Cisco Launches Networking Showcase on Wheels to Link Communities in Asia

Company Will Also Work with Nanyang Polytechnic to Develop Technology Talent

SINGAPORE.- Cisco® today launched the Cisco Express Network on Wheels (NoW), a mobile showcase of Cisco’s Internet Protocol (IP) networking technologies. Packed into the specially retrofitted 40-foot container are products, solutions and services from Cisco and its partners including regional sponsors CNA, EMC, Emerson Process Management, Linksys, Panduit and SingTel and country sponsors 3D Networks, Avodaq, Common Town, Comstor, Datacraft, NCS, NEC, NexLabs, Qala and SCS. The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry is providing support through awareness building amongst its member organisations.

Starting from Singapore, the Cisco Express will travel to 30 cities in Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan. The Cisco Express-NoW is designed to extend Cisco’s reach to organisations in vertical industries such as healthcare, public sector, manufacturing, tourism, retail and construction; small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs); resellers; schools; and even consumers. More than 20,000 people are expected to have seen the Cisco Express-NoW by the end of the year-long tour.

At the launch of the Cisco Express-NoW, Cisco also announced a joint initiative with Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) to enrich the pool of local networking technology talent. Cisco and NYP will work together to groom selected students develop expertise in information and communications technology (ICT) and gain valuable exposure to different regional cultures as they ready themselves for the global workplace. The students will be trained and mentored by Cisco experts, industry partners and NYP staff and will work on industry solutions and innovations on advanced technologies.

The students will work under the Cisco Briefing Center (CBC) in Singapore and also be a part of the regional Cisco Express project team. The announcement marks another initiative in the continual collaboration between Cisco and NYP to support and develop industry capabilities.

“The CBC is a fixed demonstration and proof-of-concept laboratory that we use to showcase Cisco’s technologies to our large enterprise and service provider customers. Due to limitations in distance and time, the CBC cannot accommodate all our customers. The Cisco Express-NoW will bring a piece of the CBC to the doorsteps of our customers throughout the region, help educate and train new resellers, and play a role in the communities it visits. The collaboration with NYP will ensure that we keep the Cisco Express-NoW strongly rooted in the community,” said Tom Cheong, Cisco’s managing director for Singapore and Brunei.

“NYP is glad to work with our valued partner in the Cisco Express-NoW project. Our students will benefit immensely from the development of solutions and technologies for industry, and from their involvement with the regional CBC. The exposure will better equip them with advanced ICT skills and prepare them for the challenges of the global economy. This project seals yet another resounding effort between NYP and Cisco in building capabilities for industry,” remarked Edward Ho, deputy principal/development of NYP.

In addition to Cisco employees and the students from NYP, the Cisco Express-NoW will be staffed by local channel partners and staff and students from Cisco Networking Academy® institutions in the country where the Cisco Express-NoW is touring, providing them with practical learning experiences. More than 1,300 schools in the region participate in the Networking Academy program.

Equipped with satellite and mobile Internet connectivity and rapid deployable communications in the container, the Cisco Express-NoW can also be called on to provide essential communications services for first responders in the advent of a natural disaster in the vicinity.

“The Cisco Express-NoW helps reach out to cities and people that would never have had the opportunity to touch and see Cisco’s technology in the metal. However, we want the Cisco Express to be more than just a mobile technology showcase. It will integrate into the communities that it visits. We see the Cisco Express as a vehicle to extend the human network further into more parts of the region,” said Christian Hentschel, Cisco’s director for marketing, commercial and channels in Asia.