Bangalore, October 5, 2010:

Cisco Services, the consulting and technical support arm of Cisco Systems, has announced that Srivalsan Ponnachath, an IT industry veteran with over 21 years of experience in India and USA, has joined as Director, Cisco Services India. He takes over the reins of this growing business unit from Mr. GB Kumar, who led Cisco Services in India since 2007.

Srivalsan will lead a team responsible for accelerating customer shift to a network centric platform by driving adoption of architecture and vertical solutions from Cisco Services across India & SAARC.

Srivalsan’s core expertise areas are in strategy consulting, sales management, and program management. Speaking on his new role, Srivalsan said: “I am happy to join Cisco Services at a time of significant business growth across sectors in India. Apart from the growing contribution to Cisco revenues, the Services business is seeing traction especially in green-field real estate projects, around Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities solution. I look forward to taking this team to new heights in the coming years.”

Outgoing India head of Cisco Services, GB Kumar’s new responsibilities see him in the role of managing director, Asia Pacific vertical enterprise practice, Cisco Services.