If the Cisco Unified Services Delivery Platform is targeted more at very large cities, the Canadian team has been working with a number of local municipalities, using the network and connectivity to drive economic, social and environmental sustainability to these communities. Through public/private sector partnerships, such as the MOU signed with the Ontario government for the development of tech R&D and job creation that Ontario Minister Monte Kwinter outlined in an afternoon panel, and with the iCanada Alliance, whose long term goal is to create a “connected nation” to ensure that every citizen has access to high speed Internet for consumption of intelligent services and applications, Cisco is hoping to build the support needed for innovation at the city level. And through partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the company is positioning as an advocate and educator that can build awareness amongst the 2,000 member municipalities: Cisco’s intent, Huijbregts explained as “building replicable solutions and methodologies, taking lessons learned from the communities we are already engaged in and then scaling across Canada to accelerate the opportunities.”
