BANGALORE, INDIA: Cisco recently announced a new incentive program for its distributors and channel partners in India and other SAARC nations, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan.

Titled ‘Race to Rio’, the program offers partners a chance to win an all expense paid trip to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in February 2012 corresponding with the Rio Carnival, said a press release.

The program, which is currently underway, will go on till January 20, 2012 and is aligned with Cisco's growth strategy to motivate partners, especially in upcountry markets to accelerate sales and widen geographical reach for Cisco.

Arun Dharmalingam, vice president, Partner Led, Velocity Sales, Cisco, said, “Cisco is a partner-driven organization and it’s important for us to recognize and reward partners who have demonstrated their commitment consistently to Cisco and more importantly, to the customers at large.”

He added that all their unique incentive programs have been well received, with previous initiatives helping to increase partner coverage exponentially during the program period. “This accomplishment has prompted us to consistently increase our investments in channel promotions and enablement programs; we expect ‘Race to Rio’ to exceed our expectations and become a bigger success.”

The products included under Race to Rio program are Cisco UCS C Series, Cisco Small Business product portfolio and specific Cisco Switching and Routing products.

Apart from the trip to Rio for the top performers and runners-up, other partners can accumulate points upon selling participating SKUs and encash them for exciting rewards such as Bose Home Theater Systems, Canon DSLR Cameras, Samsung Galaxy S2 Phones, etc.