Calcutta, July 16: Cisco Systems (India) Pvt Ltd, the third largest communications vendor in India with a turnover of Rs 3,178 crore, expects small and medium businesses (SMBs) to contribute up to 30 per cent of its turnover in the next one-and-a-half years. It used to be at 7 per cent two years ago.

The revenues generated from non-metro towns and cities, which was at 10 per cent of the turnover value two years ago, is expected to go up to 25 per cent this fiscal covering 50 towns and cities.

“We recently acquired more space and started a brand new office in Calcutta with seven employees, which is expected to go up to 20 by the end of 2007. Cisco Systems has already added 20 tier-II partners and the increased sales force will be utilised in servicing over 500 customers in and around Calcutta,” said Jangoo Dalal, senior vice-president and country manager of Cisco Systems (India) Pvt Ltd.

The SMB growth in the east is at its highest at 40 per cent, while the national average is 25 per cent.

Cisco India, which ranks third in the Asia-Pacific region after China and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), is expected to become as big as China in the next three years and break into the top 10 operations globally.

Cisco has launched product and service related innovations for the SMB sector, which include a virtual IT department in Bangalore to provide round-the-clock consultation and solutions to SMBs across the country.

Network on Wheels vans equipped with SMB products and business solutions have been launched in New Delhi. They will go to the neighbouring states to provide SMBs with a simulated preview of particular solutions before they invest in the technology.

Each van requires an investment of over Rs 1 crore and after New Delhi, they will go to Mumbai before coming to Calcutta by September.

The plan is to have a van for each of the four regions, said Dalal.

The enterprise segment, comprising the bulk of the company’s business, has grown 23 per cent and 22 per cent in router and switches respectively.

The Indian enterprise market was at Rs 7,901 crore, up 31 per cent since 2004-05.

Cisco’s global development centre in Bangalore is the largest one outside the US. The company also aims to design products specifically suited for the Indian market.