Cisco and Mobily, the official brand name of Etihad Etisalat and a leading mobile and data service provider in Saudi Arabia, announced Sunday that they have signed a joint marketing and sales agreement following a Memorandum of Understanding signed by both companies, on Sept. 17, 2013, to strategically collaborate and streamlines Cisco and Mobily's competitive resources creating a joint go-to-market strategy to address the ICT market in Saudi Arabia. The strategic alliance is a key catalyst to help accelerate Mobily's transformation to becoming the leading information and communications technology (ICT) provider in KSA. The agreement was given the stamp of approval by Mobily's Chief Business Officer (CBO) Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi and Cisco's Chairman and CEO, John Chambers at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona recently. As part of the agreement, Cisco and Mobily will create a joint marketing, sales and business development taskforce to deliver a differentiated offering to the Saudi marketplace. By working together on joint market activities, Mobily and Cisco will be able to offer customers a differentiated set of Integrated Solutions. Mobily and Cisco plan an ambitious growth strategy to jointly invest, develop and market new innovative technology solutions focused on Communication, Collaboration and Mobility Cloud's well as Managed services for the corporate, small business, education and health sectors. In September 2013, Mobily achieved Cisco Gold Certification as a 2-Tier Cisco reseller having met the rigorous standards set by Cisco in networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction. The Cisco Resale Channel Program provides a framework for partners to build the sales, technical and Cisco Lifecycle Services skills required to deliver Cisco solutions to end customers. As a Cisco Gold Certified Partner Mobily has met the requirements for attaining the broadest range of expertise across multiple technologies by achieving Cisco advanced specializations in unified communications, routing and switching, security, and wireless LAN. Cisco Gold Certification provides Mobily with access to comprehensive sales, technical, and lifecycle services training and support available from Cisco. Dr. Marwan Al-Ahmadi Chief Business Officer, Mobily, said “our strategic partnership with Cisco very important to Mobily as we are both progressive, forward thinking companies who have our customers at the forefront of whatever we deliver. This joint Marketing and Sales agreement is yet another milestone in what has become a very successful collaboration between our two companies and we look forward to continuing to work closely with Cisco to help shape the future for our existing and potential new customers and partners.” John Chambers, Chairman and CEO Cisco, said “as more devices and people are connected on the network, businesses need to continue to innovate and transform to meet the demands of their customers. Business leaders in the Kingdom today want partners who can guide them through change and help shape their organizations for the future. Our strategic partnership with Mobily is designed to achieve this goal. Over the next ten years, a major opportunity will be for companies to evolve their organizations to thrive in the new environment as we enter the era of the ‘Internet of Everything' which is presenting a new level of opportunity for technology growth and innovation. Mobily has already embarked on this journey.” – SG
