The Networking Academy is also Cisco's top digital-divide initiative. And it's close to Cisco's core values.
Education is always top of mind.
An educated workforce is critical to adapt to the Internet economy. In addition to schools, Cisco offers the program in community colleges, adult learning centers, juvenile detention centers, and even homeless shelters. Still, Menlo-Atherton decided not to continue with Cisco's Networking Academy after using it for a year. From an IT point of view, it's very accessible, but the curriculum is more sophisticated than a lot of kids are ready to handle. That's not to say he thinks it couldn't work.