Cisco, SBA announce online learning

The Small Business Administration and Cisco Systems Inc. have formed an online training partnership to help small businesses incorporate the Internet into their business operations.

SBA and Cisco are offering six online courses free of charge covering the basics of using the Internet, doing business via the Internet, marketing on the World Wide Web and building an integrated business and technology plan, SBA and Cisco officials said Wednesday.

"The Cisco/SBA training partnership will help thousands of small businesses to be Internet-savvy, understand the digital economy and, most importantly, take advantage of growing e-commerce opportunities," said Darryl Dennis, associate deputy administrator for entrepreneurial development at SBA.

A dialup connection of 28.8 kilobits/sec is sufficient to take the courses, which can be found at SBA's site or at Cisco's site.