New Cisco Unit First Based Abroad

Dozens of new cities are to be built in China, India, and the Middle East in the coming decade and Cisco Systems wants to network them top-to-bottom, the Financial Times reports. The networking equipment giant is setting up a new business center in Bangalore, India, as part of its push to expand in the developing world.

As urban populations grow, Cisco hopes to cash in by convincing developers to leapfrog older technology and wire entire cities with cutting-edge Internet protocol systems. "There are millions of people in these countries who will be urbanized over the next ten years," a Cisco executive said. "This is clearly a multi-billion dollar opportunity." (More Cisco stories.)