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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: telecomguy who wrote (38532)	7/27/2000 2:47:26 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77399

Zoltan is a savvy investor who calls it like he sees it. With regard to CSCO, he has always been right. I disagree with his assessment of NT. It is one of the few disagreements we've ever had. Interestingly, all three of us agree on LU. Common ground!

To: telecomguy who wrote (38532)	7/27/2000 10:25:18 PM
From: Ed Forrest	Respond to of 77399

10:36 AM ET 07/27/00 INTERVIEW-Cisco sees potential for Middle East growth By Kinda Jayoush BEIRUT, July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Internet equipment company Cisco Systems Inc said on Thursday it saw strong potential for growth in the Middle East where only around one in every 115 people are connected to the Internet. Reza Mahdavi, the firm's Middle East managing director, told Reuters Cisco doubled already strong business growth in Dubai last year and 80 percent of Lebanon's banks were now using its products to upgrade their networks. "These countries have good growth potential, but most should privatise and deregulate to attract capital. They have to do this if they want to survive globalisation and boost businesses," Mahdavi said in an interview. Local data shows Internet users average less than 100,000 in each of the Middle East's 22 countries where the population exceeds 250 million people. In Europe, it is estimated that around one in five people are connected to the Internet. Syria has the lowest Internet usage, with only 2,000 Internet subscribers, compared to 100,000 in Lebanon and 250,000 in Saudi Arabia. Most Arab firms have only recently begun to modernise and develop internet-based products. Cisco opened a regional office in 1995 in Dubai, whose government has been deregulating rapidly and offering incentives to technology firms. The firm set up a sales headquarters in Beirut last year. Mahdavi said Cisco's presence in Lebanon had enabled it to begin moving into Syria, whose recently elected president Bashar al-Assad has embraced new technology. He is expected to soon begin opening up parts of the country's command economy. "We started negotiations with the Syrian government. We are expecting to be there in the very near future. The country has been closed for so long," Mahdavi said. Mahdavi expected Dubai, which is marketing an "Internet city" through incentives to foreign firms, to remain Cisco's most attractive market in the region. He said the Arab Levant -- Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq -- was also promising. "Dubai comes first. But we believe there is very good opportunity here (in Lebanon) because there is intellectual capital," he said. "We are ready to help institutions in knowledge transfer and also provide equipment. We are already in talks with the Lebanese government and universities," he said, referring to an Internet-based education programme which the firm is promoting. Cisco, which specialises in Web linking and routing systems, security technologies and network management, posted revenues of $12 billion in the fiscal year ended August 1999. It is estimated that about 80 percent of global Internet traffic uses its networking devices. ((Beirut editorial, 9611 983885, fax 983889))