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Hong Kong in safe hands

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Why you can trust SCMP

Charleston Sin Chiu-shun can see the future and he knows it works. This is lucky for everyone because as Hong Kong and Macau general manager for Cisco, he plays a key role in making it work. Cisco may not be as familiar a name as, say, Microsoft - which is both a partner and rival.

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But the name is in virtually every house, business, organisation and enterprise imaginable. The company is the world's largest internet network solutions provider, which essentially means that it controls the platform of trillions of microchips that keep our daily lives running.

In Hong Kong, the corporation connects internet service providers, telephone systems, banks, hospitals, public transport, hotels, corporations, small and medium-sized businesses and the government.

'Virtually all network traffic goes through Cisco,' Mr Sin said. 'If we stopped working, the world is now so dependent on internet technology that not much of Hong Kong would continue running.

'None of the public transport systems could operate, not even the roads because traffic lights wouldn't work. The airport would close. Banks and ATMs would shut down, along with telephone systems and supermarkets. Businesses could continue, but without any form of communication.'

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Pressed to imagine any operation that might escape unscathed, he suggested: 'Perhaps just one, the Star Ferry.'

Thankfully, apart from the odd hiccup like the Pacific Ocean earthquake last December that shut down half of the undersea communication cables, sending Hong Kong into a mild panic, the technology is reliable - and the nightmare scenario he painted is highly unlikely

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