New Cisco blueprint to skill students for New-Age technologies

Realising the need to skill students in disruptive technologies like Big Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cyber security, global networking giant Cisco on Thursday announced a "Blueprint for Digital Education" here.

The blueprint will allow colleges and universities to enable students learn anywhere with "Cisco Connected Classroom" solutions which use the Cisco "Digital Network Architecture" (Cisco DNA) and collaboration solutions such as "WebEx" online meetings and Cisco "Spark" all-in-one communications solution.

"Cisco Connected Campus" provides extensive network analytics to help administrators make data-driven decisions while managing facilities, lighting, parking and transportation.

"By offering educators and students more ways to connect, engage, manage and succeed, the Cisco 'Blueprint for Digital Education' aims to help colleges and universities create a completely integrated digital environment that meets the high expectations of today's students," Sudhir Nayar, Managing Director, Commercial Sales, Cisco India and SAARC, told reporters here.

The digital learning solutions' market in India is now pegged at $2 billion, said Nayar while addressing the gathering during the Cisco "Digital Education Summit" at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here.

With approximately 30 per cent of India's current population in the 0-15 age group, the education sector in India is poised to witness significant growth.

However, the education system faces challenges such as capacity, scale and quality, Cisco said in a statement.

The blueprint is based on Cisco's highly secure core network and unified voice, video and wireless communications, protected by state-of-the-art security solutions and lay the framework for connected campuses, empowered educators, informed administrators and students.

In India, several leading institutions such as Manipal University, Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Jamia Hamdard and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies are using Cisco digital education solutions.

"With smart workspaces that automatically track student attendance and progress, schools and universities can operate efficiently in a rapidly changing environment," Cisco said.

Digital learning classrooms can support new online learning experiences, worldwide collaboration and rich online media consumption with virtual classrooms.

Cisco "Connected Research" solutions are helping researchers, faculty and students conduct high-performance computing (HPC) in a secure environment and quickly scale computing resources to fuel innovation.

--IANS

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