CAIRO, Egypt, January 27, 2009 - Cisco hosted Expo Egypt 2009, its largest expo in the North Africa Levant (NAL) region to date, on 14 and 15 January 2009 in Cairo. The event celebrated the 10th anniversary of Cisco in Egypt, and brought together more than 900 top business delegates to discuss new technology trends and share best practices designed to promote the success of businesses in Egypt.
Cisco opened its first office in Cairo in 1999 and since then its business in Egypt has grown from strength to strength. An ever-growing customer base across many market sectors includes finance, public sector, hospitality, oil and gas, service provider and transportation organizations. Over the past decade, Cisco has also focused on developing innovative education initiatives that provide information technology (IT) skills to the growing workforce in Egypt to improve their career and economic opportunities both physically and via e-learning. For example, one such initiative, the Cisco Networking Academy® program in Egypt, has more than 329 participating academies and has enrolled over 11,000 students throughout the country.
Hani Abdel Aziz, Cisco's general manager for Egypt, commented, "2009, Cisco's 10th anniversary year in Egypt, marks an important milestone for us in the NAL region and we are very excited about the development and growth prospects for us in Egypt over the next 10 years. Egypt today is well-positioned for growth and thus ready to undertake country transformation. Macroeconomic drivers demonstrate a great opportunity for growth and development in Egypt."
Expo Egypt 2009 Delivers Customer Value
This year, Cisco® Expo Egypt comprised a series of in-depth sessions that were delivered over two days by senior Cisco executives from around the globe. Kicking off the event were keynote sessions from:
- Hani Abdel Aziz, Cisco's general manager for Egypt who outlined Cisco's commitment to Egypt in the coming years.
- Yvon Le Roux, Cisco's vice president for the Africa and Levant region who discussed the importance of continued investment and focus on Egypt for emerging markets and the Africa Levant region in particular.
- Peter Ford, managing director for Cisco's emerging markets, Internet Business Solutions Group, who outlined the five steps that companies need to take in order to thrive during economic turmoil.
- Bryan Tantzen, senior director for Cisco's customer business transformation, Voice technology group, who discussed how communications and collaboration are transforming businesses today.
Technical and business breakout sessions focused on the latest developments in unified communications, collaboration, data centers, mobility and security as well as financial challenges and country transformation. A highlight of the event was the debut of Cisco TelepresenceTM virtual meeting solution, which facilitates 'in person/real-time' interaction with people in remote locations and was showcased for the very first time in Egypt.
Note to Editors:
10 Years of Cisco in Egypt - The Key milestones
- 1999 - First Cisco office opened in Cairo
- 2004 - Egypt office expands to support Africa and Levant Region
- 2005 - First Gold Partner Certified ( Raya) - now 5 Gold Certified/4 Silver Certified/16 Premier/90 SMB Select Partners; 350+Resellers
- 2008 - Further expansion of the Cisco Office in Egypt
- Our customer success in Egypt:
- TREC: City stars development; Palm Hills; SODIC
- Financial Sector: Bank Misr; National Societe General Bank (NSGB) ; Commercial International Bank (CIB); Bank Barkley's Egypt
- Service Providers: Mobinil; Vodafone; Egypt Telecommunications
- Public Sector: Ministry of Housing; Ministry of Irrigation; Cairo Airport Terminal 3; Egypt Air; Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Investment; Ministry of Finance
- Transportation: Cairo Airport Terminal 4; Sharm El Sheikh Airport
- Hospitality: Intercontinental Hotels
- Oil & Gas: Petrobel Egypt Skills and Talent development is a key focus for Cisco in Egypt today:
- 329 active Cisco Networking Academy centers
- 2 Cisco Academy Training Centers in Egypt
- 11322 Active Students
- 2922 total number of new students (CCNA, ITE, CCNP)
- 1634 graduates to date
- 573 active instructors
- 2007 - Launch of Egypt's iExec Program, the first Arabic business essentials course for Egyptian businesses, under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). Skills and Talent development is a key focus for Cisco in Egypt today.
