Cisco Canada Signs New Agreement with University of Regina for Research Chair

Cisco (News - Alert) Canada just reached an agreement with the University of Regina to create a research chair position in e-governance at the university. The $2 million agreement includes a 10-year timeline, with plans to use the newly developed position as a way to research technology and more effectively implement new solutions throughout the country.

“The chair will look at how governments can more effectively communication with citizens, businesses and other governments through enhanced use of technologies such as video, information sharing and online collaboration,” the company said in a statement. “The chair will be located within the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina.”

Cisco said it wants to take advantage of being an electronic government. E-governance is the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for delivering government services, exchange information communication transactions, integration of various stand-alone systems and services between government-to-citizens, government-to-business and government-to-government. E-governance is the future many countries are looking into because it provides services to citizens in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner.

“The ability of networked technologies, video and the Internet to improve communication and transactional capacities are key processes of public sector modernization,” said Nitin Kawale, president of Cisco Canada. “Government must enhance their networking capacity and adapt to virtual environments and the transformative power of video. The university understands the significance of research and development in this area, both for Saskatchewan and Canada as a whore, and it’s a vision Cisco is delighted to participate in.”

It has been a busy week for Cisco. The Canadian company just fired up one of its mobile video systems it has created with the partnership of Nova Scotia’s Eastlink. The new service will be powered up by the Cisco Videoscape platform, allowing Eastlink digital cable subscribers to access television content on their computers, tablets, and smartphones. The new system will become available in North America and Toronto on Tuesday.