SEOUL, South Korea - April 15, 2009 - Gale International, a global leader in city-scale real estate development, announced today that they have signed a framework agreement with Cisco for establishment of the "Cisco Global Center for Intelligent Urbanisation" in Songdo International Business District (IBD), a 1,500-acre new city being developed off the coast of Incheon by Gale International and POSCO E&C.
Cisco has been selected by Gale International to supply network-based technologies and value-added real estate services for Songdo IBD, a state-of-the-art community where residents, visitors and businesses will experience a technology-enabled lifestyle through a digital architecture and infrastructure systems built into the urban environment.
The agreement between Cisco and Gale International's Korean subsidiary, was signed by Gale in Seoul on April 13th, and will be commemorated this evening in a ceremony by Sang-soo Ahn, Incheon Metropolitan City mayor, John Chambers, Cisco chairman and chief executive officer, and Stan Gale, Gale International chairman and managing partner.
The Cisco Global Center for Intelligent Urbanisation, the company's first center to be focused solely on Intelligent Urbanisation, is to be established within the Northeast Asia Trade Tower (NEATT), Songdo IBD's signature commercial building. The Center will drive innovation with new solutions as part of Intelligent Urbanisation, Cisco's recently launched global initiative to help cities use the network as the next utility to optimize their resources for long-term growth and quality of life. The Center will feature a training facility that will utilize Cisco's Intelligent Urbanisation Labs concept.
The 1.6 million square foot, 65-story NEATT will stand as Korea's tallest building when completed in 2010. NEATT will contain more than 600,000 square feet of Class A office space on 33 of the building's 65 floors. NEATT is targeting a LEED Silver rating and will be one of the first commercial office towers in Korea to achieve this globally recognized green building achievement.
Under the agreement Gale International has selected Cisco as the provider of network technologies and value-added Cisco Connected Real Estate services to help significantly enhance the economic value and competitiveness of the Songdo IBD. Buildings within the IBD covered by the agreement will be able to use the network to save on long-term operating costs, increase real estate value and improve their energy efficiency.
A key feature will be the ability to make buildings 'Green Aware.' By being Green Aware, the intelligent building gathers, analyzes, and displays real-time building energy use and employee resource-consumption data. By displaying real-time building information such as power consumption, CO2 emissions and water usage on Cisco's digital signage solution, Green Aware is designed to drive a change in user behavior by arming consumers in Songdo IBD with information to help them become environmentally conscious and contribute to the sustainability of their surroundings.
"Today's landmark agreement underscores Cisco's continued commitment to working with South Korea, and is well aligned with our vision of intelligent urbanisation as a way to positively impact people, cities and the environment," said John Chambers, Cisco chairman and CEO. "The collaboration with Gale International highlights how the network has the potential to act as the platform for integrated city management, better quality of life for citizens, and sustainable economic development."
Mr. Gale said: "We are very proud that as Cisco establishes specialized Global Centers around the world in areas where it sees new business models and new world services emerging that it has chosen to locate its first - and headquarter -- Global Center for Intelligent Urbanisation in Songdo IBD and the state-of-the-art Northeast Asia Trade Tower."
About Songdo International Business District
Songdo International Business District, the "Gateway to Northeast Asia," is being developed by New York headquartered Gale International and POSCO E&C. Songdo International Business District (IBD) officially opens August 2009, as the first "new" city in the world designed and planned as an international business district. The U.S. $35 billion, 100 million square foot master-planned metropolis will include forty-five million square feet of office space, thirty million square feet of residential space, ten million square feet of retail, five million square feet of hotel space and ten million square feet of public space. When fully completed in 2015, Songdo IBD will be home to 65,000 people and 300,000 will work there. Songdo IBD is located within the Incheon Free Economic Zone.
Songdo IBD will offer every conceivable amenity including a world-class hospital, an international preparatory school, a 100-acre Central Park, a 1.1 million square foot premium retail mall and a championship 18-hole golf course, the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. Songdo IBD will be 40 percent green space, and is being designed and constructed to ensure long-term environmental sustainability, thus minimizing the city's carbon footprint. Songdo IBD was named a "green urbanism" pilot project by the U.S. Green Building Council.
This new metropolis will be connected to the Incheon International Airport, one of the world's busiest, by a 7.4 mile highway bridge, and linked by subway to Seoul and its surrounding suburbs. Day travel is easy to China and Japan's major business centers. More than one third of the world's population lives within a three and a half hour flying radius. Additional information can be found at www.songdo.com.
About Gale International
Gale International is a premier international real estate investment and development company with headquarters in New York and offices in Boston; Irvine, California; Seoul and Songdo, South Korea. For more information please visit www.galeintl.com.
