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| Al Gore and Cisco CEO John Chambers to Host Global Debate on Technology and Climate Change Historic Cisco TelePresence Keynote Panel Discussion to Be Simulcast to Audiences Around the World SAN JOSE CA--(Marketwire - March 19, 2008) - Today, Nobel laureate Al Gore, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) CEO John Chambers and Cisco Chief Marketing Officer Sue Bostrom will host a virtual panel discussion on technology innovation and its impact on climate change. Utilizing Cisco® TelePresence, this event marks a technological breakthrough that showcases a new way of communicating and collaborating in which the panelists will appear as if they are in the same room even though they will be thousands of miles apart, addressing multiple audiences simultaneously. This historic panel is open to the public via a free webcast and will be the featured keynote presentation at VoiceCon Spring 2008. To view the live discussion on Wednesday, March 19, at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT /15:00 GMT), go to www.cisco.com/offer/ecopanel. For more information about Cisco Green or to view a replay of the webcast, please visit http://newsroom.cisco.com/ciscogreen. The discussion will be moderated from London by ITN correspondent Lawrence McGinty, with Sue Bostrom onstage at VoiceCon, a leading conference for the communications industry, in Orlando, Fl., John Chambers joining virtually from Cisco headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Al Gore from Nashville, Tenn. The discussion will also be displayed live to international audiences in London, Paris, Dubai, and Warsaw, creating a unique experience in which participants will be virtually sitting across the table from these high-profile leaders. By using Cisco TelePresence and avoiding unnecessary travel, Mr. Gore, Mr. Chambers and their staff will avoid approximately 4.2 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions based on current calculations performed by DOMANI, a sustainability management consulting firm, and the University of California, San Diego. This is equivalent to the amount of CO2 associated with the electricity use of one home for six months. These influential leaders in technology and environmental stewardship will discuss the top technology imperatives for the information technology (IT) industry in reducing greenhouse gases, describe the ways that collaborative technologies and workplace mobility can mitigate the growth of a company's carbon footprint and provide recommendations for companies and their employees who wish to reduce the effects of climate change. These discussion topics were formed as a direct result of public inquiries directed to Gore and Chambers in recent weeks. "No one company or innovation will have enough impact to reverse global climate change," Gore said. "However, the technology industry has a strategic opportunity to lead the charge in helping businesses lower their carbon footprint by embracing IT innovations." "We all have a role to play in addressing the world's most pressing environmental challenges," Chambers said. "At Cisco, we are taking steps to manage our own carbon footprint as well as creating technology solutions that are designed with the environment in mind. We believe that information technology, with the network as a 'green platform,' can transform how we approach the world's environmental challenges." Cisco is committed to combining the power of innovation with collaboration to create the most sustainable model for addressing global climate change. Throughout the company's worldwide operations, Cisco has so far deployed more than 185 Cisco TelePresence rooms in more than 25 countries and over 85 cities worldwide. With usage averaging around 5 hours per day per room, compared to traditional video conferencing, which is typically used less that 30 minutes per day per endpoint, Cisco estimates it has saved $100 million in travel costs since deploying the technology in October 2006. For more information on the Cisco TelePresence solution, please visit: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns669/ne...gment_home.html To further quantify the environmental benefits of their products, Cisco today announced that DOMANI will work in concert with the University of California, San Diego, to calculate the carbon footprint of Cisco Unified Communications products, starting with Cisco TelePresence. With this information, Cisco will be able to help customers better calculate the contribution of technologies to their carbon-reduction plans. About Cisco Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at www.cisco.com for ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com For direct RSS Feeds of all Cisco news, please visit "News@Cisco" at the following link: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html Honorable Al Gore, Panelist John T. Chambers, Panelist Susan L. Bostrom, Panelist Lawrence McGinty, Moderator Honorable Al Gore, Panelist Former Vice President Al Gore is chairman of Current TV, an Emmy award winning, independently owned cable and satellite television nonfiction network for young people based on viewer-created content and citizen journalism. He also serves as chairman of Generation Investment Management, a firm that is focused on a new approach to sustainable investing. Al Gore is a member of the board of directors of Apple, a senior adviser to Google, and a partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He is a Visiting Professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and chairs the Alliance for Climate Protection, a non-profit organization designed to help solve the climate crisis. Al Gore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, 1978, 1980 and 1982 and the U.S. Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the forty-fifth vice president of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years. During the Administration, Al Gore was a central member of President Clinton's economic team. He served as President of the Senate, a Cabinet member, a member of the National Security Council, and as the leader of a wide range of Administration initiatives. He is the author of the bestsellers Earth in the Balance and An Inconvenient Truth and is the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary. Al Gore is the co-winner, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change.” He and his wife, Tipper, live in Nashville, Tennessee. They have four children and three grandchildren. John T. Chambers, Panelist John Chambers is Chairman and CEO of Cisco. Since January 1995, when he assumed the role of CEO, Chambers has grown the company from $1.2 billion in annual revenues to approximately $35 billion. In November 2006, he was named Chairman of the Board, in addition to his CEO role. Chambers has been lauded by government leaders and publications worldwide for his visionary strategy, his ability to drive an entrepreneurial culture, and his warm-hearted, straight-talking approach. He has received numerous awards for his leadership, including the first-ever Clinton Global Citizen Award in 2007, three-time winner of the "Best Investor Relations by a CEO" award by IR Magazine, six-time winner of the Best CEO in America in the “Telecommunications, Data Networking” category by Institutional Investor magazine, and the 2005 International Partner award from the California Israel Chamber of Commerce. He was also named "The Most Influential CEO" in telecommunications by Institutional Investor magazine and "The Most Influential Person in Communications" by Telecom Magazine. San Jose Magazine named Chambers “Man of the Year” in 2005. In addition to his business leadership, Chambers is active in philanthropic activities worldwide. In late 2006, in partnership with the U.S. State Department, Chambers co-led a delegation of U.S. business leaders to form the Partnership for Lebanon, helping provide critically needed resources for the ongoing reconstruction efforts in Lebanon. He has also accepted the prestigious Award for Corporate Excellence from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for Cisco’s cosponsorship of the Jordan Education Initiative, which Cisco has worked on in partnership with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan and the World Economic Forum. Chambers also spearheaded several other key educational efforts, including the 21st Century Schools (21S) initiative, to improve education and opportunity for children in the Gulf Coast Region affected by Hurricane Katrina. Chambers joined Cisco in 1991 as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Operations. He assumed the role of President and CEO in 1995. Prior to joining Cisco, he spent eight years at Wang Laboratories (1982-1990) and six years with IBM (1976-1982). He holds a law degree (1974) and a bachelor of science / bachelor of arts degree (1971) in business from West Virginia University. Chambers later received a masters of business administration degree in finance and management (1975) from Indiana University. He is married and has two adult children. Susan L. Bostrom, Panelist Sue Bostrom is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer and head of Worldwide Government Affairs. With over eight years of experience at Cisco Systems in a variety of roles and more than twenty years of strategic marketing experience, Sue Bostrom is responsible for developing and communicating Cisco’s vision and strategy through positioning, branding, advertising, and associated growth initiatives. Bostrom also has responsibility for the Worldwide Government Affairs organization which develops and executes upon Cisco’s public policy agenda. Prior to her role as Chief Marketing Officer, Bostrom had responsibility for the Internet Business Solutions Group, an organization she created and built to bring vertical expertise and Internet business solutions best practices to Global Fortune 500 companies, governors, and heads of state. Bostrom joined Cisco in 1997 as Vice President of Applications and Services Marketing and was appointed to Vice President of IBSG in 1998. She was promoted to Senior Vice President in February 2000. Previously, Bostrom served as Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Strategic Planning at FTP Software, where she was instrumental in developing the company's product technology road map and long-term strategic options. Prior to joining FTP, Bostrom worked with National Semiconductor, where she developed and assisted in implementing National's strategy in the analog mixed-signal marketplace. Bostrom also served for seven years at McKinsey & Company as a leader in the electronics practice, working in areas such as strategic technical marketing, channel management, and business process reengineering. Bostrom holds an MBA degree from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and a B.S. degree in marketing from the University of Illinois, where she graduated in the top one percent of her undergraduate class. Lawrence McGinty, Moderator Lawrence is the Science Editor for ITN. During his career he has won many awards including; 2 BAFTAs for Channel 4 News and Best News or Outside Broadcast and 2 RTS awards for the best sports news report for the coverage of the drugs scandal at the Barcelona Olympics and the Kings Cross Disaster. Lawrence was awarded the Science Writer's Fellowship of the Association of British Science Writers and has the Queen's silver jubilee medal for his work on the New Scientist. |