Networking hardware giant Cisco said Wednesday it would seek further partnership with Korean firms, calling collaboration crucial in an era of connected things, often called the “Internet of Everything.”

“Cisco fundamentally believes that as we move into the world of digitization and IoE, no single company can do it on its own, especially when you try to merge the IoT and operational technology worlds,” Cisco’s Asia-Pacific and Japan president Irving Tan said at a media briefing on the sidelines of the firm’s annual IT event Cisco Connect Korea held in Seoul.

“We need to look at strategic partnerships,” he added, hinting at further investment and partnership with Korean firms. 

The California-based company has nurtured its business through a slew of acquisitions and partnership deals for decades. Korea is no exception as it has invested in some Korean firms, including N3N, a smart monitoring and image processing system developer, and Namoo I&C, a middleware developer.

N3N president Jimmy Kim said its collaboration with Cisco greatly helped his start-up’s entry into overseas markets.

“Taking advantage of the Cisco partnership, we now build a smart crane operating system for foreign ports. More recently, we inked a deal to supply video monitoring systems for Dubai’s smart city project,” Kim said.

Cisco also did not rule out the possibility of acquiring competitive tech firms here.

“There are a lot of possibilities to both work with and invest in Korean companies down the road,” said Derek Idemoto, vice president of corporate development.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)