Cisco is moving up the value chain with its complex offerings, which we call our advanced technology

Now that Linksys has been integrated with Cisco and there will be just one
unified partner program for partners of both companies, how will you ensure that
Linksys partners stay loyal to Cisco?

The prices of Linksys products are different from Cisco offerings. In fact
Cisco's lowest offering is few times higher than that of the Linksys products.

As Linksys is moving to Cisco nothing much is going to change because the
space in which it is going to operate is more or less the same and we are going
to address complimenting accessories. We are taking care of all these areas so
that Cisco's low-end clients are not being completely compromised for the
substitute of Linksys. Cisco's policy will also be applicable to Linksys and
through this they will be benefited.

Secondly, we are trying to see how Linksys can leverage Cisco's established
go-to-market strategy or customer product organization, while leveraging on
Linksys' reach through its channel

R Dhamodaran Sr VP-Channel Operations and Commercial Strategy, Cisco India & SAARC

How is Cisco helping its partners to move beyond box pushing or offering
simple networking connectivity solutions?

Cisco is moving up the value chain with its complex offerings, which we call
our advanced technology. Our foundation technology is routing and switching
business that is slowly getting commoditized. No commoditization is possible for
our new offerings like telepresence. If any partner can learn how to put the
solution together that will be a huge value add.

We are helping our partners to acquire skills in advanced technologies like
security, unified communication, data center and even through telepresence. And
when you sell it in higher-level probably you don't have to really cut margins
because the customers will hardly negotiate line by line. That is were we are
differentiating ourselves.

How cost-effective and eco-friendly is telepresence?

We are using a public domain IT networks and under this we are trying to
drive high-quality video, audio and the presentation. It is expensive because it
is an evolving technology but its benefits are inexpensive. We are contributing
to the environment and it reduces travel time as well.

What will be the profile of partners that you will work with for
telepresence?

We are trying to create publicly accessible telepresence sessions and
centers in key access points like airports, etc, so that people can come and
share the facility. It is going to help in global infrastructure. Secondly,
following the latest trends of interconnectivity among themselves, all the
business houses and IT majors will at least have to use it in their head-office
and even in their factories. Thirdly, we have IBM, British Telecom and few other
certified telepresence partners.

How is Cisco trying to educate customers on the USP it offers and how the
channel partners are involved in this education drive?

We always plan to bring different kinds of initiatives to educate our
customers. We have a large part of customer base from government and defense
sector. Each of our advanced technology will have a live demo and proffer
concept.

Tell us about the availability of the scaled-down, lower-priced Catalyst edge
switch, which Cisco was planning to launch.

The launch is expected soon. We are planning to launch it in the next
financial year.

Lipsha Das

lipshad@cybermedia.co.in