Last year was the debut of our C-Scape Global Forum. Many of you will fondly (I hope!) remember the previous iteration of that event, the Worldwide Analyst Conference, or as it was known internally -WWAC. So, why did we ‘whack’ WWAC? (you’ll now have that nursery rhyme”This Old Man” playing in your head for the rest of the day. Sorry…)We made the change because we believed WWAC wasn’t providing either of us with the best value possible. Essentially, WWAC had turned into a reporting vehicle. We had the parade of senior executives from the various business units and product areas with their 40-slide updates, and we ended up pitching at you instead of engaging you.Hence, C-Scape. We realized we weren’t culling the best strategic value from our relationships with the industry influencers, so we redesigned our event to focus on discussion, debate and dialogue. We wanted to bring the prevailing issues of the day to this forum and engage you in two-way conversations. We wanted to create an environment where there was more networking time; more opportunities for one-on-one meetings; and more meaningful discussions.Our philosophy around how we engage and interact with the industry analysts and other influencers has undergone a transformation over the last couple of years, and there is no one better than our chairman and CEO, John Chambers, to explain why that change has happened. This clip was taken from a recent internal meeting with employees, where John answered the question on how his views on the use of industry analysts has changed over time.              Duration: 1 min. 40 sec.Have we been successful in that? You’ll be the ultimate judge obviously. We believe we took some positive steps with last year’s event, but we want to ensure we make any needed changes as we go into this year’s forum. If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, please let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

Welcome to our Cisco Analyst Relations blog! We have developed this site to interact with industry influencers and thought leaders on key industry wide trends and issues as well as Cisco-related technologies, markets and customer segments. Incorporating different media and communications tools into our AR program provides our industry analysts, customers, partners, and other interested communities the opportunity to interact and share ideas in new ways. These weekly discussions will include a range of topics and insights, and we encourage you to provide your feedback and thoughts.As part of this initial entry, we would like to introduce our first topic! While it’s only August, we have already started the countdown to Cisco C-Scape Global Forum 2007. The event, which will be held on December 11 and 12 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California, will feature all the things you’ve come to expect at this annual get-together -lively discussion, debate and dialogue on the issues of the day; access to Cisco executives, customers and partners; and the ability to drill down into specific product and technology areas.Ultimately though, this is your event, and I want to make sure we’re building an agenda that is compelling, engaging and of value to you. You’ll definitely hear a lot about collaboration, Web 2.0, software-as-a-service, and social networking as well as our core businesses. But I’d like to hear directly from you on what you’d like to see as part of the program. What topics interest you the most? What sessions are absolute must-haves for you? Beyond the agenda, are there other things we can do to make the event successful for you?Through a mix of roundtables, fireside chats, case studies, one-on-ones and technology discussions, I’m confident we can address your needs and make your time with us valuable and useful.Registration for this invitation-only forum will open up next month. In the interim, please use this blog to share your agenda ideas as well as any thoughts you might have on improving the event itself.Looking forward to seeing you this December in California!