Cisco Systems and Wipro on Oct. 31 will launch a strategic initiative to combine Ciscos networking technology with Wipros IT outsourcing and managed services.
Together the two companies will develop integrated services based on Cisco technology aimed initially at customers in Africa and the Middle East, although that will expand later to include Europe, according to Srini Srinivasan, director of strategic alliances for Cisco in San Jose, CA.
“Wipro is one of the largest IT companies in India. It is very strong in applications and managed services. As we go from products and technologies to solutions, increasing the customer relevance of our products, Wipro fits in very nicely,” he said.
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As a part of the alliance, Cisco and Wipro will open a Cisco Solution Center at Wipros campus in Bangalore, India. The center will be used to demonstrate jointly developed solutions based on advanced Cisco networking technology. Wipro pledged to develop competencies in Cisco products through the Solution Center and Cisco will be Wipros preferred networking supplier for Wipros outsourcing, managed-services and other offerings.
The agreement will also see the two companies create a portfolio of systems integration services focused on Unified Communications, application networking, telepresence, data center and security solutions. “These services will be sold jointly by our field teams,” said Srinivasan.
Both firms will also focus on developing services that use Cisco networking technologies for vertical markets in health care, financial services, retail, real estate and transportation industries.
The Cisco Solution Center on the Wipro campus will be operational in November. It will also serve to demonstrate proof of concepts for IT and networking methodologies aimed at specific customers.
Although the two companies are not exchanging money in the alliance agreement, both are investing heavily in the relationship and hundreds of employees from each company will be dedicated to developing joint offerings. The relationship is not exclusive.
“Strategic alliances allow us to serve our customers in a more effective manner,” said Greg Prynn, director of strategic alliances for Cisco Systems in San Jose, Calif. “When customers request that we work more closely with a specific relationship, we try to make it more systematic and programmatic. That allows us to strategically determine where we should be looking to invest for the long run,” he added.
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