Cisco's has new view of emerging markets

BANGALORE, India, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Cisco Systems' new headquarters in Bangalore, India, is emblematic of the company's push to establish itself in emerging markets, analysts said.

The San Jose, Calif., company, known for its Internet switches and routers, has plans to grow 12 percent to 17 percent a year, the San Jose Mercury News reported Monday.

To help reach that goal, the company built its new office in India two years ago in part with expectations its Indian workforce of 5,000 will double in the next several years, the newspaper reported.

The modern Bangalore headquarters is within a five-hour flight of 70 percent of the world's population, said Wim Elfrink, the Cisco executive who relocated to India to oversee operations there.

"Seventy percent of the people in India live off of a dollar a day, and 40 percent are illiterate," Elfrink said. "That means video has got to be pervasive. So connectivity -- the network -- gives opportunity to new business models."

"If we are not here, someone else will be," Elfrink said.