Safaricom has pulled another first as they signed a deal with Cisco Systems to offer a managed services platform for their corporate customers. The offering dubbed "Office in a Box" is a suite of business solutions that include connectivity, conferencing and collaboration tools and security. The IP service will be delivered through Safaricom’s wired and wireless local area networks (LANs) with integrated security features. The breadth of the Cisco managed services technology offering will also help to deliver a unique market opportunity for its partners. Once the IP service is in place Safaricom will be able to deliver the technologies with the most apparent business return including IP communications, telepresence, application-aware data center services and other technologies. The connected office solution will allow companies of all sizes to take advantage of Safaricom’s communications expertise to access highly secure site-to-site Internet-based communications and collaborate more effectively to offer better services to their customers; share ideas and intelligence and save costs.     According to Mr. Michael Joseph, Safaricom’s CEO, the new solution from Cisco will assist them have a competitive edge in terms of service provision and keeping to the current emerging technologies that satisfy the customers’ demands. “Our collaboration with Cisco will help us achieve our ambitious goals. This deal forms a key plank of our overall strategy, which has seen us put substantial investments in the country’s two undersea cable ventures and acquire two WiMAX operators. We have also formed a dedicated unit, Safaricom Business, to drive our ambitions in this category, “said Mr. Joseph. “Our services are all geared towards growth and we always strive to ensure that we have a competitive edge in terms of servicing the needs of our customers and ensuring that we have access to the latest and most innovative technology solutions,” he added.  “Safaricom prides itself on being a ‘one-stop shop’ for integrated and converged data and voice communication solutions for our customers and with the addition of Cisco managed services we will be able to maintain this unique position.” Yvon Le Roux, vice president, Cisco, Africa Levant region said the Cisco’s managed services solution will aid communications companies give their customers better services with the convergence of technologies. “Cisco’s managed services offering is designed to give service providers the competitive edge that will allow them to stay ahead of the game when it comes to their customer needs. We are working closely with Safaricom to build and launch a full portfolio of managed services. We expect "managed collaboration services" such as Cisco Unified Communications and Cisco TelePresence to grow significantly in the region with the arrival of submarine cables.” With the enormous capacity emanating from the submarine cables, Mr.Yvon Le Roux is optimistic that a successful execution of managed services in the region will be achieved. “These cables, such as Seacom and TEAMS on the East Coast, will offer high bandwidth at attractive prices, enabling these managed services. At the same time, "managed virtualization services", like server and storage management, bundled with hosting, firewalling and VPN offerings will meet customer expectations for advanced services and will be a key differentiator for service providers targeting businesses. Cisco’s vision is to be the leading enabler of ICT and broadband acceleration in emerging markets through innovative, scalable, high- value technology offerings,” said Mr.Yvon Le Roux.