Cisco (CSCO) China is working with the Xiamen Municipal Government to promote the development of Xiamen's information and communications technology capabilities, with a focus on the software industry.

The collaboration is aimed at establishing a long-term, stable and mutually beneficial strategic tie between Cisco and Xiamen. As part of the initiative, Cisco will deploy its advanced TelePresence communications solution in Xiamen, a major seaport on the southeast coast of China, in Fujian province.

"Cisco is honored to cooperate with the Xiamen Municipal Government concerning the building of an intelligent network platform for communication and collaboration, so as to bring added value to businesses and the public, and let people perceive the power of the network and the rich experiences it provides," said Thomas Lam, president of Cisco China.

Cisco will be assisting the Xiamen Municipal Government in preparing and implementing ICT development strategies. The company plans to provide support for the development of the Xiamen software industry, participate in building the online public service and technology platform of the Xiamen Software Park, jointly set up the Cisco Innovations Experience Center, train networking professionals for the city and develop local Cisco channel partners. The municipal government will also be the first customer in the Asia-Pacific public service sector to deploy the Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution.

Cisco TelePresence, underpinned by intelligent Internet Protocol based networks, helps enable people in different corners of the world to have unique and "in-person" communications with each other. By taking advantage of a wide range of innovations and breakthroughs in IP-based audio, video and telecommunication technologies, Cisco TelePresence has given "face-to-face" contact new meaning. Deployment of the Cisco TelePresence demonstration platform, scheduled to take place at the Cisco Innovations Experience Center in the Xiamen Software Park, marks the first use of the Cisco TelePresence technology in the Asia Pacific public sector. This will have profound implications for the widespread adoption of the technology among governments.

The Xiamen Municipal Government has stated that it places great importance on its ICT development strategy and welcomes multinational companies like Cisco to bring leading networking technologies and global best practices to the area.