Partners Say Cisco's $4B Commitment To Mexico Will Help Them Deliver Products Faster

Cisco’s plan to invest $4 billion in Mexico through 2018 to expand production and manufacturing will help North American channel partners speed up their product lead times to deliver Cisco solutions, according to partners of the networking giant.

’We look forward to seeing a reduction in product lead times – the time between when we order it and when it gets delivered by Cisco,’ said Chris Bottger, chief technology officer at IVCi, a Hauppauge, N.Y.-based solution provider and Cisco Gold partner. ’Cisco publishes those lead times and they often vary at different times of the year. This will help shorten that and make it consistent.’

And Kent MacDonald, vice president of business development at Calgary, Alberta- based Long View Systems, also a Cisco Gold partner, agreed that channel partners in the U.S. would be able to deliver the Mexico-built products faster. ’It should help products get out more quickly and into the customers hands.’

[Related: Partners Pumped As Cisco, Salesforce Team Up On IoT, Unified Communications]

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Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins recently visited Mexico to speak to President Enrique Pena Nieto to reaffirm Cisco’s long-term commitment to the country, revealing plans to invest upwards of $4 billion through 2018.

’Mexico is in the midst of a manufacturing boom … Cisco is working with Mexico to propel this trend by strengthening its global leadership position in advanced technology manufacturing,’ Robbins wrote in a blog post. ’We plan to increase our existing production at manufacturing facilities.’

Robbins said the facilities are expected to supply products to more than 110 countries and directly complement Cisco’s manufacturing efforts in the U.S. The investment will help boost the manufacturing of routers, servers and videoconferencing screens in Mexico, according to Robbins.

’The investments we are building upon today are designed to help the Mexican government accelerate digitization while boosting its economic trajectory, with investment in areas such as education, healthcare, security, infrastructure and the Internet of Things,’ said Robbins.

The investment will also lead to 270 new direct jobs and 77 related positions, according to a statement from the Mexican government. In August, the San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant revealed an internal restructuring plan that includes the termination of 5,500 jobs.

Cisco launched its Mexican operations in 1993 and today employs more than 1,000 throughout the country, according to Robbins. Last year, the networking leader announced a new Global Service Center in Mexico City. Cisco has also built a Networking Academies program in Mexico, which Robbins says is one of the vendor’s largest programs worldwide.