IT Department Visit To Cisco Headquarters

On February 15th, 2023, representatives from the IT department visited Cisco headquarters in Muscat to meet with Dr. Ali Al Lawati, Cisco's general manager for Oman. The meeting aimed to explore collaboration opportunities in student training, research and innovation, and knowledge transfer. The visiting team comprises the Department Head, Dr. Amal Al Abri; the Head of the IT Section, Ms. Fatma Al Shamli; the Public Relation Committee Coordinator, Mr. Abdullah Al Shukeily; and the Coordinator of the Research and Consultancy Committee, Dr. Qais Al Janabi. The visiting team arrived at 11:00 AM and was received by Dr. Al Lawati at the Cisco office in Bait Aalreem complex in Muscat.
After a hearty and hospitable reception, Dr. Amal described the future plan of the IT department and the present departments' activities regarding staff improvement and student skill development. Dr. Amal also emphasized the value added to the student's certificate after the merger with other colleges of technologies and applied sciences based on the Royal Decree to establish a new University of Technology and Applied Sciences. Afterward, Mr. Adbullah introduced the meeting agenda.
The first item on the agenda is the students' training opportunities and how Cisco can help our students improve their skills and elevate their abilities to meet Oman's vision for 2040. Dr. Allawatti highlighted Cisco's commitment to supporting student training and development. He shared details of the various programs and initiatives that Cisco has implemented to help students gain practical experience in computer science.
Dr. Al Lawati was very supportive and expressed his willingness to provide everything within his capacity to achieve the expected goal. He also introduced the new features added to the NetAcad website that will allow the students to attend high-quality content based on interactive learning techniques such as quizzes, simulations, and hands-on labs to engage learners and reinforce their understanding of the material.
Dr. Al Lawatti added, Netacad is an online learning platform created by Cisco, which offers a variety of courses and learning resources related to networking, cybersecurity, programming, and IT infrastructure. It provides various benefits, including high-quality content, flexibility, interactive learning, a global community, industry certification, and cost-effectiveness. It is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to develop their skills and knowledge in IT and networking.
Moreover, Dr. Al Lawatti introduced Cisco's developer hub. The Cisco Developer Hub is an online platform created by Cisco that provides resources, tools, and support for developers interested in building applications and solutions using Cisco technologies. The hub is designed to be a central location where developers can find everything they need to create innovative solutions that can leverage Cisco's extensive portfolio of products and services. He added that in the developer hub, the students could find Learning Labs and Sandbox remote labs to assist with their learning experience. Beyond the interactive Learning Labs and reservable Sandboxes, the students can also find API documentation, event information, and curated code examples on Code Exchange. A video series on network programmability is also available.
Additionally, Dr. Al Lawatti stressed the importance of Cisco certificates and demanded to organize boot camps for students led by certified instructors from the department. He explained how Cisco certificates are highly demanded, and certified students are qualified to secure fine positions in the job market. Among the items discussed with the general manager of Cisco is the OJT training of our students under Cisco's supervision. Dr. Al Lawatti shows his support despite the limited opportunities due to the size of the office in Muscat. Therefore, the OJT training will be limited to two students per semester.
Research and Innovation:
The IT department representatives were particularly interested in the research collaborations with Cisco. Dr. Ali suggested exploring Cisco's developer hub, where many case studies and statistical records are listed. On the other hand, the visiting team asked for more potential collaboration, such as performing system performance testing as well as sharing anonymized data dumps for further research activities.
The IT department representatives also expressed an interest in knowledge transfer opportunities. They discussed the possibility of having Dr. Al Lawatti or other experts from Cisco deliver training sessions to their organization's IT staff on the latest technology trends and best practices. Dr. Allawatti also suggested exploring the potential for joint research projects that could benefit both organizations.
Moreover, Cisco agreed to support the IT department with future activities such as resource person, couch, and jury in competitions and innovation challenges.
Overall, the industry visit by the IT department to Cisco HQ in was productive and informative. The IT department representatives gained valuable insights into Cisco's expertise and technology and explored potential collaboration opportunities. They were also impressed with Cisco's commitment to supporting student training and development. The meeting was a great opportunity for the IT department representatives to learn from a global technology leader and explore potential future partnerships and knowledge transfer opportunities.