‘Smarter’ Phl will give us regional edge, says Cisco CM

MANILA, Philippines - Imagine your daughter being down with a slight case of the sniffles.

She is basically fine, but you cannot risk her spreading her colds so you ask her to stay at home. You start to see her smile, and make for her bedroom where, presumably, she will spend the day watching TV, updating her Facebook, and texting her friends.

“Not too fast,” you declare, and switch on the living room television. After a short while, a live feed of her class starts. “Better get your notebook so you can take notes,” you say.

That’s a vision of the future that’s hopefully closer than we think. The powers that be should talk to Mario Luis “Louie” Castañeda, as he is not one to twiddle his thumbs and waste time.

Shortly after the announcement of his appointment as Cisco Systems Inc. country manager, Castañeda buckled down to work and publicly shared his vision of what the American multinational networking equipment giant could do for the country — particularly in light of the forthcoming ASEAN economic integration in 2015 (known as the ASEAN Economic Community or AEC). The AEC is a blueprint for common growth among member-countries that would see “a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development, and a region fully integrated into the global economy,” according to the ASEAN website (www.asean.org).

“We see the importance of keeping pace with our neighboring countries. We at Cisco also see this as an opportunity to contribute to the sustaining of the Philippines’ economic momentum by providing innovative solutions centered on technology,” Castañeda had said in his speech at the announcement of his appointment.

In a subsequent exclusive interview with NetWorks, the Filipino executive declares that the San Jose, California-headquartered company can play a crucial role in providing technologies to “create smarter entities,” in turn creating smarter cities. A contemporary IT buzzword these days is the so-called Internet of Things (IoT), which essentially means being able to communicate with otherwise inanimate objects. “The direction is toward connecting everything. The impact for ordinary people is in the way we live our lives,” says Castañeda.

Thinking things

We are connected through the devices we use — our phones, tablets, laptops, desktops. The Cisco executive maintains that the list is growing, particularly with the advent of wearable technology. “Data impact the way we live,” he asserts.

“One of the best uses of IoT is in so-called e-agriculture,” continues Castañeda. Devices can help farmers essentially realize a bumper crop every harvest time through sensors that give and make use of valuable information such as weather patterns to optimize activities and even crop selection.

Additional uses, reveals the Don Bosco Technical College-educated executive (he studied at the Salesian-run private school in Mandaluyong City from elementary until graduating from an electronics and communications engineering course) are in areas such as traffic management systems and garbage collection.

However, realizing this aspiration entails the setting up of local infrastructure and the improvement of connectivity, such as broadband penetration — reported at a woeful 2.2 percent and 3.8 percent for fixed broadband and mobile broadband, respectively, according to the 2013 edition of the UN Broadband Commission’s State of Broadband Report.

Latency is also an issue, of course. “That’s still a challenge because the infrastructure does not really allow you a good experience,” agrees Castañeda. “The speed is slow… we have to be structurally ready.”

The Cisco executive is convinced that a simple 10-percent increase in broadband penetration can yield up to 1.4 percent growth in national GDP.

IT veteran

Despite his ECE background, it seemed that Castañeda was destined for IT. His 25-year-plus expertise began with most humbly with a successful on-the-job training stint repairing electromechanical printers. He was so proficient that, pretty soon, his bosses started giving him televisions and other gadgets for repair.

Later, the one-time ROTC corps commander found himself in a slew of different roles and fields — from programming to consulting, from sales to automation, from anti-piracy to management.

Castañeda was also involved in the creation of an IT startup company, Azure Technologies Philippines, in 1998. Other companies/marques on his resume are impressive as well: Microsoft, IBM, Fujitsu, Oracle, James Martin & Co., and Automation Mainstream Inc.

He fondly remembers his stint as Microsoft’s anti-piracy manager. “It was an odd role that I was not expecting, actually,” Castañeda says with a smile. “I would talk to lawyers, NBI agents, the software alliance… that was the time we were high on the watch list of piracy.” Being on the infamous list meant that US companies could not invest as much as they wanted in the country, reveals the licensed electronics and communications engineer and Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) in Licensing for Small and Medium Business.

Castañeda first joined Cisco in 2009 as small and medium business manager, then moved through other roles (channels manager, commercial business manager, then enterprise manager) before being appointed to his current capacity.

Stepping up

“Cisco, a contraction of ‘San Francisco,’ developed the first router, which eventually became the backbone of the Internet,” he narrates. “It grew to be the largest networking company. Now, it’s more than that.”

Still, Castañeda says Cisco won’t claim to have a solution for everything. “There are solutions that fall within our core competency so we will have products for. But there are products in, say, telco operations that are traditionally served by telco-specific providers. We partner with these.”

In terms of products, Cisco provides cores, switching, and carrier-grade routers. The company works locally with telcos. “At the heart of their systems is Cisco,” he shares.

Cisco is ready to step up to take us to the future, insists Castañeda: “The company is more than willing to invest in a country.” The bill can be footed through PPP (public-private partnership) projects, as the executive concedes that the government cannot shoulder everything.

“To be fair, the government is doing its share to encourage new entrants in the market,” he continues. “We need to spur the market… eventually we will catch up and increase broadband penetration as more people demand connectivity. It’s really a question of demand and supply.”

IT academy

Cisco is also aggressively pushing its brand of CSR in the Cisco Networking Academy — which helps partner schools and companies adopt a Cisco-based curriculum with the end view of turning out “technology-savvy graduates.” Cisco expects to fill in the gap in IT professionals by developing 400,000 of them in the next five years in the Asia-Pacific — to accelerate the region’s push toward knowledge-based economies. Cisco has trained almost 300,000 Filipinos through the academy.

“We are second only to the US in the number of graduates,” reveals Castañeda, and the country currently boasts some 1,000 instructors who can administer the modularized course.

“For schools, the course is free. The investment will come in sourcing training equipment, which we extend at an education institution price,” he insists. “It’s one of the best CSRs we have had because it touches even provincial communities.”

Most importantly, the Cisco Networking Academy helps prepare its students for real-life situations and opportunities in the IT marketplace. “It’s about job creation,” says Castañeda, and adds that the academy develops “the right technical tools,” leveraging the frontline experience of Cisco itself.

“We also refresh the curriculum based on what is the latest, and what is required,” he says.

Hope for Manila

One of the important things that Cisco does, adds Castañeda, is to share best practices with the government through agencies like the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Indeed, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

“We shared with them Cisco’s recent successes in Barcelona,” he asserts, “which we helped become a smart city. We wired it to be a smart city.” The city now has elegant solutions to issues such as traffic management and garbage collection.

But is there truly hope for poorly planned Manila?

“If you apply technology, there’s still a chance for us to improve,” insists Castañeda.

Back to AEC, the Cisco Philippines head remains upbeat about the country’s prospects post-integration.

“We are really lucky to have English as our primary mode of communication. It’s among our competitive advantages. Presently, we have around 800,000 IT/BPO people. That’s also driving technology. We expect 1.3 million of them by 2020,” he predicts.

Castañeda says he agrees with the government’s drive to improve physical infrastructure — such as the retrofitting of airports and augmentation of roads.

“Remember, when you are an investor, the first impression of a particular country you get is at the airport. We are on the right track,” he says.