TCS, Cisco form strategic alliance

Networking equipment manufacturer Cisco and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today formed a global strategic alliance to develop go-to-market solutions that meet the infrastructure and network requirements of global corporations. The companies also announced the formation of a Cisco Technology Lab at the TCS campus in Chennai.

TCS will build a new technology practice focused on Cisco’s data centre networking and security solutions technology. The companies will also explore new networking innovations to address the needs of large and small businesses in the IT services space.

Both TCS and Cisco declined to share any financial details. However, TCS’Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director N Chandrasekaran said that currently both the firms did business of close to $100 million (approximately Rs 480 crore). “Networking, managed solutions, security, SMEs, retail and software-as-a-service are some of the focused segments,” he added.

As a part of this alliance, TCS will train close to 1,000 employees on Cisco technology. Initially, the alliance will focus on India and some customers of both the firms in the US and UK in the key verticals of BFSI, Telecom, government and small and medium enterprise (SME).

John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco, said the strategy announced today was at the core of the company’s endeavour to be present in markets in transition. “Emerging markets have been the key for new ideas and among them India has been at the forefront. We think with this alliance we will create a model that can be replicable in other markets,” he said.

Chamber said virtualisation was the most important technology that all datacenters would look forward to. “A substantial amount of budgets is now being spent on this,” he added. Reiterating his confidence on the Indian market, Chamber said: “We never looked at investing in India for labour arbitrage. In the current slowdown, if there is one economy that is growing, then it is India.”

Cisco Technology Lab in Chennai will allow TCS to work on network-based data-centre solutions, test frameworks, developing skills and certifying employees in Cisco data-centre technologies. The lab will also allow Cisco and TCS to illustrate proof-of-concepts and IT and networking methodologies for client-specific business processes.