Cisco and Etisalat Strengthen Collaboration by Signing a Memorandum of Understanding

Cisco to Collaborate with Etisalat on Multiple Workstreams with the Aim of Enhancing Etisalat’s Customer Experience across Its 18 Footprint Countries

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, December 18, 2011 – Cisco, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) company, andEtisalat, a leading operator in the Middle East and Africa, announced today the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to map all strategic mutual objectives between Cisco and Etisalat. The two companies also announceda Global Frame Agreement to cover all of Etisalat’s affiliates that buy Cisco products and services across Etisalat’s 18 footprint countries*.

The signing ceremony was held at Etisalat Headquarters in Abu Dhabi and was attended by Etisalat Group CEO, H.E. Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar, and Cisco’s Senior Vice President for Cisco Emerging Markets, Duncan Mitchell.  The delegation also included the General Manager for Cisco UAE, Wayne Hull and Regional Manager for Cisco UAE, Mohammed Tantawi.

Highlights/Key Facts

• As part of the agreement, Etisalat and Cisco intend to work together towards a beneficial business relationship to enhance and extend Etisalat business, including wireline, mobile, managed services and data centre technology.
• The agreement will also aim to improve Etisalat’s customer experience and satisfaction by collaborating with Cisco to bring thought leadership from worldwide service providers.
• Cisco and Etisalat will explore opportunities to increase the level of Eitsalat’s managed services business by optimizing the current process across all business solutions, reducing the time to market and aligning closer on key opportunities. This initiative includes increasing Etisalat’s potential market opportunity in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) segment.
• Cisco will collaborate with Etisalat to help build a high-level strategic articulation and a comprehensive framework for cloud services based on the specific countries of presence for Etisalat.
• Cisco will also support Etisalat in its efforts to stay at the forefront of technological updates and market transformations and to harness new trends and translate them into new business opportunities. Cisco will help provide Etisalat with leading products and services to build its next-generation IP network.
• Through this agreement, Etisalat will explore utilizing Cisco® services to lower the total cost of network ownership, increase network availability, improve business agility and facilitate faster time to market. This includes exploring the group’s wide deployment and utilization of Cisco Network Optimization Services.
• The agreement will help Etisalat and its affiliates to identify optimal ways to acquire Cisco equipment and services through Cisco Capital®, the financing arm of Cisco, which provides flexible and innovative financing across the region.

*Etisalat has operations and investments in 18 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Togo, Republic of Central Africa, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Afghanistan, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

About Etisalat
Etisalat is one of the largest telecommunications groups in the world and the leadingoperator in the Arab world headquartered in the UAE. Etisalat operates in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, servicing over 100m customers out ofa total population that exceeds 1.9bn people. In 2009, Etisalat reported annual Net Revenues of AED 30.831billion and Net Profits of AED 8.836 billion marking a 5% and 16% increase respectively, compared to 2008. Etisalat is rated by Moody’s: Aa3, Standard & Poor’s: AA- and Fitch Ratings: A+. Etisalat is a major investor in Thuraya, one of the world’s leading satellite geo-mobile communication systems covering approximately two thirds of the planet’s surface.

About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.  For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.  Cisco products in the Middle East are supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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