Cisco on Friday said that that the Cisco ASR 901 Router has received the NASSCOM Innovation Award 2012 in the New Technology Advancement Category.

The award was presented to Cisco at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum, held in Mumbai recently. The ASR 901, developed by Cisco’s engineering team in India, received the award for its innovation in creating a unified platform to serve the needs of 2G/3G/4G mobile backhaul and Carrier Ethernet applications. The Cisco ASR 901 Router Series is an environmentally hardened, extremely low-power Router, designed to meet the unique needs of Service Providers in Emerging Markets

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Partho Mishra, Vice President and General Manager for the Provider Access Business Unit, said, “It is a great testament to Cisco’s investment in developing innovative products for both emerging and developed markets and the fast growing capabilities of our India engineering teams. He added, "The last decade in the IT industry in India saw tremendous growth from engineering services and cost arbitrage. But we see that the next decade is going to be all about innovation, product development and thought leadership."

“Technology organizations grow by advancing technology, disrupting markets and developing new business models; all aimed by making information even more accessible and actionable with every new cycle of innovation. The Innovation Awards are aimed to promote innovation within Indian IT-BPO organizations by way of recognizing companies that have made innovation a part of their organizational DNA. I congratulate Cisco and wish them all the best for the future” said Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM.

According to Cisco's Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2011-2016), there will be nearly 10 billion network connections, exceeding the world's projected population at that time of 7.3 billion.  The global mobile internet data traffic is also expected to increase 18 fold by 2016 and service providers are relying on networking advancements such as Cisco nV technology and advanced routing capabilities to facilitate growing traffic and enabling new revenue-generating services. 

With the help of Cisco ASR 901 routers, operators can look to reduce backhaul operating costs, simplify and converge their RAN (Radio Access Networks) and Ethernet access networks, and enhance their monetization opportunities with mobile and premium Ethernet services. The ASR 901 will help address the needs of 2G, 3G as well as 4G mobile cell sites and is dimensioned to support the exponential growth of mobile internet traffic over the coming years. For further details on the ASR 901 product, please visitCisco ASR 901.

NASSCOM Innovation Awards, which was first introduced in 2004 serves as a benchmark for the industry to capture the innovation journey of India across Indian and multinational organizations. The awards recognize companies that have made innovation a part of their organizational DNA, and used the innovation engine to reinvent their processes, marketing and product development strategies.