NCR Corp.
(
NCR
) will soon be offering
Cisco Systems Inc.
's (
CSCO
) Unified Computing System in the Middle East and Africa (
MEA
). To make Cisco's products available in the MEA, NCR had to attain
Data Center Unified Computing Authorized Technology Provider status
from the tech giant. The designation was awarded only after
completion of the requisite training to sell, deploy and support
the Cisco Unified Computing System.
NCR shares a long-standing relationship with Cisco. NCR has been
a Cisco service partner and integrator for over two decades.
The growing popularity of NCR operations in the MEA could be the
reason for Cisco's choosing it as a technology partner for the
region. Last December, NCR announced its plans of launching a range
of independent data center design consultancy services in the MEA
region in conjunction with a UAE-based information technology and
telecom solutions provider Foresight Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
The MEA happens to be one of the fastest growing markets in the
world which has encouraged NCR to expand operations there, time and
again.
Gartner expects the data center market to grow at a 5-year
(2010-2015) CAGR of 18.9% to $176.8 billion in this region.
Moreover, Cisco expects IP traffic in the MEA to reach 2 exabytes
(a billion gigabytes) per month by 2015, at a CAGR of 52%. Business
IP traffic in the MEA will grow at a CAGR of 3%, faster than the
global average of 24%. Therefore, the joint effort of NCR and Cisco
will allow the companies to grab a large share of this growth.
The close association with Cisco will benefit NCR Corp. in two
ways. First, NCR will be able to assist the tech giant in its
inventions, which will also help the company to excel in its own
technological innovation. Second, NCR's footprint in the MEA region
will grow further.
NCR Corp.'s relation with the MEA region started in 1955 when
the company opened its subsidiary in Cyprus. A favorable business
climate, excellent telecommunications infrastructure, well educated
and skilled human resources, favorable tax rates and proximity to
the Middle East and Africa markets prompted the company to operate
from the island country.
NCR's focus on emerging markets is palpable. A few months back,
the company entered into a strategic alliance with Scopus
Tecnologia for manufacturing and developing ATMs in Brazil.
As evident from the last quarterly performance, revenue
contribution from the emerging regions was up from the year-ago
level. We believe that NCR's relentless efforts in the emerging
region could result in more stable revenues.
NCR has a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a short-term Hold
recommendation.
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CSCO
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