Cisco to build cyber R&D center in Israel
CEO of American multinational networking corporation says company will invest $15 million in Israeli venture capital funds, development of new security technologies
According to Chambers, the company plans to establish a development center in Israel that will sponsor research on cyber security and analyze security in the financial, health and industrial sectors in cooperation with startup companies and the academia.
He said it would facilitate the growth of a new generation of high-tech companies in Israel and the integration of ultra-Orthodox and minorities in the labor market.
A source in the Israel National Cyber Bureau estimated that Cisco would invest tens of millions of dollars in the new center and will recruit about 100 new employees in the coming year. The company already has 2,000 employees in Israel.
Chambers said that Cisco would also invest $15 million in Israeli venture capital funds and in the development of new security technologies as part of a broader plan to expand its operations in Israel and outside the United States.
"No country has startups like Israel does and I go where the startups are," Chambers told a news conference.
Israel "will be the first country in the world to go end-to-end digital," he said, noting it will be boosted by an ambitious project to build a super-fast fiber optics network.
A group led by Sweden's Viaeuropa was chosen to build the network along with state-run utility Israel Electric Corp using Cisco's technology.
Cisco said the project, which will cost billions of shekels, is expected to be completed in 7-10 years but Chambers said he was pushing for full deployment in 18-36 months. Cisco, he said, is financing $140 million of the project.
Reuters contributed to this report
