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Cisco Announces the Cisco I-Prize to Identify New Business Ideas
Global Competition Launched Using Collaborative Technologies to Accelerate Innovation
| Source: Cisco Systems, Inc.
BANGALORE, INDIA--(Marketwire - October 31, 2007) - In conjunction with the opening of Cisco's
Globalisation Centre East in Bangalore, India, Cisco® (NASDAQ : CSCO )
today announced the Cisco I-Prize, a competition open to entrepreneurs and
innovators around the world. The Cisco I-Prize aims to bring together
global teams to develop technology business ideas using Cisco's
collaboration technologies and to run those ideas through Cisco's process
for identifying emerging technologies to take to market. The winning team
may have the opportunity to join Cisco as founders of a new emerging
technology business unit. Depending on the value of the idea, Cisco may
also invest up to $10 million over three years to fund the new business
unit.
Cisco's heritage is based on connecting people and the rise of
Internet-driven collaboration technologies provides a new opportunity to
connect to and help innovators build their ideas into viable businesses.
Using the power of the network on a global scale and taking advantage of
emerging collaboration process and tools, Cisco hopes to find new business
ideas from contestants from around the world.
"There are large parts of the world where inventors and entrepreneurs don't
have ready access to venture capital or other means of funding, but they
have excellent ideas. We want to give those innovators an outlet and a
means to develop their dream," said Marthin DeBeer, senior vice president,
Cisco's Emerging Technologies Group. "The emergence of collaboration
technologies and the growth of the network are driving a rapid evolution in
the way we work. Cisco believes we can open up new idea pipelines by
closing those geographical gaps and at the same time infuse new ideas into
Cisco's culture of innovation."
The Cisco I-Prize was announced by DeBeer, who appeared at the grand
opening of Cisco's Globalisation Centre East in Bangalore, India, via
next-generation Cisco TelePresence experiences. More information on
Cisco's Globalisation Centre East can be found at
http://newsroom.cisco.com/globalisation/.
The Cisco I-Prize Details
Entries will be evaluated in much the same way that Cisco assesses new
internal business ideas for its Emerging Technologies Group, which is home
to new business ventures such as Cisco TelePresence and Cisco Digital Media
System. Judges will consider both the technology innovation as well as the
business opportunity behind the idea. Ideas should have the potential to
bring in at least $1 billion revenue to Cisco over a five- to seven-year
period, and submissions must use the IP network as a platform. In later
rounds, contestants may be provided access to a variety of Cisco
collaboration tools including WebEx Meeting Center, WebEx WebOffice, and
the opportunity to use TelePresence meeting rooms in Cisco locations around
the world.
The Cisco I-Prize is open to individuals age 18 and older. Cisco employees
and family members are not eligible to participate. To view the Contest
rules and to submit entries, please visit http://www.cisco.com/iprize.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco (NASDAQ : CSCO ) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
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http://newsroom.cisco.com.
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