Cisco gears up for 'smart' India play

Cisco has set up an advisory board with experts from different fields to identify areas that can be converted into business opportunities. This is the San Jose-based company’s only advisory board for a country apart from the US.

Cisco hopes to leverage its expertise in urban planning and security management for the National Democratic Alliance government’s technology-led projects such as smart cities and Digital India. Cisco’s campus in Bengaluru is a laboratory for many of the things that smart cities need.

The board will be headed by Cisco’s deputy chief globalisation officer, Anil Menon, and includes Kiran Karnik, former Nasscom president; Rajiv Kumar, former Ficci director-general; R Seshasayee, non-executive vice-chairman of Ashok Leyland; Shobana Kamineni, executive vice-chairperson of Apollo Hospitals; and Gopal Krishna Pillai, chairman of Tata International.

“India is not an easy market as you have to understand the market dynamics, political dynamics, which are different from many other countries,” said Menon. “Thus, we thought it was time for an external board to advise us on how to be locally relevant,” he added.

Cisco entered India in 1995, but its major expansion started in 2006, when the company had set up its globalisation centre in Bengaluru. The centre houses almost 20 per cent of Cisco’s senior executives and the company’s India headcount is 11,000.

Some 7,000 employees working on the Bengaluru campus can choose the building or cubicle they want and find colleagues using Cisco Maps. Once they swipe a quick response code, the space, including the telephone extension, laptops and even the lighting, is converted for their use. Parking is available on seven floors of the buildings and employees check digital displays on each floor for available parking places. Most buildings do not have wiring for lighting. Switches are controlled by the network.

Cameras with devices that can check blood pressure and heartbeat are linked to clinics. Cafeterias can be accessed to read the menu and see how crowded they are.

Cisco is building smart infrastructure for the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor and the Navi Mumbai’s security management system. The Bengaluru police and  Cisco have launched small stores for the remote filing of complaints.

The company is looking for a role in making Indian cities smart enough to manage traffic, pollution, water, crime, and disasters. “Multiple cities can be managed by one integrated operation centre using sensors, open data and analytics. The size of that market is $3 trillion globally. I believe this is the next big opportunity for India,” Menon said.
 

“The whole idea is, can you create an entire business model around water management, electricity management or utility management,” he added.
 

In Bengaluru, Cisco in partnership with the city police had launched one kiosk on experiment basis for remote filing of first information reports (FIRs). After the initial response, the city police is now planning to launch 100 such kiosk at various important touch points.

CISCO@INDIA

• Cisco hopes to leverage its expertise in urban planning and security management for the National Democratic Alliance government’s technology-led projects such as smart cities and Digital India.
   
• Cisco’s campus in Bengaluru is a laboratory for many of the things that smart cities need