PM Narendra Modi asked us to make India our home: Cisco head John Chambers

Moinak Mitra, ET Bureau

As the Chief Globalisation Officer at Cisco, Wim Elfrink prides himself on applying digital overlay to physical infrastructure.

He's also the brain behind the 2.18 million square feet Cisco Smart Campus in Bengaluru that houses eight glass-and-concrete buildings showcasing a digitally connected and sustainable environment where 8,500-odd techies don't have an assigned workplace.

The campus ecosystem resembles a smart city and is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big idea of digitising India by setting up 100 smart cities.

Though Elfrink is based out of Cisco's global HQ at San Jose, he's been a regular to the Bangalore campus since his India stint in 2007.

In his words, the campus is a smart city in itself, even more advanced than the San Jose headquarters of Cisco Systems.

A walkabout in the Cessna Business Park where the 32-acre Cisco SEZ is the lone corporate surrounded by LG, InMobi and a few other companies outside its gates gives a sense of the expanse and an evolving digital architecture that caters to the demands of the Gen Y employees, who make up roughly 25 per cent of its population (Cisco India contributes to 60 per cent of Gen Y staff company-wide globally).

As the younger workforce prefers a seamless environment for day-to-day activities, it ties in quite naturally with the company's vision of work-live-play-learn.

Cisco employees can book a work station through the global network by scanning the QR code in their device. It then extends to a higher degree of personalization wherein the IT registration mode tosses up the employee's preferences—lighting, air-conditioning, TV channels, phone profile preferences, and even the blinds setup.

Simply put, you get to choose not only your workplace for the day but also your ambient light and temperature zone at the touch of a button.

Employees can access their seat for the day much before entering the campus, be it next to friends at work or by the cool confines of a Zen-like garden.

And when they are done for the day, the seat is up for grabs again, thereby increasing space utilization campus-wide, which today sits at 58 per cent.

Of course, Cisco is high on tele-presence, an innovation the company has perfected over the years and high-definition screens abound in the campus that hook on to 600-odd Cisco offices worldwide, as well as with the location of clients and partners.

The Bangalore campus is perhaps the most connected in the Cisco ecosystem.

People can pick any conference room, and adjust the lights, shutters or even control the AC.

Talking of security, the company's transport buses, used by 30 per cent of the staff, are fitted with GPS tied to the Transport Control Room.

Apart from route information, even if the driver deviates from the prescribed route or over-speeds, an alert is generated.

Moreover, all transport vehicles come equipped with RFID tag readers.

In other words, staff are supposed to swipe in on entry and swipe out on exit. If they do not get off at a registered place, which is the drop-off point, an alert again gets generated. For those who prefer to drive down to work, parking is made easy.

Though the campus has room for 2,200 cars, there are sensors on the ground that pick up whether a parking lot is occupied or empty. So the employee gets to choose his parking lot much in advance over his registered device and can park without any hassle. The idea is to manage parking efficiently.

On campus, efficiency flows even in the business of food. The five cafeterias can accommodate roughly 6,000 people. This is where the 'Connected Café' solution comes in handy providing information on where things lie.

While the main kiosk on the entrance to cafes is one way to look at things—menu, availability— anyone can do the same from their device. Giri Govindrajalu, Director IT, Cisco India swishes his iPad and goes to the Connected Café app where he pinpoints to a North Indian Thali with 1,259 kilo calories.

PM Narendra Modi asked us to make India our home: Cisco head John Chambers

"We met Prime Minister this morning and he was very clear about his vision for people and how technology can change life of individuals here."

Related Articles

READ MORE:

More from our Partners

Popular Categories

Hot on Web

In Case you missed it

Top Searched Companies

Latest News

Download ET APP

Follow us on

become a member