CISCO Partner Summit 2006 (Gulf and Pakistan)

 

CISCO Partner Summit 2006 (Gulf and Pakistan)

Cisco Systems, Inc.CISCO Partner Summit 2006 (Gulf and Pakistan) took place at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel on 15th April. The attendants from Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE as well as Pakistan were welcomed to the event by the rhythm of beating drums by the CISCO management team. The Theme was to further strengthen CISCO’s award-winning Channel Partner Program to align with changing customer requirements and market growth opportunities in the region.

Entertaining presentation on competitive edge and how to win and grow together addressing emerging markets followed. Attendants were educated about the Enhancements made to the Program to Maximize Reseller Growth, Profitability and Differentiation and how the enhanced Cisco Channel Partner Program will assist and reward partners who develop the technology breadth to deploy broad, integrated network solutions and the technology depth to deploy advanced security services, Unified Communications applications and other highly specialized solutions.

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In his keynote address at the Cisco Partner Summit 2006, Mark De Simone, Cisco Systems' Vice President for Middle East & Africa unveiled plans to roll out the information technology industry’s first offer-based channel program strategy. Over the next year, Cisco will launch three new channel partner programs that will assist and reward channel partners who deliver global resale, outsourcing and managed network service offerings to customers. These new programs will complement the existing Cisco Channel Partner Program, which primarily supports local resale offerings, and will map to the distinct offerings that Cisco partners are delivering to the market.

The event was filled with knowledge rich presentation, breakout sessions dealing with Public Sector, Data Centre/Storage, CCRE, IPC & IPCC, Service Provider and the most interesting part – the Programs and Promotions. There was an awards ceremony followed by a motivational speaker at the dinner reception. Media was invited to a cocktail where they got an opportunity to mingle with the senior CISCO managers. It was of particular interest to hear how CISCO is in the process of reinventing IT and taking it to the next level of ICT.

“Industry changes are driving the change to the partner program. We've been moving more capabilities that used to be in the application or middleware into the IP network,” said Tarek Ghoul, Regional Channel Manager at Cisco Systems Gulf and Pakistan. “The market has bought into the idea of the network becoming the platform, with new capabilities and applications migrating from the application or middleware layer to the IP network. That means more opportunity for partners, increasingly the opportunity is as much on the services side as it is the equipment side.”

From Pakistan, Corvit has the most visible delegation. Dr. Aamir Matin, CISCO Country GM, Pakistan was also present and wished IT Insight well. Cisco Systems, Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of networking and communications products worldwide. The company provides products for transporting data, voice, and video within buildings and across campuses. It offers routers, which interconnect computer networks by moving data, voice, and video from one network to another; and switching systems that are used to build local-area networks (LAN), metropolitan-area networks, and wide-area networks. Cisco’s technology products comprise home networking products, which enable users to share Internet access, printers, music, movies, and games; Internet protocol telephony products for transmitting voice communications; optical networking products, which provide a path for telecommunications carriers, as well as for carriers and enterprises; and security products, which protect information systems from unauthorized use. It also offers storage networking products that deliver connectivity between servers and storage systems. In addition, the company offers wireless LAN and outdoor wireless bridging products. These products include access points; an integrated wireless and wireline switching system; wireless LAN client adapters; bridges; antennas; and accessories. Cisco offers its products and services primarily through its direct sales force, as well as through distributors and retail partners. The company has strategic alliances with AT&T Corp.; BearingPoint, Inc.; Bell South Corporation; Cap Gemini S.A.; Electronic Data Systems Corporation; Fujitsu, Ltd.; Hewlett-Packard Company; Intel Corporation; International Business Machines Corporation; Italtel SpA; Microsoft Corporation; Motorola, Inc.; SBC Communications, Inc.; and Sprint Corporation. Cisco was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in San Jose, California