That is according to Niall Moynihan, who has recently joined Ciscos local office in the role of business development manager for emerging markets.
 
In this role, Moynihan will be developing the organisations channel to market as well as engaging with end-users in order to map the extensive Cisco portfolio of solutions and services to the needs of customers.
 
One of the exciting aspects of joining Cisco is certainly the breadth of solutions which the company has to offer; this is a strong basis for business development as there are generally considerable opportunities to grow sales within the existing customer base while also expanding into new opportunities, says Moynihan.
 
Noting that typical customer environments in the USA and much of Europe tend to be bogged down with legacy equipment, which customers are reluctant to retire, he believes Africa is positioned to benefit from converged network equipment.

Africa has historically lagged in development; however, from a telecoms and data centre perspective, the massive capacity that is required to meet demand for information and communications technology services is resulting in investments on the enabling infrastructure, he says.
 
Moynihan adds that the breadth of this portfolio gives Cisco an advantage over competitors. He explains: Where other organisations may be focused on one aspect of technology such as security they tend to reach the limitations of development. With a range spanning the ICT spectrum, opportunities for the convergence of ideas are created, resulting in more innovation and better products.