Cisco, Bahrain Government Partner on Communications Technology Initiatives

Looking to improve country's economic and competitive advantage, the government of Bahrain will be working with Cisco (News - Alert) to define strategic information and communications technology (ICT) initiatives. These initiatives are expected to help advance the Kingdom of Bahrain's global competitiveness and network readiness.

 

Focusing on recruiting new talent to address the growing local and regional opportunity, Cisco plans to establish a new office at Bahrain. Assisting in offering immediate support to the growing customer base in the region, the proximity of Cisco's new office to its customers and partners in Bahrain will create working synergies.

 

Cisco will establish an Internet data center based in Bahrain which will serve as a regional hub for Cisco's ICT services, as part of its ongoing commitment to the region. The hub will support the delivery of multiple services and technologies that will include Cisco TelePresence and Cisco's Unified Communications (News - Alert) solutions to company offices in the region.

 

Further accelerating the deployment of Cisco Networking Academy sites across the kingdom, Cisco also discussed the importance of building ICT capabilities through launching education initiatives. Cisco has ten networking academies in Bahrain with 350 active students as of now.

 

As the government looks to grow the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain, these initiatives will strengthen its cooperation with global technology providers through a stronger local presence. It will also pave the way to attract direct foreign investments, a long-standing strategic objective of the government. Enabling the modernization of government operations to enhance government services, such cooperation between the government of Bahrain and Cisco is essential to building the necessary capacity in the kingdom's ICT market.

 

“This is a significant milestone for Cisco in the gulf region and demonstrates our continued efforts in helping government leaders define the ICT blueprints for their countries,” said  Tarek Ghoul, general manager for Cisco’s Gulf North division, in a statement. “Cisco has been working closely with governments across the Middle East to link ICT to the country's social and economic agenda, which will help enable governments to react quickly to market conditions and increase their productivity and economic advantage.”

 

To help the country use ICT to provide enhanced public services to citizens, Cisco will collaborate with the Bahraini eGovernment Authority to provide its perspective on the various facets of e-government, in a series of upcoming workshops. The workshops will highlight the role ICT can play in the overall education reform, the national health agenda, human capital development, public safety and security.