that employees of today and the future are equipped with the right skills to enable them to respond to the changing needs of our society," commented Shahab Meshki, general manager for Cisco East Africa. "Cisco Networking Academy offers a long-term solution for providing a highly skilled and well-trained work force. This is critical for accelerating country transformation and strong economic growth."

"Up until now, the only Cisco ATC for the entire Africa region was in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. By creating a second facility to provide vital training and support for instructors in the East African region, Cisco is further demonstrating an ongoing commitment to help bridge the skills and talent gap in the region," commented Hital Muraj, Cisco Networking Academy manager for East Africa.

Cisco Networking Academy recently marked its 10-year anniversary providing ICT skills to students globally to improve their career and economic opportunities. Networking academies operate in high schools, colleges, universities, technical and military schools and community-based organizations.

For more details about Cisco Networking Academy, visit: http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/netacad/index.html

Note to Editors:

* The 11 East African countries are: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, Somali, Reunion and Seychelles.

About AFRALTI

The AFRALTI is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya and serves the ICT sector in Africa. Their key mandate is to provide human resources capacity building through high-level quality training, consultancy and advisory services to both management and the technical personnel in the Information and Communication and Technology sector in Africa.

AFRALTI collaborates with a number of regional and international organizations. Their partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has resulted in AFRALTI becoming a Center of Excellence node within the ITU Center of Excellence project.