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Computing/Networking/Internet
BPOs flocked to the new solution, as did large enterprises with data infrastructure in place, such
as New India Assurance Co. and the National Highways Authority of India. IP phone prices
have come down from an initial $350 per unit to around $100, and the savings on calls within the
so-called “closed user groups” allowed by law have been considerable, while enhanced broadband
services have increased, exceeding the offerings of most PSTN providers.
White sees opportunities for applying the India BPO model to more sophisticated processes.
“Could you use things like call centers—clusters of resources—for more intelligent things?” he
asks. “That engineer talking to the CIO in Manhattan—who cares where he sits?” Toward that
end, he says, Cisco has been more willing to collaborate with Indian vendors moving up the
value chain.
But he acknowledges that the concept has inherent limitations: “There’s a quantity versus quality
game. You can scale outsourcing by processes, but can you scale innovation? You can throw
10,000 more people at a problem, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting 10,000 more
ideas.” Thus San Jose will likely retain its central role in Cisco’s R&D and strategic planning for
some time, even as global activities become more localized. “The world has flattened,” White
says, “but it’s not lopsided yet. The U.S. and its market will continue to drive innovation, even
relative to the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China).”
Cisco’s latest move is into sustainable urban development. Connected Urban Development
(www.ConnectedUrbanDevelopment.org), was launched at the Clinton Global Initiative with a
$15 million pledge, with the idea of building technology into the foundation of new and expanding
cities from the ground up. One focus is “ecomapping”, a system that helps cities map
and compare their transportation, energy, waste, and CO 2 footprints. At present, the Connected
Urban Development initiative includes seven global cities, including San Francisco, and is largely
driven from Cisco’s globalization center in Bangalore. The concept, which will eventually be
spun off as an independent platform, reflects Cisco’s vision of the role that technology can play
in supporting sustainable urban growth in critical areas such as energy and smart grid—a vision
that contains the seed of an eventual business model. Earlier this year the company announced
the CUD Alliance—a partnership with the Climate Group (see the Energy/Environment/Clean
Technology section of this chapter)—to expand the participation of businesses, cities, and nongovernmental
organizations in a global strategy for the role of IT in sustainable cities.
Venkat Panchapakesan joined Sunnyvale Internet portal and search firm Yahoo! in
1998 as vice president for engineering. Early on, Panchapakesan was tasked with establishing
an India presence, including setting up an R&D center. “The focus was not cost
savings,” he says. “In order to serve markets globally, you need to tap global talent.” While
Yahoo! always viewed India as a potential market, there have been limitations. “People use the
Internet a lot,” he explains, “but the price of a personal computer is a factor; so is the access cost
for DSL.”
An interim step for the company was Yahoo! India—an English-language portal and directory
of India-related websites launched in June 2000, offering news, stock quotes, cricket scores, and
Bollywood gossip, along with email, instant messaging, chat, and online clubs.
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