Cisco eyes Indian automotive sector

• India's passenger vehicle sales grew 18 per cent in 2004-05 with the market finally crossing the 1-million mark (SIAM).
• India is already the fifth largest passenger car market and the second largest small car market in the world (FICCI).
• India is well positioned to potentially capture $20-25 billion in auto component exports by 2015 (CII-McKinsey).

Cisco, a global major in networking for the Internet, is aggressively looking at the Indian automotive sector, as it opens up to exponential growth and challenges from global auto markets.

With a focus on helping Indian manufacturers streamline processes, improve productivity and ensure faster turn-around of high quality products, Cisco is in the midst of conducting an auto seminar that straddles the three key automotive hubs in the country -- Pune, Chennai and Delhi.

A key feature of the seminar is a technology showcase covering a wide range of innovative technologies such as wireless LANs, IP telephony and video surveillance for increased collaboration, monitoring and service management in the Indian auto industry.

Cisco's expertise in managing networks in this sector goes back a long way: the company works with leading auto players in the country including Honda, Ford and Mahindra & Mahindra. In one of its most successful customer references, Cisco was able to help Ford (Europe) contribute in a $1 billion profit turn-around between 2000-2001 as a result of e-enabling projects.

"At a time when auto companies are beginning to adopt world car concepts that transcend diverse geographies, Tech Drive 2005 will provide the ideal forum to bring world auto majors' best practices to the Indian industry," said Jangoo Dalal, senior vice president-enterprise, Cisco Systems (India & SAARC).

"With supply chains getting increasingly large and spread out, the challenge today lies in achieving a new level of visibility and flexibility through the automotive organization's network and Cisco is committed to streamlining these cutting edge network deployments for India's leading auto players."

Auto, retail, textile and pharmaceuticals are some of the key sub-verticals Cisco is looking to tap during the year.