Stefan Mileschin

John T Chambers has made his last orders and read his last rites as Cisco's chairman and chief executive.

The 63 year old, who is due to retire within the coming months, claimed the company will now move into new areas after highlighting fears that major changes in the tech space could be detrimental to the company.

Speaking to press at the company's headquarters, Chambers said mobile devices and sensors connected to internet were impacting on major players such as Microsoft, IBM, SAP, Oracle and Cisco.

"Transitions are happening at a faster pace than ever before," he said. Whatever that means.

As a result two or three companies could see themselves in trouble over the next five years.

It has been reported that the chairman will announce plans to move Cisco on in the market by focusing on designing and selling software and services and targeting government and large businesses by designing and managing systems for efficient traffic and clean water across entire cities.

Cisco's plan is to create networks of sensors and data analysis systems, working closely with government officials and civil engineering companies. And it will work with companies to set up efficient mining, manufacturing and distribution systems.

"It's a $4 trillion market," Chambers said. "The days of boxes are over".

Microsoft has also announced plans to expand its offerings in India, setting up 100 Microsoft Innovation Centres in the country over the next two years.

The centres will act as "innovation hubs" at select colleges and technology institutes, to provide help with Microsoft technology, research and software and help create a next generation of Microsoft techies.

As a first step, the company has signed MoU with academic institutes across four states to set up 75 of these centres.

The first 14 innovation centres proposed to be set up are in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Khammam, Bapatla, Guntur and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Coimbatore, Madurai and Salem in Tamil Nadu.

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