Lessons from Israeli Innovation – Cisco’s Investments in Jerusalem

LESSONS FROM ISRAELI INNOVATIONS

• CISCO'S INVESTMENTS IN JERUSALEM

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 17:45 @ Jerusalem College of Technology

Come to this JBNF Business Networking opportunity and hear about Cisco and its amazing history of activities in Israel, with the latest acquisitions last year of Jerusalem based NDS and Intucell Systems. NDS provides secure delivery solutions and other advanced inter-active systems for digital and pay-TV and its R&D center is in Har Hotzvim, Jerusalem with more than 1,300 employees in Israel. As such, NDS is one of Jerusalem's largest industrial employers. Founded in 1988 in Jerusalem, started by JCT graduates and based on technology developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the company was acquired in 1992 by News Corp. (Rupert Murdoch).

The acquisition of NDS will complement and accelerate the delivery of Videoscape (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns1043/solution_overview_c22-696150.html), Cisco's comprehensive platform that enables service providers and media companies to deliver next-generation entertainment experiences. Acquiring NDS will broaden Cisco's opportunities in the service provider market, expanding its reach into emerging markets, such as China and India, where NDS has an established customer footprint and will play an important role in the new, super-fast fiber-optic system (http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000857455&fid=4376) being installed across Israel to turn the country into the world’s first digital state and serve as a test case for the world. The next generation communication system, based on technology developed by Cisco, will offer speeds several magnitudes faster than anything the country has seen before.

Tal Slobodkin led the acquisition team that dealt with the Israeli part of Cisco's acquisition of NDS and will talk about Cisco’s corporate development team, which includes information on how Cisco does investments and acquisitions, and touches specifically on Israel.

Yehuda Zaks will present the amazing history of NDS, from a Jerusalem startup to a global company and the plans and opportunities of Cisco Service Provider Video Technologies (formerly NDS) for the future.

About our speakers:

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/a/d/2/c/600_271784332.jpeg Tal Slobodkin, Senior Manager, Corporate Business Development
Cisco
Tal Slobodkin leads Cisco’s Corporate Development activities in Israel and Russia. In this role, he is responsible for setting and executing Cisco’s acquisition and venture capital investment strategy in these regions. Tal has been managing Cisco’s venture capital portfolio in Israel and an active participant on the board of directors for a number of portfolio companies. In addition, Tal has been leading all Israeli-related portions of Cisco’s acquisitions in Israel, including the $5bn acquisition of NDS (2012) and $475mm acquisition of Intucell Systems (2013). Previously, Tal has been leading Cisco’s world wide Smart Grid corporate development activities. He has been a driving force in defining Cisco’s Smart Grid strategy, and led the acquisition of Arch Rock as well as Cisco’s investment in Grid Net and Control4.

Prior to joining Cisco in 2008, Tal was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs where he was a member of the Technology, Media and Telecom team in New York City. Before, Tal had served as a Captain in the Elite Technology Unit of the Israeli Intelligence Corp.
Tal holds an MBA with honors from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of the Talpiot Military Academy (B.Sc. in Math, Physics and Computer Science).

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/1/a/c/600_271816812.jpeg

Yehuda Zaks,

Director Delivery, Key Projects,

Cisco

Yehuda Zaks joined NDS at its beginning 22 years ago, starting as a Software Engineer, Project Manager and currently VP Delivery at NDS (now Cisco). He worked previously at Tadiran (Petach Tikve) and Luz Technologies (Jerusalem).

Yehuda graduated with a BSc in Electrical Engineering from University of Witwatersrand, South Africa in 1982. He made Aliyah to Israel in 1983 with his wife and have 6 children born in Israel.

Entrance fee is 20nis at the door

This is also another opportunity for networking with other serious business people.

Bring business cards!

If you have questions, contact us at info@jbnf.org

Also check out the new website: http://jbnf.org