Last week we attended the C-Scape analyst track at Cisco Live in London to get an update on Cisco and its performance in the EMEAR region. Padmasree Warrior, Cisco SVP and CTO, delivered the keynote and laid down Cisco’s vision, strategy and execution for the next generation of IT. In a nutshell:
Vision. The Internet and the Internet of Things (IoT) will merge into the Internet of Everything (IoE). Cisco defines IoE as “bringing together people, process, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before—turning information into actions that create new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals, and countries”.
Strategy. The Cisco Unified Platform is the Cisco model for the next generation of IT on which the IoE will run. The unified platform is a conceptual platform of platforms and embraces amongst others Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) and Cisco Open Networking Environment (ONE). It is the man in the middle between automated applications (SaaS) and ubiquitous infrastructure (IaaS). See figure below:
Execution. Agility, partnering and openness are key attributes of leading platform vendors and Cisco is determined to lead the IoE partner ecosystem. Cisco recognizes that its Unified Platform strategy can only thrive if it can attract key partners from both the application and the infrastructure side. The partner ecosystem that Cisco has built around its unified platform concept is impressive. See figure below (click to enlarge):
Bottom Line
Cisco wants to become the #1 IT company. Not of today’s generation of IT but of the next generation, what they call IoE. And if the network is the platform for the IoE, Cisco is the man in the middle. Leading the platform and partner ecosystem that supports the IoE will be Cisco’s primary goal. Protecting its leadership and at the same time serving the best interest of the customer and the partner ecosystem will be its primary challenge.
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