Cisco Investing $100 Million In Small Business Initiative

During a gathering of channel media in Portugal, Cisco Systems has so far made two major announcements. First up, the company unveiled a global partner collaboration strategy that allows VARs to become sales agents for one another. Next up, Cisco announced a $100 million initiative focused on small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Here’s the scoop.

Time for some full disclosure: The VAR Guy needs to catch a limo to an event (yes, the minimum-wage blogger travels in first-class style). To save some time and catch his ride, our resident blogger lifted much of the info below word-for-word from Cisco (heck, at least The VAR Guy admits when he’s plagiarizing).

According to Cisco, a new Small Business Technology Group (SBTG) will “develop technologies focused on six areas consistently highlighted as top priorities by small businesses for enabling business growth: connectivity, security, remote access, productivity, customer interaction and customer support.”

Cut to the Chase

Here are six key highlights from the announcement:

Show Me the Money

Oh, and what about that $100 million investment? Cisco says the money will drive such efforts as:

Again, most of the info above is taken word-for-word from Cisco. But here’s an interesting footnote: The announcement barely mentioned Linksys and the Linksys brand…

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