With a few exceptions, the major international IT&C equipment makers are giving the evasive "not yet" or "we're thinking about it" answer when asked if they plan to build factories in Romania.
US-based Cisco Systems Group, the world's number one networking equipment producer is more specific, and clearly states it has no plans to build assembly facilities here. On the other hand, it sees Romania as a developer of applications for communication networks. Cisco's profit derived from the use of applications over the Internet such as customer care, workforce optimisation or e-learning amounted to $2.1bn in the last fiscal year.
"We are heading towards an information economy where 'brains' are more important that manufacturing and assembling parts. Production moves in line with the costs. We relocated our productive facilities from Scotland to Hungary and we'll most likely move them to Azerbaijan," Michael Ganser, Cisco Systems vice-president said.
Therefore, Cisco has no intention to invest in productive facilities in Romania. It will, however, direct resources to the development of applications for communication networks and to education, such as training networking specialists. One example in this regard: Cisco has invested $2.5 million in education in Romania over the last few years.
"Assembling means low added value, and developing applications means high added value; this is our main investment criterion," vice-president Ganser explains. "Romania is capable to generate high added value due to its specialists. This is why our plans include developing a strong local partner network."
Cisco bets on applications and advanced networking technologies, because they turned out to be "the only major survivor" after three years of recession, which the dot-com collapse only made worse. "In these three years of market downfall, Cisco has taken chances it had never taken before in its entire history," Ganser says. victor@zf.ro
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