The California Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) will honor John Chambers, CEO and president of Cisco Systems, with the prestigious International Partnership Award in a ceremony on Nov. 10 at a special Silicon Valley Gala dinner to be attended by over 400 VIPs, dignitaries and business executives from Israel and California.
John Chambers will be recognized for his commitment to investing in Israel’s technology growth. In 1998, Cisco established a design center in Netanya, Israel. Over the years, Cisco has grown its activities in Israel through R&D, sales resources, business development and direct investments including the acquisitions of several leading Israeli start-up companies.
Cisco Systems’ Israel facility is now its second largest design center outside the US, with over 500 Israeli research and development engineers who focus on designing and creating Cisco’s most advanced technology products — including high-class routers and switches, network management and network security technologies.
In addition, Cisco Systems has invested in its Cisco Network Academy Program in Israel and currently has over 50 academies and 1,700 students enrolled in the program. Cisco has also launched the net@ program to help reduce the technology gap for young Israelis.
“Through Cisco’s R&D center and the Cisco Networking Academy Program, we have found unique ways to invest in the innovation and drive of the Israeli people,” said Chambers. “Cisco is proud of its relationship with Israel, and I am honored to receive this award.”
Marconi in Asset Sale to Ericsson
Swedish telecoms equipment firm Ericsson has agreed to buy the telecoms equipment operations of UK’s Marconi for 1.2 billion pounds ($ 2.1 billion). The deal covers most of Marconi’s assets and the Marconi name. Marconi will be left with its services business which is to be renamed Telent.
Marconi currently has about 9,000 staff worldwide. Of these, 2,000 workers in the UK will be retained in the Telent business.
“Over a period of several years, we have had conversations with a number of potential partners regarding the necessary consolidation in our industry,” said Marconi Chairman John Devaney. “In Ericsson, we have found a partner that has the scale and global reach to take our equipment business forward in a way that we would not have been able to do alone.”
Juniper Deploys Major Networks in Egypt
The Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) has selected a comprehensive Juniper Networks routing and security solution to build a nationwide IPv6 network for the Egyptian Universities Network (EUN) and National Research Centers. MCIT is deploying a range of Juniper Networks’ routing, integrated firewall/VPN (virtual private network) and intrusion prevention platforms to create a secure and assured IPv6 network.
The network will provide high-speed, secure Internet access and interconnectivity to 26 university and research centers throughout Egypt and will also connect users to the Internet2 community. This is the first native IPv6 network in the region and the first major deployment for Juniper in the Education sector in the Middle East.
To meet its need for fast, reliable throughput of large volumes of data, MCIT/EUN has deployed M-series multiservice routing platforms. Juniper Networks M-series are deployed in the world’s largest networks, delivering advanced IP/MPLS routing services at scale and providing industry-leading security and reliability. The M-series router features the high-performance and resilient JUNOS operating system, ensuring consistent and reliable performance for advanced network services.
The security layer comprises the ISG 2000 integrated security gateway devices for firewall/VPN functionality and IDP 1000 devices for standalone, inline intrusion prevention. This layer has been designed to protect critical network assets from external threats and to ensure that any internal breaches can be easily intercepted and contained.
“With end-to-end IPv6 capabilities, EUN is building one of the most advanced networks in the region, if not the world,” said Eddie Minshull, vice president of operations EMEA for Juniper Networks.
