Cisco, AP initiate India’s first statewide broadband project

VISAKHAPATNAM: Global IT solutions company Cisco has announced a series of strategic initiatives to help accelerate the digital transformation of Andhra Pradesh. Digital disruption is a reality and is transforming every country, state and city, believes Cisco. Cisco has signed an MoU with GoAP to boost local innovation, enhance research, foster entrepreneurship, and accelerate economic competitiveness and citizen engagement in the state.

Explaining in detail, Cisco says that a digitized state aims to drive GDP growth, create jobs and foster innovation, enhance research and education, stimulate entrepreneurship, accelerate business innovation, develop economic cluster initiatives, and support infrastructure.

Towards that end, Cisco and the government of Andhra Pradesh have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which includes skills development for the new digital economy through expansion of the Networking Academy program, investing in innovative startups in the state, establishing an Internet of Everything (IoE) Innovation Centre in Visakhapatnam and Technology Center of Excellence and Research Lab in Tirupati focused on manufacturing and cyber security solutions, sponsoring a research program at University of Andhra to develop and customize digital technologies and solutions for rural Andhra Pradesh, and expansion of the Golden Mile project with Cisco.

The MoU between Cisco and the Government of Andhra Pradesh was signed today as part of the inauguration of India’s first statewide broadband project – AP Fiber-Net – in Visakhapatnam, in the presence of the Honorable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Sri Chandra Babu Naidu, and other government dignitaries John Chambers, Executive Chairman, Cisco; Irving Tan, President, Cisco Asia Pacific & Japan; and Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India and SAARC.

Cisco will set up an Internet of Everything (IoE) Innovation Centre in Visakhapatnam to foster regional innovation and will enable partners and startups to build solutions around IoE and engage in rapid prototyping. This will also act as a platform to bring startups, accelerators, developers, researchers, ecosystem partners and the venture community together to showcase possibilities of the Internet of Everything.

In addition to this, Cisco will also invest in an advanced Technology Center of Excellence and Research Lab in the Institute of Digital Technology (IDT), Tirupati, focused on cyber security, smart city and manufacturing solutions. The centre will help train graduate engineers in advanced digital technologies and solutions and equip them with skill sets required for the digital era.

As part of the initiative to boost research, Cisco will sponsor and collaborate with Andhra University in Visakhapatnam on a 12-month research program to identify and explore the possibility of developing and customizing digital technologies and solutions for rural Andhra Pradesh.

As India plays a pivotal role in Cisco’s overall growth, innovation and talent strategy, the company announced plans for the expansion of Cisco Networking Academy in 70 colleges to train approximately 10,000 new students in the state of Andhra Pradesh over next three years. As part of Cisco’s commitment to accelerating Digital Andhra Pradesh, the company will work with the state to integrate NetAcad courses as part of the technical education curriculum. This will help India increase its pool of highly skilled technology professionals.

The Cisco Networking Academy in India is one of the largest programs for Cisco worldwide. Across 180 academies nationwide, more than 100,000 Indian students have been trained since its inception. The skills-development program is a cloud-delivered, scalable, high-quality program that helps students learn how to design, build, secure and maintain computer networks and prepare for jobs in the digital economy.

As part of the Golden Mile project, Cisco has started deploying key technologies in the 5 km area including Smart Wi-Fi, Smart Safety & Security, Smart Lighting, Smart Parking, Smart Transports, Smart Bus Stops, Smart Kiosks, Remote Expert for Government Services (REGS) and Smart Education in the city of Vijaywada. As part of the expansion of the project, Cisco announced that it will develop new applications specifically for Indian Smart Cities and collaborate with the state for its upcoming Smart Cities in AP.

As part of its commitment to help the state realize its vision of ‘Digital Andhra Pradesh’, and lead as a role model for digital transformation for other states to follow, Cisco has collaborated with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to design and implement AP Fiber Net, the first statewide broadband project in India. AP Fibre Net is a huge step toward realising the government’s vision to provide broadband on fiber to every house in the state. This transformational project is aimed at providing on-demand, affordable broadband connectivity of 2 to 20 Mbps for all households and 1 to 10 Gbps for all institutions by 2018 and is expected to significantly boost the economy. The network will cover 2,500 locations and is 22,500 km long, reaching 2 million households. Cisco has designed and implemented the network infrastructure for AP Fiber Net using statewide high-speed, aerial-optical fiber leveraging existing electricity distribution assets. Cisco has helped establish a scalable ‘Infrastructure-Platform as a Service Model’ providing wholesale bandwidth and made provision to provide affordable ‘On-Demand’ bandwidth for households and the private sector.

Commenting on the occasion, Chandra Babu Naidu, Honorable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, said, “Digital transformation has emerged as the most transformative means to ignite sustainable growth and improve society. My vision for the state is to digitally empower every citizen, enhance quality of life of citizens, accelerate economic competitiveness, boost local innovation and become a knowledge and technology hub of the country. Digital Andhra Pradesh is a step towards realising that vision. We envision Andhra Pradesh as a role model for digital transformation for other states to follow. We are happy to partner with Cisco for this transformative project and we believe Cisco’s global experience and expertise in digitization will benefit Andhra Pradesh immensely and catapult the state to the forefront of the digital revolution.”

John Chambers, Executive Chairman, Cisco, said, ‘‘Digitization opens up unprecedented opportunities for every country, state and city. I greatly admire Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu for his strong vision to digitize Andhra Pradesh, and Cisco is honored to be a partner for their digital transformation. Andhra Pradesh is a blueprint for a digital state for other states to follow. Our investment is a commitment to help the state develop an ecosystem of talent, entrepreneurship and innovation to drive growth, generate jobs, diversify the economy and support sustainable growth.’’

Irving Tan, President, Cisco Asia Pacific & Japan, said, “Government leaders today increasingly recognize the importance of digitisation as the foundation for GDP growth, job creation and the development of a knowledgeable workforce. The state of Andhra Pradesh is leading the digital transformation in India. We are excited to collaborate with the government to build an infrastructure that gives the citizens of Andhra Pradesh access to employment & inclusion, innovation opportunities, educational outcomes, healthcare delivery and smart city services.”

Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India and SAARC,  said, “The government’s vision of digital Andhra Pradesh is truly transformative and will create huge opportunities for the state, its citizens, and the nation. The digital transformation of Andhra Pradesh will help increase the state’s global competitiveness by creating a highly skilled workforce ready for the jobs of the future, building an environment that stimulates exceptional companies, and enabling outstanding public services for citizens. We are thrilled to work with the government to help make Andhra Pradesh the role model for digital states in India.”