RIYADH, February 9, 2009 - Visitors to the Cisco Expo 2009 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today had the opportunity to experience interactive demonstrations of a suite of next-generation technology offerings. Based on the concept of the Cisco intelligent information network, the event included a series of in-depth sessions covering Unified Communications, Collaboration, Managed Service, Connected Home and Smart Education systems. The event also utilized several Web 2.0 platforms such as Twitter and Facebook for the first time and was streamed live online via Cisco WebEx.

The session covering Real Estate, in which the concept of smart living was explored, addressed the growing popularity of smart homes and digital cities in Saudi Arabia. Questions on "how is IP harnessed in traditional construction" arose as digital lifestyle demos gave attendees a glimpse into how video, voice and data are used over IP to deliver smart living solutions that connect home devices from a fridge to a garage and an audio system.

Visitors also had the chance to experience a virtual face-to-face meeting with people from different locations as a live session on Cisco Telepresence was demoed in King Fahd Cultural Centre.

With participation from several Cisco Certified partners and customers, the two-day-long event ran multiple tracks and break-out sessions on topics such as Data Center Virtualization, Unified Communications, Emerging Security Threats, Wireless and Wireline Networks and more. 'Network Doctors' were also present at the event, who conducted free online sessions for online attendees with advice on planning and managing their home, office and small business networks.

The Cisco Expo was a valuable opportunity for organizations to learn how they can remain competitive and optimize processes while reducing costs in today's environment.