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NORTHAMPTON, MA/ ACCESS Newswire / March 26, 2025 / Cisco Systems Inc.
By Erin Connor
The following is an excerpt from our FY24 Purpose Report, celebrating 40 years of impact at Cisco. Data and metrics are reflective of Cisco's fiscal year 2024, ending on July 31, 2024.
Today, connectivity is no longer a form of aid; instead, it's often necessary to even receive aid. Beneficiary registration, digital cash, relief benefits, and social service applications all require secure connectivity- and Cisco helps deliver this essential need.
Cisco Crisis Response (CCR) is a leader in the private sector in responding to humanitarian challenges and works directly with government agencies, humanitarian and emergency response organizations, and those affected by crises.
CCR's support includes on-the-ground connectivity, collaboration solutions, and security solutions for both communities and support agencies. In addition, we provide training to help build preparedness, response capabilities, and long-term resilience to NGOs supporting crisis-affected communities. CCR also offers cash and technology donations to humanitarian nonprofit partners, as well as pro bono consulting on network design and emergency connectivity solutions.
Spotlight On: Powering Communications on the Ground
Cisco's Network Emergency Responsible Vehicles (NERVs) provide fast and secure communications when existing communications may be disrupted or degraded. Offered free of charge, onboard NERV features include: fully redundant Cisco Meraki networking components for mission-critical communications; hyperconverged Cisco UCS compute cluster; Cisco Industrial IoT solutions for monitoring and control of vehicle systems; and a high capacity, rechargeable, hybrid power system that powers mission workloads and improves readiness, deployment longevity, and sustainability.
In fiscal 2024, CCR introduced new features to help reach, power, and connect even more communities in need. This includes Line-of-Sight 2.0 kits-comprised of Cisco's Ultra Reliable Wireless Backhaul products-which extend the reach of the NERV to remote networks beyond the limitations of WiFi or when wired networks are not feasible. We also incorporated a Starlink High-Performance solution to add to the suite of backhaul options.
Take a virtual reality tour of the NERV and learn more about the set-up and features.
Here are a few examples of how our Cisco Crisis Response supported communities around the world in FY24:
Combatting Homelessness
In 2018, Cisco committed US$50 million in grant funding over five years-the largest corporate donation of its kind at the time-to address homelessness in Santa Clara County, California. We have far exceeded our original commitment and geographic scope- investing US$130 million to address housing and homelessness globally. This includes US$22 million in product donations to homeless service organizations and supportive housing developments around the world. In Santa Clara County, Cisco's flexible, private funding has leveraged over US$1.5 billion in public funding to create 3,500 homes, and our homelessness prevention efforts with Destination: Home have prevented 7,200 households from becoming homeless.