MIAMI, FL--(Marketwire - September 24, 2009) - Cisco (
The winners will join students from other NetRiders competitions around the world for a one-week study tour in California in January 2010. The winners will spend a week working at the Cisco headquarters in San Jose. They will also have the opportunity to meet with senior executives, systems engineers and experts from Cisco and other IT organizations. Additionally, they can experience the California lifestyle with trips to San Francisco and Stanford University.
The Latin America winners are:
| Nicolas Maragliano | Rosario City, Argentina |
| Aldrin Luigi da Silva | Curitiba City, Brazil |
| Tomas Edwards | Santiago City, Chile |
Key Facts / Highlights
- NetRiders 2009 contest took place from June 15 to Sept. 8 as one of the key initiatives of the Cisco Networking Academy program. With this initiative, Cisco is aiming to foster training and employment for the Latin America's socio-economic development.
- More than 10,000 students were registered for the first phase of the contest in 2009.
- The Networking Academy Latin American team partnered with one of its top academies in the region, Fundación Proydesa from Argentina, to deliver the competition.
- The competition took a phased approach. The fist exam was an online 100 multiple-choice quiz; the second round included another multiple-choice quiz and practical networking tasks using Packet Tracer network simulation software; and the final round consisted of a series of skills assessments, including a NetLab evaluation activity and a network design presentation.
- The 50 first finalists were selected through national heats and information technology (IT)-skills contests organized by the Cisco Networking Academy in each of the 24 countries taking part in the competition. Only the top five, one from each Latin American sub-region (Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, and Central America, North-South America and the Caribbean) went through to the final.
- Winning participants from each phase won Linksys by Cisco devices; more than 80 prizes were granted during the competition.
- The 20 Latin American participants with the highest scores in each country were included in a ranking on the Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders 2009 Web site, to identify top talent for the 4,500 Cisco channel partners in Latin America who access the site, as well the thousands of businesses that may require qualified personnel for specific networking areas.
Supporting Quotes:
- Jaime Valles, vice president, Cisco Latin America
"Through this type of initiative of using technology for education, we have two major goals: We are looking to create awareness amongst Latin American employers of the technical talent that is available, and to continue to invest together with our academic partners in generating more qualified resources in order to improve the socio-economic development of our countries in this information era."
- Ricardo Santos, regional manager, Networking Academy, Cisco Latin America
"The Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders 2009 competition represents a unique opportunity for thousands of students to collaborate, compete, and have fun as they learn, obtain international experience, and gain recognition for their knowledge in the management of network technologies."
- Nicolas Maragliano, winner of Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders 2009
"Participating in this competition allowed me to feel winner in many aspects: I gained professional experience, and I got to know people who offered me support in how to get the best out of me. The competition also opened up a new work panorama and new professional growth expectations. I believe that to be recognized as a winner of this contest could open many labor opportunities -- already I have received two proposals of businesses from my city -- but right now I want to study to obtain a Cisco certification and to be better prepared for the future."
Tags / Keywords: Cisco, Cisco Networking Academy, Talent development, e-learning
Links / URLs:
- More information regarding NetRiders Latin America
- Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders 2009 site
- NetRiders Latin America fan page en Facebook
About Cisco Networking Academy
Launched in 1997, Cisco Networking Academy is a partnership between Cisco, education, business, government and community organizations around the world, aimed at nurturing IT professionals. The education programme employs an e-learning model, using a combination of Web-based and instructor-led training along with a hands-on lab environment to teach students how to design, build and maintain computer networks. Worldwide, more than 2 million students have graduated from a total of approximately 10,000 academies in more than 165 countries.
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