Yoram Ettinger: Cisco and Facebook Expand Israel Operations
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John Chambers, CEO of CISCO Systems, at the President's Conference in Jerusalem
Photo Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90
John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, in Jerusalem for the recent President’s Conference told Israeli business daily Globes: “We’ll expand here soon…. There are a lot of opportunities here. It’s the second country, after the US, in terms of start-ups and entrepreneurship. There are companies here that do not grow enough, and what we do is to bring these companies into the Cisco family and grow their activity. I don’t think that there is a better time to invest here, in partnerships, venture capital, and help our partners expand.
In March, Cisco acquired NDS, a London-based company with its development center in Israel, for $5 billion.
“Having the NDS base in Israel, we can enter fields such as security…. Although NDS’ headquarters are in Britain, its heart and soul are in Israel,” Chambers continued. “This is a country whose leaders and entrepreneurs I believe in. I believe that it’s possible to find a successful formula for both sides…. Cisco and the Israeli government have set up a joint team to examine ways of expanding their collaboration” (Globes Business Daily, June 21, 2012).
Cisco Systems Israel is Cisco’s second-largest design center outside the United States with over 750 employees, including 500 research and development engineers. Among Cisco’s numerous Israeli acquisitions are: ClassData, $50 million (May, 1998); InfoGear, $300 million (March, 2000); HyNEX, $127 million (June 2000); Actona, $100 million (June, 2004); P-Cube, $200 million (August, 2004); and as mentioned – NDS, $5 billion, March 2012.
For its part, Facebook acquired Israel’s Face.Com for between $50 million-$100 million, its second Israeli acquisition, following the March 2011 acquisition of Snaptu for $70 million.
Lars Christensen, founder and CEO of Denmark’s Saxo Bank – the second largest foreign exchange broker in the world – which has recently entered the Israeli market: “We’ve identified a long-term potential in the Israeli market, especially due to Israel’s competitive edge in the area of technology.” In July, 2011 Saxo Bank acquired 25% of Israel’s Leverate and 100% of the activities of Israel’s Lembex Trading and Investment.
Originally published at http://www.theettingerreport.com/Home.aspx
tell a friendAbout the Author: The writer is a consultant on US-Israel relations as well as the Chairman of Special Projects at the Ariel Center for Policy Research. Formerly the Minister for Congressional Affairs to Israel's Embassy in Washington, DC, the writer also served as Consul General of Israel to the Southwestern US.
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