Cisco Promises $1 Billion To Fund Russian IT Boom

Cisco Systems has promised Russian president Dmitri Medvedev a financial investment of $1 billion to help develop Moscow's answer to Silicon Valley.



According to market analysts, Russia is now one of the most up-and-coming locations for technology research and development. Cisco says that the time is right for investments in the country's IT sector.

The company has committed to investing $1 billion in Russia in five instalments over next 10 years.

Medvedev visited California's Silicon Valley on 23 June during his trip to the United States, dropping in on the headquarters of social networking giant Twitter in San Francisco, Cupertino-based technology leader Apple, San Jose-based networking company Cisco Systems and Stanford University in Palo Alto.

While addressing a crowd of more than 500 guests and media representatives at the university, the Russian president said: "It was not by chance that I came here. I wanted to see with my own eyes the origin of success, how businesses are set up."

Source: ITProPortal

 

Russia Hires Cisco to Build a Silicon Forest, Easier Said Than Done

Medvedev's mission was to round up investors for Skolkovo, his attempt to clone a Russian Silicon Valley and diversify its economy away from oil and minerals. He succeeded, wrangling a $1 billion, decade-long commitment from Cisco, including promises to make Skolkovo a "smarter city" (or "Smart+Connected Community" in Cisco parlance), creating a second headquarters for its emerging technologies group (based in Bangalore) and teaching Russian startups the ropes...

 

This is crazy. Historically America has always strengthen it's competitors. We were once a great power.

 

Most high-tech companies based in other countries are mostly American. They depend on the United States for jobs, training and paychecks.

 

True, but they also depend on cheap labor and less regulation to produce. What this country needs to do is to reform our tax system to become a tax haven for businesses around the world to come back here to do business.

 

We will have to wait until after 2012 for that to be a possibility. Any proposal with regards to jobs, employment, health, deficit reduction, etc, that Obama passes with a tax increase on the wealthy and people in the higher income bracket gets voted down in the Senate and most likely the House also.

Republicans rejected his Jobs Act twice so far. There's just too much political gridlock going on in DC for anything significant to happen. Our economy will recover at a minimal speed until the Republicans can get out of the way.

 

Good thing my Russian is up to snuff. Although, I need to relearn Mandarin now.

 

Mandarin is tough but stay with it kid

 

I won't let my education go to waste. That's...one thing I won't bastardize myself on.

 

The US is a tax haven. Show me another first world country where you can make billions and pay no taxes.

 

All the more reason this antiquated tax code need to be revamped to get rid of the loopholes that many take advantage of to pay no taxes. Corporations like GE pay no taxes. In addition, we need to end the subsidies and corporate welfare that many wealthy elites feed on to taking advantage of the tax code. Even our President who has a net worth of $10.5 million should be required to pay more in taxes. As well as all those wealthy politicians (both sides) in our Congress and Senate who talk the talk about changing the tax code, but do more bullshitting talking with no action.

 

100% cosign