HAYS, KS and SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - May 18, 2009) - Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) today
announced the winners of the
Tiger Net Challenge,
a virtual competition designed by the
Cisco®
Networking Academy® and
Fort Hays
State University to demonstrate real-world critical problem-solving
abilities and to honor excellence among students and Networking Academies.
The Tiger Net Challenge engaged more than 100 Networking Academy students
across eight states to compete in three events: Router Wars, Net Bowl and
Network Troubleshooting.
- Router Wars: Students competed in real time to capture control of a
network. They had to anticipate their opponents' strategies as well as
launch malicious attacks and defend against them. This type of exercise
prepares students to defend networks against such attacks in a professional
setting.
- Net Bowl: This real-time quiz bowl format tested general networking
knowledge. Students participated via Cisco WebEx™, an online
collaboration service.
- Network Troubleshooting: In the final challenge, students raced to be
the first to restore a pre-designed network using Cisco's Packet Tracker
5.1 software.
"We are very proud to host such a prestigious networking competition," said
Mark Bannister, chair of the Department of Information Networking and
Telecommunications at Fort Hays State University. "This is the first time
this competition has been held, and it is very satisfying that competing
students were so successful. The event and training leading up to it
reinforce many of the critical skills that aspiring networking
professionals need to master for successful careers in information
technology."
"Fort Hays State is pleased to provide a leadership role as a National
Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance and as a Regional
Cisco Networking Academy," said Bannister. "We are proud to reach out to
encourage high school, college, and university students to engage in a fun
but very academically challenging and highly practical competition. We
appreciate the opportunity to work with Cisco, a world-wide leader in
networking technologies, to offer an opportunity for students to test their
knowledge and skills against each other while remaining at their own
school, college or university."
The Cisco Networking Academy is a global technology education program that
provides students with networking and technical skills to prepare them for
careers in the 21st century. Committed to delivering the highest standard
of information technology education to students of all nationalities,
genders and economic brackets, the program is designed to offer students
real-world skills that will position them for employment and career growth.
"This competition incorporated a variety of challenges that encouraged
students to develop their networking knowledge and to think critically to
solve real-life networking issues," said Rosanna Bisges, senior manager for
Cisco Networking Academy in the U.S. and Canada. "By taking full advantage
of the Networking Academy curriculum, we are preparing the next generation
of networking professionals to build, maintain and repair the advanced
networks that will drive the economy of tomorrow."
The 2009 Tiger Net Winners:
Router Wars
- Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Kaw Area Technical School, Topeka, KS.
- Campus High School, Haysville, KS.
Net Bowl
- Herndon Career Center, Raytown, MO.
- University of Wisconsin, Stout
- Cambridge-Isanti High School, Cambridge, MN.
Network Troubleshooting
- Herndon Career Center, Raytown, MO.
- Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown, SD.
- University of Wisconsin, Stout
- Leavenworth High School, Leavenworth, KS.
Kevin R. MacRitchie, vice president and CTO, Global Defense, Space and
Security, Cisco, CCIE 1079, presented a keynote speech at the event. He
said, "Collaboration is an integral component of the fabric of business and
life today. Fort Hays' unique approach to weave Web 2.0 collaborative
technologies to bring together multiple remote locations to compete and
operate as one, proving technology can be the 'invisible tool' of business
and life, was certainly one of the most valuable experiences these students
could have ever experienced."
For more information about the Cisco Networking Academy, visit
http://www.cisco.com/go/netacad.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
can be found at
http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco Systems logo, and Networking Academy are
registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the United States and
certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document
are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner
does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other
company. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Contact Information: Press Contacts:
Cisco
Cara Sloman
831-440-2411
csloman@Cisco.com
FHSU
Kent Steward
785-628-4208
ksteward@fhsu.com