Cisco Country Digital Acceleration: A Decade of Empowering Nations Through Digital Transformation
NORTHAMPTON, MA / / June 3, 2025 / By Guy Diedrich, Ph.D
In every corner of the globe, digital technology is becoming the bridge to opportunity, empowerment, and transformation. Cisco's Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program is at the forefront of this movement, revolutionizing how communities connect, learn, and grow in today's digital age. As we celebrate ten years of impactful progress, the CDA program continues to break new ground, driving positive change across nations.
The Vision Behind CDA
In 2015, we observed a global trend: leaders were developing national digital agendas-plans to outline how their country would leverage digital technologies to promote economic growth, improve public services, enhance inclusion, and foster innovation. The inception of Cisco's CDA program was fueled by a pivotal realization: while nations were eager to embrace digital transformation, many lacked the concrete strategies and expertise needed to implement these agendas.
Cisco recognized this gap and saw an opportunity to make a meaningful impact. We adopted a collaborative approach from the outset, working closely with government officials to understand their unique challenges and align with national priorities. This involved transforming existing digital agendas into comprehensive, actionable plans with defined projects and budgets. Beyond planning, we committed resources to fund pilot projects and proofs of concept, showcasing the tangible benefits of digitization and building confidence in digital technologies.
This collaborative, investment-driven strategy set the CDA program apart by creating a sustainable ecosystem for innovation, positioning it as a catalyst for digital transformation and enabling nations to unlock new opportunities for meaningful change.
Laying the Foundation
At the time, our efforts were centered on establishing foundational projects that would set the stage for future innovation. These initiatives were critical in providing essential digital infrastructure and access to communities that were often overlooked. In France, Italy, Germany, India, and the UK we began by implementing projects that connected schools, hospitals, and local governments to the internet, enabling access to vital resources and services.
In the early stages of our foundational projects, we prioritized digital education by outfitting classrooms with cutting-edge technology, enabling both students and teachers to access global educational content and cultivating a new generation of digitally literate individuals.
Simultaneously, we revolutionized the healthcare sector by developing connected systems that enhanced patient management and telemedicine, especially in remote areas lacking adequate medical facilities. By integrating Cisco's secure networking solutions, we empowered healthcare providers to deliver more efficient care.
Security was also a key focus; as we extended connectivity to more communities, we implemented advanced measures to protect sensitive data and ensure the integrity of digital networks, establishing a robust and secure platform for future growth.
These foundational efforts delivered immediate benefits and fostered the trust and collaboration essential for lasting partnerships with governments and local stakeholders. By addressing the fundamental needs of connectivity, education, healthcare, and security, we established a robust platform that would support more ambitious and innovative projects in the years to come.
Transforming tomorrow, today
Building on this strong foundation, the Autonomous Living Project, now known as Hayla, initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic and is one of our more impactful projects today. Imagine individuals with diverse needs who suddenly found themselves isolated due to lockdowns. Our solution provided them with technology to manage daily activities independently while staying connected with caregivers. This project didn't just offer a temporary fix; it empowered many to choose autonomy even after the pandemic, fundamentally enhancing their quality of life.
In Singapore, we are partnering with the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) to elevate public safety through 5G and AI innovations. By leveraging Cisco's 5G-as-a-Service, we're developing proofs-of-concept to enhance safety infrastructure. Additionally, we're collaborating on an AI-driven Security and Network Operations platform to help HTX effectively manage and counter advanced cyber threats. This initiative aims to transform public safety measures and position Singapore as a leader in digital transformation for homeland security.
At the Port of Rotterdam, Cisco's CDA program is pioneering the integration of quantum computing to revolutionize logistics and operations. By establishing the first quantum network, we're enhancing data processing capabilities, optimizing supply chain efficiency, and setting a new standard for smart port technology. This project demonstrates the transformative power of quantum technologies while showcasing the potential for innovative solutions to drive economic growth and sustainability in one of the world's busiest ports.
As we celebrate a decade of CDA, we've launched over 1,600 digitization projects in 50 countries. Our unique approach brings together government, industry, and academia from the start, ensuring comprehensive and swift execution. This collaborative model not only builds trust but also facilitates continuous innovation, allowing us to stay relevant amid changing global dynamics.
Looking Ahead
As we move forward, the future of CDA shines brighter than ever, propelled by rapid technological advancements and the evolving needs of nations. Our commitment to supporting countries on their digital journeys remains unwavering, adapting to new priorities and seizing emerging opportunities. As geopolitical dynamics shift, our role as a trusted partner becomes increasingly vital. Our agile approach allows us to pivot quickly, ensuring we remain relevant and responsive to the global landscape.
Looking ahead, the CDA program focuses on integrating cutting-edge technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence to redefine industries and tackle complex challenges. We're also expanding into new regions, customizing our efforts to meet each country's unique needs and fostering partnerships with emerging economies.
Guided by our commitment to closing the digital divide and empowering communities worldwide, we recognize the importance of nurturing local talent and investing in education and skills development. By expanding access to Cisco Networking Academy programs, enhancing digital literacy, and supporting entrepreneurial initiatives, we aim to equip future generations with the tools needed to thrive in the digital age.
Charting new horizons
Simply put, we are driven by the belief that technology holds the power to transform lives and uplift communities. The CDA program is a testament to this belief-a manifestation of Cisco's purpose to power an inclusive future for all. I am proud of what we have achieved together so far, yet it is the boundless possibilities ahead that truly excite me.
The future is marked by limitless potential and a steadfast dedication to making a positive impact. As we embrace new technologies and challenges, our focus remains on empowering nations, communities, and individuals to realize their full potential in a connected world, and we invite you to join the journey. Share this blog to inspire others with the transformative power of technology, and don't miss our special celebration video showcasing the impact of CDA over the years.
Let's continue to build an inclusive future together!
View original content here.
View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cisco Systems Inc. on 3blmedia.com.
Contact Info:Spokesperson: Cisco Systems Inc.Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cisco-systems-inc Email: info@3blmedia.com
SOURCE: Cisco Systems Inc.
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
32 minutes ago
- Forbes
Is Jeetu Patel Bringing Cisco Investors A Satya Nadella Moment?
Cisco has been busy genning up product releases, news stories, and hype this at its annual conference, Cisco Live, hosted this week in San Diego. But this is only part of a bigger thing has been happening: Investors have been bidding up shares in Cisco over the past few months in the hope that a larger transformation is being driven by new President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel. Cisco shares are up 10% this year to date. It's not a coincidence that Cisco shares have recently hit new 52-week highs on the back of heavy product-focused strategy spearheaded by Patel, who was promoted to streamline Cisco's product divisions last year and then promoted again to President last month. Investors and Cisco observers have noticed. The rise in Cisco's fortunes has also followed a Secure AI Factory deal that Cisco struck with Nvidia in March, which integrates AI infrastructure products, coupling Nvidia's GPUs with Cisco's networking and Silicon One proprietary chip. In short, after years of stagnation on the product front, Cisco may now be undergoing meaningful change, catalyzed by Patel. Cisco sources say that it's a conscious move reminiscent of the transformation driven by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who took over from former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in 2014 and pivoted the company toward innovation in cloud infrastructure and AI—bringing investors huge returns as Microsoft shares have appreciated 1,000% under the leadership of Nadella. Several sources have confirmed with me that it's a topic of discussion inside Cisco. After all, Nadella is considered a hero in the Silicon Valley Indian-American community. Sources say that Patel, a fellow Indian-American business executive, has looked up to Nadella as a role model. So why Patel, and why now? Critics have pointed out that Cisco was in major need of some big fixes, which my firm Futuriom has detailed from end-users research over the past few years. Big customers have been grousing about perennial problems, such as a proliferation of operating systems, bloated product portfolios, and Cisco's sales-driven culture. CEO Chuck Robbins was even rumored to be on the chopping block. "A core criticism from enterprises on Cisco's networking portfolio has been the lack of integration between the products, operating systems, and management platforms," says a note about Cisco Live announcements from William Blair analysts Sabastien Naji and Jason Ader. "Cisco looked to address these criticisms, announcing that is has unified the management plane for its Catalyst and Meraki portfolios as well as for its Nexus (NX-OS) and ACI data center networking product lines." The new direction is also the result of a reorg started by Cisco to address these shortcomings, and Patel has been a big part of it. The rise of Patel gained momentum last fall, when Cisco announced a layoff of 7% of staff and the elevation of Patel to head of all Cisco's product divisions. That's when Patel pushed for more work on product integrations and leveraging Cisco's gigantic installed base. These initiatives have borne fruit, and Patel was elevated to President and Chief Product Officer. The former Cisco President Gary Steele, who was rumored to be Robbins' successor, left the company in March to become CEO of Shield AI, paving the way for Patel's further rise and elevation to President. Sources told us that Steele's decision to leave was based on his perception that there was more upside to running an AI startup, but that paved the way for Patel's rise inside Cisco, where he is clearly being positioned as the next CEO. Cisco watchers have been noticing. 'This is Cisco's Satya Nadella moment,' said Steve Mullaney, the former CEO of networking startup Aviatrix as well as a former Cisco executive, in an interview. 'This is what they need in these times. You need a product leader, and that's Jeetu. I agree with his phrase that Cisco can become unrecognizable. It's been all there, all along, waiting for Jeetu to bring it out.' Investors may be welcoming this refreshing change. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins has been a steady executive, but he never delivered anything spectacular on the innovation side. Cut from the same cloth as his predecessor John Chambers, Robbins is a solid communicator and sales leader whose strategy has been based on M&A. But a product visionary and technology integration expert he is not. Patel is a different sort of leader. His message has been one of product innovation and integration—long weaknesses of Cisco's. This week at Cisco Live he has demonstrated his handiwork, being ever-present in Cisco's launches of new technology and product segments, including the AI infrastructure products with Nvidia as well as important new networking releases and updates, such as Nexus 9000. Some Cisco-connected sources say it's definitely not a coincidence that Patel is being compared to Satya, as that's part of the strategy and image being cultivated by the Cisco brass. "I think Cisco thinks he's Satya Nadella in the making," says Mike Dvorkin, a former Cisco Distinguished Engineer and one of the creators of Cisco ACI, it's software management platform. Dvorkin says that Patel is "directionally correct" if he's a potential successor to Robbins, but that so far Cisco has only made cosmetic changes to its gigantic portfolio. "The tech direction is set by Nvidia,' he says. 'Cisco is at best packaging Nvidia.' Cisco Live has demonstrated the influence of Patel, who in some presentations has talked openly about the past perception of Cisco as a prolific M&A accumulator of startups that doesn't work hard on integration after deals. And some of the new launches show this new focus. Some of the key announcements at Cisco Live have included the introduction of a new centralized networking management dashboard, including Nexus Fabric and Nexus Dashboard; progress in integrating Cisco's networking products with Nvidia; and a host of AI-driven management products for areas such as NetOps and security. The launch of Nexus Fabric is addressing some long-needed fixes in integration of Cisco's networking software, such as ACI. But that was just part of the news. More emphasis was placed on Cisco's new partnership with Nvidia, announced earlier this year, as well as improvements in AI operations (AIOps) and network security integration. Let's hit on some of the examples: AI Networking Platform. Cisco released more details about its partnership with Nvidia, which now looks like the linchpin of its AI networking strategy. The companies showcased their integration efforts in Cisco's Secure AI Factory with Nvidia, including full-stack AI solutions supporting edge, RAG, training, and large-scale inferencing. A key technical element included the promise of 400G bidirectional (BiDi) optics in the second half of the year. Networking Fabric Integration. The company announced Cisco Nexus Dashboard, which provides centralized datacenter network operations and automation across Nexus, MDS, and ACI fabrics. The goal is to provide network operators more flexibility as well as an integrated approach to managing VXLAN-EVPN and ACI fabrics. AIOps and NetDevOps. Cisco is adopting AI for NetOps and NetDevOps, including Cisco AI Canvas, an 'industry-first generative user interface' for real-time collaboration between network and security operations teams. The vendor also introduced Cisco AI Assistant, which provides conversational control across the Cisco suite. Embedded Security. Cisco still has a complex array of security approaches and products, but it tried to shed light on further integrations of networking and security with Hypershield and Hybrid Mesh Firewall, which aim to embed security and policy control directly into network fabrics. For example, Cisco announced that it has extended Hybrid Mesh Firewall enforcement to the Cisco ACI fabric by integrating Cisco Secure Workload with Cisco ACI. This new thrust demonstrates how Patel has implemented meaningful change as he has been given more authority. There's more room to run. He's focused the company on integrating internally where it makes sense and partnering externally where it's necessary. For investors, the partnership with Nvidia is a key element, because it's elevating Cisco's visibility in the AI category, where it can lean on Nvidia's strengths in DPUs and generate more revenue from its own proprietary chip platform, Silicon One. This AI strategy couldn't come at a better time. It's a huge opportunity, but the AI infrastructure boom has fueled enthusiasm the networking market and brewed up fierce competition among incumbents and startups alike. HPE is still holding out for a merger with Juniper, and Arista Networks continues to produce spectacular results on the back of AI infrastructure. In addition, a range of startups, including Arrcus, DriveNets, Aviz Networks, and Hedgehog are also getting in on the AI networking action as customers look for a wide range of solutions ranging from building massive AI pods to inferencing at the edge, as we recently detailed in our Networking for AI Infrastructure report. Some Wall Street analysts have a similar take. Cisco has started addressing long-standing issues, but it has more work to do. William Blair's analysts Sabastien Naji and Jason Ader think it's a promising start, but they point out there's a lot more work to do—and Cisco's is still facing fierce competition from rivals, including Arista, which is perceived to be a more technically advanced company. 'While we see this as a step in addressing a longstanding criticism of Cisco's networking products, many enterprise customers will need some convincing to remedy the perception that these products remain largely distinct," says the investor note. "In our view, competitor Arista remains well positioned for share gains, given its single OS and management plane across campus and data center products.' All of this shows the power of changes in leadership, and it has given Cisco investors new optimism. It's only a start, but it's a promising start. If Cisco can elevate its game in the gigantic markets of AI infrastructure, networking, and cybersecurity, this story has a lot more legs.
Business Wire
an hour ago
- Business Wire
Quantum Xchange Releases Virtual Container Key Management Solution for Post-Quantum Cryptography
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today at Cisco Live, Cisco's annual IT and communications conference, Quantum Xchange announced that its Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) key management solution, Phio TX ®, is now available as a virtual container. The new form factor, Phio TX-EM, is compatible with Cisco networking operating systems IOS XE, IOS XR, as well as the Nexus NX-OS operating system, which will allow Cisco networking users to harden their infrastructure and easily migrate to NIST-standard PQC with no network downtime or performance degradation. 'Our support for Cisco's SKIP protocol and network operating systems is just the latest example of how Quantum Xchange is working to offer their customers, and the market, a practical path to quantum readiness while hardening their infrastructure today,' Share Phio TX supports standard key management protocols, such as SKIP and ETSI, enabling drop-in integration without changes to existing router configurations. It is also one of the first products to receive NIST certification for the latest FIPS 140-3 cryptographic module standard and FIPS 203 validation supporting all ML-KEM algorithms for post-quantum security. Compatible with Cisco IOS XE and XR routers supporting containers such as Cisco Catalyst 8000v, NCS 540 and Nexus switches with containers, Phio TX-EM provides over-the-network provisioning, installation, configuration and distribution of Phio TX key management as an integrated process within the network itself. With Phio TX-EM, SKIP key requests are kept within the cryptographic boundary of the device, making the SKIP PQC implementation secure by eliminating the possibility of data leakage due to weakly configured external SKIP calls. Only FIPS-validated PQC key exchanges are passed between devices. Moreover, Phio TX does not rely on pre-shared or static keys. It uses ephemeral keys, dynamically generated in-memory and deleted after use. A strong symmetric key is created and travels out-of-band, independent of the encrypted data thereby avoiding harvest now, decrypt later (HNDL) and man-in-the-middle attack scenarios. Download the Phio TX-EM data sheet for a complete inventory of product features. 'Our support for Cisco's SKIP protocol and network operating systems is just the latest example of how Quantum Xchange is working to offer their customers, and the market, a practical path to quantum readiness while hardening their infrastructure today,' said Antonio Sanchez, Chief Strategy Officer at Quantum Xchange. 'Phio TX's crypto-agile features and capabilities deployed as a virtual container, offers customers choice and flexibility for meeting the unique data security requirements of their organization while easily upgrading their network infrastructure to quantum safety with zero static keys, zero downtime, and zero added latency.' Quantum Xchange demoed Phio TX and its various deployment options in the Security & Networking Village at Cisco Live, where the best and brightest minds in IT come together to learn, share knowledge, and connect. To view the presentation delivered to event attendees in San Diego, June 8-12, 2025, 'Fast Track to Post-Quantum Security' go to the Cisco Live website. About Quantum Xchange Quantum Xchange protects confidential and classified data from advances in computing and everyday cybersecurity risks. Its award-winning key management platform, Phio TX empowers organizations to bring existing IT infrastructures into the post-quantum era easily and affordably with an innovative, secure, and flexible architecture. Commercial enterprises and government agencies can leverage trusted standards for quantum-safe protection, embrace crypto-agility, and establish a cryptographic center of excellence with no network or application downtime and no performance degradation. To learn more visit
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Meter, a Networking Start-Up, Raises New Funds
As Silicon Valley has obsessed over artificial intelligence, significant attention has been paid to technology underpinning it: advanced computer chips, large language models and so on. Less has been devoted to the pipes that help deliver A.I. — networking equipment. But that has been changing, as companies and investors see the potential of improving relatively prosaic equipment like switches and access points to supercharge A.I. offerings. The latest sign is that Meter, a San Francisco-based start-up that sells packages of networking equipment, plans to announce on Thursday that it has raised $170 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion. The round, which was led by the venture capital firm General Catalyst and includes backing from the likes of Microsoft and Sequoia Capital, is further evidence that for many in Silicon Valley, networking is becoming a hotter investment focus. 'Networking is an overlooked, yet crucial, aspect of the world's tech infrastructure,' said Hemant Taneja, General Catalyst's chief executive, who led the firm's investment in Meter. 'Networking spend is expected to grow massively in the next few years because of A.I. needs, and yet current networks are one of the biggest blockers' to growing A.I. computing power. To be fair, networking is already a big business: Cisco, the heavyweight in the field, has a $254 billion market capitalization, while Arista Networks has a $118 billion market cap. Those incumbents haven't been standing still either, with Cisco announcing this week that it was introducing a new generation of switches to keep up with huge data flows from A.I. services. But Meter has drawn significant support — among its early backers were Sam Altman of OpenAI; Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder; and Diane Greene, the former Google Cloud chief executive — with its promise of a new business model for the networking business. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
