United Nations Turns To Cisco for Disaster Relief

Cisco announced that it will provide the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) with networking technology that enables emergency communications that are critical during disaster relief missions.

The company said that it will be offering the technology as part of its Tactical Operations (TacOps) Team and its experience in providing disaster response. The agreement allows the company to become part of United Nation’s Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications (WGET), an exclusive circle that discusses communications standards and disaster preparedness.

Cisco stated that it has entered similar agreements before with "a number of nonprofit organizations and non-governmental organizations where it provides resources and services that enhance each organization’s mission capabilities", and has provided its technology during natural disaster situations that included the earthquakes struck Japan in 2011 and Haiti in 2010, as well as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Wolfgang Gruener is a contributor to Tom's IT Pro. He is currently principal analyst at Ndicio Research, a market analysis firm that focuses on cloud computing and disruptive technologies, and maintains the conceivablytech.com blog. An 18-year veteran in IT journalism and market research, he previously published TG Daily and was managing editor of Tom's Hardware news, which he grew from a link collection in the early 2000s into one of the most comprehensive and trusted technology news sources.

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