This case describes the strategy adopted by Cisco India to develop the Advanced Services Router 901 (‘ASR 901’). It is part of a larger strategy by Cisco headquarters to understand what could be built in the developing markets for the developing markets, as opposed to products conceived with only developed markets as the focus. Within a time frame of a few months, a team forms to develop the ASR 901 completely from scratch — from conception to launch — in Bangalore, India. It then goes on to win several awards, and interestingly, orders begin streaming in from not just the developing economies, as had been expected, but also from top tier customers in the developed markets.

ASR 901 is undoubtedly a milestone in Cisco India’s indigenous innovation initiatives. Can the lessons learnt while progressing through the several stages of product development be applied to similar new initiatives?