By John Walko EETimes Supply Network (11/03/2004 1:51 PM EST)

Cisco Systems is extending its links with MIT's Media Lab by becoming one of the sponsors of the Lab's Digital Life Consortium, gaining access to the pioneering work done there into the applications emerging at the intersection of computation, communications and human expression.

Cisco engineers and scientists, led by Cisco's Technology Center team, will collaborate with MIT Media Lab researchers in areas such as intelligent software agents, viral communications, integrated sensor networks, wearable computers, user interface design, object-oriented video and advanced digital expression.

"Collaboration with Cisco is in perfect keeping with the Media Lab's view that telecommunications will become a viral phenomenon," said Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and co-founder of the MIT Media Lab. "We see a future where every object and device, large and small, will have a router in it."

Charles Giancarlo, Cisco's chief technology officer, said the collaboration with MIT's Media Lab provides the company "with a window into the rapidly developing world of digital technology and enables us to gain increased visibility into emerging technology and market trends."

Cisco is already one of the sponsors of the MIT Center for eBusiness , and was the lead sponsor of Erik Brynjolfsson's research exploring the inter-relationship between IT spending and productivity.

Recently, the company joined MIT's Communications Futures Program (CFP), a new relationship between universities and industry, designed to define the roadmap for communications and its impact on industry.