Cisco Pledges $50 Million More For Bangalore Campus

Cisco Systems CEO and president John Chambers continued his bountiful tour of India Friday, earmarking another $50 million for a new one-million square-foot R&D campus in Bangalore.

Chambers presided at groundbreaking ceremonies just a day after announcing the networking equipment firm would spend up to $1.1 billion in India over the next three years. The R&D facility, to be the largest Cisco lab outside the U.S., is scheduled for completion by June 2007.

"India has been and continues to be a strategic market for Cisco both in terms of business opportunities and as a base for outstanding engineering talent," said Chambers in a statement. "With the launch of our new campus in Bangalore today, Cisco will be well placed to continue building our presence in India as a critical part of our R&D efforts and as the domestic market for networking products and solutions continues to expand."

Cisco's lab effort in India was established in 1998 and is an extension of its core product research and development and engineering across the firm's entire product line.

Some 3,000 employees will staff the facility when it is completed. Cisco said it currently employs more than 1,400 employees in the entire country.