Date/Time Stamp:

LISBON, Portugal: Cisco Channel Exchange - November 6, 2008, 7:00 a.m. PDT

Highlights / Key Facts:

• To capitalize on the rapid globalization of business, Cisco today announced the launch of a go-to-market program designed to help Cisco channel partners collaborate with each other to better serve a rapidly developing and fast-growing multinational customer segment.
• Up until now, many multinational customers expanding internationally have engaged in separate transactions with local Cisco resellers in each country of their operations.
• To foster global coordination, Cisco's new go-to-market strategy is built around a transaction-based partner collaboration model.

• The Cisco® Global Resale Agent model provides each "host" partner with policies, processes and tools that enable it to select another Cisco partner as an agent in a different country. The agent can act on the host partner's behalf for the resale of Cisco technologies to new multinational customers.
• This model provides local partners with "global rights" to select another partner in a different geography to deliver Cisco technology solutions on its behalf. After the host and agent partner engage in and complete a business transaction, the local partner buys the Cisco solution and invoices the customer locally.

• This partner-to-partner collaboration reduces the complexity of deploying the customer's information technology business solutions, streamlines service and support, and provides a means to broaden market opportunities and create competitive differentiation.
• Partners will use Cisco's Partner Exchange, a virtual environment that allows channel partners to find, connect with and collaborate with other partners that offer a complementary blend of technology, services and industry expertise.
• Cisco's Global Resale Agent model represents the first step toward a broader Cisco initiative of enabling partners to form collaborative long-term business relationships.
• A recent global study on partner collaboration, conducted by Illuminas Research and commissioned by Cisco, revealed that collaboration among Cisco partners is a fast-growing trend.

• Partner-to-partner collaboration generates 31 percent of channel revenue and is growing by 15 percent annually.
• Furthermore, 62 percent of the partners believe that collaboration will continue to grow over the next five years.
• Cisco partners work with an average of eight other partners on a regular basis.

Tags / Keywords: Globalization, Multinationals, Multinational Corporations, Channel Partner, Cisco Channel Partner Program, Channel Partner Collaboration.

Links / URLs:

• Link to Global Resale Agent Fact Sheet
• Wikipedia definition of Globalization
• News Release: Cisco Study Reveals Collaboration Among Channel Partners Generates 31 Percent of Their Revenue
• Partner Collaboration White Paper: How Wikinomics Creates Opportunities for Cisco Partners
• Story from News@Cisco: Partner Collaboration Yields Big Dividends
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/CSCOChannelNews

Quotes:

• Keith Goodwin, senior vice president, Worldwide Channels, Cisco

"Globalization continues to impact business strategy and process for organizations of all sizes. Cisco is committed to helping our channel partners and our customers capitalize on market transitions. We developed the new Global Resale Agent model to help our channel partners take advantage of this growing multinational customer segment so they can profitably grow their businesses around the world. With the business adoption of social media and collaboration technologies, the time is right for Cisco to facilitate global partnerships among our channel partners, leading the way to the next phase of growth, differentiation and innovation."

• Jim Kavanaugh, CEO, World Wide Technology

"Expanding customer reach is a business imperative for our company. With a collaborative business model that is supported by an online partner portal, Cisco's Global Resale Agent model enables resellers like us to capitalize on the expanding multinational opportunity. Cisco's new go-to-market model facilitates teamwork and global coordination, while streamlining international transactions with customers. By teaming with partner agents to deliver what our customers need, we now have a true global transactional network of solution providers for addressing this growing global market opportunity."

• Victor Share, chief executive officer, Macroview Telecom

"As we continue to grow our business globally, we have a strategic focus on providing end-to-end turnkey solutions and communication infrastructures based on technologies from leaders such as Cisco. We are looking forward to the benefits of the Cisco Global Resale Agent model, which will allow us to work directly with resellers worldwide that have credentials to offer Cisco solutions, and enable us to rapidly implement collaboration and communications technologies that help simplify our global business."

• Diane Krakora, CEO, Amazon Consulting

"Cisco's Global Resale Agent model is an important move for Cisco to foster partner collaboration to ease business transactions with of the growing multinational customer segment. This new initiative, enabled through online collaborative technologies, will help channel partners increase their reach and close more multinational business."

Embedded Videos and Images:

• Keith Goodwin: The trends of globalization and channel collaboration
• Alex Thurber: Cisco Global Resale Agent model