“Networking is here to stay and it's going to keep on growing,” said Cisco (South Asia) Corporate Responsibility Regional Manager Lokesh Mehra addressing the media at the Cisco Media Offsite 2008 in Sri Lanka recently. He pointed out that besides its continued growth, networking at is often the fastest growing area in the economy.
Moreover he said that in the process of an e-Government transformation, authorities have to improve the productivity of the internal staff, enhance public safety, increase security, transform education and connect communities. According to Cisco CEO John Chambers the two great equalizers in life are the Internet and education.
While inquiring into the issue of investing in this sector he said “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) penetration in almost all of the South Asian countries is below 7 %”.
Referring to the younger generation Mehra said that they are a 'download' and a 'pen' generation as the entire concept of collaboration has changed. Furthermore he divulged that 120 million clips are being downloaded on average everyday from YouTube.
Speaking about the Cisco Networking Academy Programme he said that students obtaining the highest qualification which is the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert will be able to earn a minimum of USD 150,000-160,000 easily. The Cisco Networking Academy Programme since its launch in 1997 has established itself with more than 2 million students in approximately 165 countries.
