As the seventh largest economic power in the world, Korea has the highest broadband penetration globally, approaching 85 percent. Technologically, Korea has been more aggressive with its Internet pilots and experimentation than many other countries, mainly because its large conglomerates (chaebols) have been operating on a global basis for decades, and its government began investing in IP infrastructure almost 10 years ago.

In Korea, where gross domestic product continues to grow steadily between 5 percent and 6 percent per annum, the Cisco® Internet Business Solutions Group helped two of the largest manufacturers in the world launch knowledge management and workforce optimization systems. The return on investment on two of the workforce optimization initiatives was realized in less than one year, and now the manufacturers are moving forward with more initiatives.