Mumbai: Cisco Systems has announced a strategic roadmap to drive the next wave of growth in the enterprise and telecom markets in India. The company has formed four separate vertical business groups that will focus on IT services, enterprises, service providers and the government. Cisco also announced the launch of Cisco Capital, its leasing arm; the expansion of its Networking Academy Program and the introduction of advanced customer service offerings. India is among the top three strategic markets for Cisco worldwide.

It has expanded its portfolio of solutions from core networking technologies such as routers and switches to advanced technologies such as IP telephony, wireless, network security, storage, optical and home networking.

Rangnath Salgame, president, (India and SAARC) Cisco Systems, announced the appointment of the business heads for each of its vertical business units — Sudhir Narang, senior vice president -service provider and government; B Ashok, senior vice president - IT services; and Jangoo Dalal, senior vice president - enterprise business. Shirish Joshi and Ranajoy Punja will continue in their respective roles as vice president of channels and vice president of marketing. In addition, Dheeraj Mehta, has been appointed as the head of the newly formed Cisco Capital.

Speaking on the occasion, Rangu Salgame said, "The domestic Indian manufacturing and services industry has been maturing over the recent years because of de-regulation and privatisation. Faced with intense global competition, the domestic Indian industry has realised the importance of investing into IT infrastructure to adapt quickly to rapidly shifting market and consumer dynamics. We are confident that, with the new Cisco India strategy, we will be able to deliver vertical specific solutions that will enable our customers to deliver quality products and services and reduce their time to market."

Cisco will continue to focus and expand its Cisco Networking Academy Program in India. Today, Cisco has 150 networking academies across 20 states throughout the region. As a part of this initiative, Cisco offers online course content and helps set up networking labs in education institutes and universities that are appointed regional academies.