Calcutta, Dec. 9: Networking solutions provider Cisco Systems (India) Pvt Ltd will focus on 14 non-metro cities, or the tier II and III cities, to drive business in the small and medium business segments.

The networking solutions provider, which is part of US-based $46-billion Cisco Systems, believes a market of about $400 million lies beyond the top six metros.

These include cities such as Chandigarh, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Coimbatore.

The small and medium business (SMB) segment has so far been the fastest growing business division in India, with a year-on-year compounded annual growth rate of 45 per cent in the last three years.

“The total IT spend in 2011 was at $73 billion in India. The market is expected to be around $78.6 billion in 2012. Of this, 30 per cent will be the SMEs. More organisations have started thinking of a cloud strategy and the SMBs will benefit,” Amit Malik, vice-president (India-east & Saarc) of Cisco, said on the sidelines of Infocom 2012, organised by Businessworld, an ABP group publication.

Cisco follows a go-to-market strategy through its partners in India. It has a network of 2,500 partners in the country.

The company has pegged its research and development spend at $5 billion globally for this financial year between August and July.