Bengaluru. 21 February 2023.  At Aero India 2023, the biennial air show and aviation exhibition held at Yelahanka Air Force Station, Bengaluru, Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cisco for long-term strategic co-operation in the areas of networking, collaboration and security, among other associated services.

The partnership aims at leveraging the strengths and capabilities of BEL and Cisco to capitalise on opportunities emerging in the domains of network and security. BEL, by virtue of this MoU, is looking at elevating its relationship with Cisco — to that of a “Strategic Partner”.

Daisy Chittilapilly, President, Cisco India & SAARC, said: “India is on the fast-track to becoming a leading digital economy, but an ecosystem approach is key to mobilise progress at scale and speed. Our partnership with BEL is a significant step in our endeavour to accelerate innovation, infrastructure modernisation, and capability building across critical industry segments. We are confident that Cisco and BEL’s technology leadership and expertise combined will enable us to forge new possibilities and outcomes for our customers in India.”

Bhanu Prakash Srivastava, Chairman & Managing Director, BEL, said: “This strategic partnership will provide BEL access to Cisco technology, which includes enterprise networks, advanced wireless technology, security, data centre network, etc. It will also facilitate joint customisation and product lifecycle management for BEL’s various projects and enable the company to build state-of-the-art technology architecture for key industry verticals.”

Additionally, Cisco will explore the establishment of a Cisco Network Training Academy at the BEL Academy for Excellence (Nalanda), Bengaluru.