Interview with Cisco Systems Vice President in Eastern Europe.

Recently, in his article, Cisco CEO John Chambers called the crisis quite serious, but at the same time noted a large number of opportunities, including for developing countries. What opportunities and prospects do you see for the markets of Eastern Europe, the CIS, Belarus?

I want to say that the opportunities are truly unique, and here's why. I am from Turkey, born in Istanbul. And over the thirty years of my career, I have seen that the gap between developed and developing countries has not decreased, but increased.

There are many things that contributed to this. I believe that the current time provides an opportunity to level the playing field for developed and developing countries. The countries of Central Asia, the Balkans are the region that will be able to emerge from the crisis by increasing competitiveness and strengthening the position of their economies on a global scale. The current time promotes strategic thinking, promotes an understanding of what makes a country competitive.

Competitiveness is linked to efficiency, and efficiency is directly dependent on the implementation of IT in all areas of business. Therefore, countries like Belarus have a good chance to rebuild their «digital infrastructure». It should now be completely tied to broadband access technologies, connecting residents of the country and organizations to networks that are much more accessible and functional. Here your country has an opportunity to play its card. You have many educated people, good educational traditions — now it would be reasonable to build exactly this broadband infrastructure so that none of your 10 million residents are left deprived.

I am not talking about ADSL with its megabits, I am talking about tens and hundreds of megabits! In Japan, the “gigabit to every home” program is being implemented. The whole point is that the nature of the Internet is changing. 26% of Internet traffic now comes from YouTube alone! Tomorrow, in the next three to five years, video will be different, not the way we perceive it now – visual communications will appear. People will use technologies like our TelePresence to communicate. Perhaps even three-dimensionality or some holograms will appear

Therefore, it is important to create a platform for these changes now. In countries where these opportunities are created, the prerequisites for the emergence of new generation services will appear. Today, at the airport, I saw an advertisement for your outsourcing company. Often, such services, for example, are limited to a call center that provides remote user support. But that is the last century. In a modern call center, you should be provided, say, with a holographic assistant! And services of this nature can be provided, including from Belarus.

Do you see progress in this direction in our country?

Strategic decisions require people with the appropriate type of thinking. And I am very glad that I met such people here. Today we signed an agreement with the Minister of Communications and Informatization regarding the programs «Electronic Belarus» and e-government, so that all the best examples of the implementation of such solutions come to your country. I believe that the current time provides excellent prospects for countries like Belarus.

What areas does the signed agreement cover? Will it remain «on paper»?

This is a memorandum of understanding, a kind of foundation for building further interaction with Belarusian government agencies, work on creating an information society. We never sign documents just to sign them. Our goal is to actively participate in this process of creating new services and improving infrastructure. I consider Belarus and, for example, Kazakhstan in Central Asia, countries where we successfully and actively interact with government agencies.

We agreed with the minister that we will meet in a year and tell him about the achievements. Belarus has many prospects, there is a need for broadband channels, technologies — we have received an excellent opportunity to prove this.

Cisco differs from many competitors in that we have an office and people in Belarus. The company implements the Networking Academies program in Belarus, which has a positive impact on the level of training of IT specialists in the country: at the moment, 725 students are studying in 38 Networking Academies. When we come to a country, we try to somehow positively influence it. This is not the case when a company comes, sells something and leaves. No, we try to develop the market. Develop a partner ecosystem, open Networking Academies, and also (and this will be even more noticeable this year) work with universities, help grow a new generation of businessmen within the framework of Cisco Entrepreneurship Institutes. We did this in Ukraine, Turkey, Hungary, Poland … In my opinion, it's time for us to establish cooperation with leading universities in Belarus as well.

What state tasks will you help solve?

For any government agencies within the knowledge economy, we identify three main tasks. The first is the effective use of technologies to improve the quality of service to citizens (issuing passports, licenses, etc.). We have accumulated vast experience in these areas, and we will provide useful information on this matter for consideration by the Belarusian government.

The second task is how to make public administration effective? This includes communications between government agencies, automation of their internal processes, ensuring a sufficient level of security. The third task is a positive impact on the ICT market and the economy, effective use of technologies by small and medium-sized businesses, stimulation of entrepreneurship development, educational programs. In addition, we plan to offer government agencies our WebEx tool to improve the productivity of their joint work.

How do you assess the influence of the Beltelecom monopoly on the development of the ICT market of Belarus?

A strong national telecom company is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if its strategy coincides with the strategy of the country. I have seen many attempts at liberalization in Europe, the US, the UK… The results were interesting, but frankly, very few were successful. Accessibility and availability are the two main goals in this sector, they must be solved on a national scale. And it does not matter whether one company wins here or the other. The most important goal is to increase the penetration rate. There is no need to pursue other, often artificial, goals. 100% penetration of fast broadband access is achievable. And we are not even talking about 128-256 kbps channels, but at least about commercially viable triple-play services 6 Mbps channels and 100 Mbps in the future.

Is WiMAX such a panacea as analysts and the press like to present this technology?

In my opinion, technology should not be tied to the access method. WiMAX is just a way to achieve the goal. That is, to get a truly mobile technology for providing triple-play services. And in this perspective, WiMAX is not a panacea, it is only an additional technology that provides mobility. But at the same time, it will never be able to replace fiber-optic channels. If the subscriber cannot be provided with copper or optics, WiMAX will be a way to organize broadband access. I believe that countries should adopt WiMAX technology to develop broadband access, but not forget about its complementary, not primary role.

Can you tell us about the successes of telemedicine implementation in Belarus or other CIS countries?

We discussed the HealthPresence project in Astana and decided to start working together with the Kazakh government to implement a telemedicine project in Kazakhstan. This is a variant of using TelePresence technology, when a highly qualified doctor is located at a specially equipped site in his central city and works with patients in remote regions remotely. High-definition images are used, and a number of additional options for working with patients are also provided: measuring blood pressure, viewing an ECG. At the same time, on the other side next to the patient there is a nurse who helps to carry out the necessary measurements or examinations. This is a very relevant model for developing countries: you cannot build a hospital in every populated area, and even if you do, it will be very difficult to attract doctors there.

In addition, the distance issue may be completely different. Let's say, not 400 km, but 5000 km — imagine a situation where Belarusian doctors will be able to remotely serve British patients thanks to this solution! So the telemedicine platform is not only a solution for servicing remote regions, but also a base for services on a national scale.

How did the crisis affect the company and the market?

The crisis has certainly affected our customers’ priorities, and we have had to adapt. No one is immune to changing market conditions. But companies like ours, which are very strong financially, can afford to continue investing and even, perhaps, support their customers.

Does Cisco plan to take any cost-saving measures during these turbulent times?

Cisco has over 300 TelePresence rooms in its offices around the world. They host about 240,000 meetings annually, each of which saves the company one or two flights. This alone saves us over $200 million each year!

Thank you for the interview! What would you like to wish our readers?

I wish that even children in your country would not remain on the sidelines of informatization. After all, today, computer and Internet skills, in my opinion, are as important as the ability to read and write 20 years ago. These young people will take the country to a new level of development.

Kaan Terzioglu

Kaan Terzioglu leads Cisco business operations in Eastern Europe and the CIS. Prior to his current position, Kaan Terzioglu led Cisco IBSG (Internet Business Solutions Group) consulting operations in EMEA across vertical and emerging markets, and then led Advanced Technology Sales and Technical Marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

After graduating from Bogazici University, Kaan Terzioglu joined a major international consulting firm. During this period, he worked in strategic business and information systems planning, system integration, digital strategy and knowledge management in the financial services, telecommunications and media companies. As a management consultant, Kaan Terzioglu worked in various cities and countries such as Chicago (USA), Brussels (Belgium) and Istanbul (Turkey). In 1999, he joined Cisco from a position as head of strategic consulting services at a global consulting firm.

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