As mentioned in my previous blog, on May 7th, less than three days from today, curtains will rise on the Cisco IT Innovation Forum -- a 360-degree customer-focussed event involving Cisco’s customers from all over the world, industry thought leaders from various analyst firms and of course, Cisco business and technology experts. What’s in it for you?All our keynote speakers, panelists and other presenters are going to share their thoughts and experience on how to sustain innovation in turbulent times while navigating to survive. Though there is no one size fits all, these are times when the bulk of organizations resonate to a few common problems, and are looking for creative practices to lower costs in the workplace, improve productivity and think outside the box in how they leverage IT not just as a cost center but as a strategic asset to their business.Who’s speaking?We have our customers sharing their experiences and advocating best practices from across the globe. It’s not “Cisco-speak” and believe me you don’t want to miss this — Joao D. Bezerra Leite, Director, IT Operations and Infrastructure, Itau Bank- Ushir Bhatt, Chief Executive Officer, Future Group- Dave Cahill, Chief Information Officer, Van Meter Industrial, Inc.- Matthew Frederickson, Director, Information Technology, Council Rock School District- Grigorios Gkotsis, Project Manager, Consultant, Information Society S.A., of Ministry of Interior- Eric Hicks, Director, Information Technology, Burnham Institute for Medical Research- Marco Michelotti, Manager, Information and Communication, Leaseplan- Darren O’Connor, Chief Information Officer, The Reject Shop- Riccardo Salierno, Chief Information Officer, Liquigas S.p.A.- Daryl Schweiger, Manager, Information Systems, Cardiovascular GroupAlso, don’t miss out on some of the leading analysts from Nemertes group, Current Analysis and the Lippis report, or the Keynote session with Cisco executives Mick Scully, Marie Hattar, Shailesh Shukla moderated by Bob Berlin. Believe me, none of them are shy to voice their opinions.Register now @ http://www.ciscoitinnovationsforum.com. It’s Virtual and Free! Read More »

Our team is very close to announcing finalists for the Cisco AXP ‘Think Inside the Box’ Developer Contest. Based on the judging criteria outlined in the terms and conditions, we have identified a short list of potential finalists. Each potential finalist (individual or team) has been contacted and we are close to completing the review process. Once the review process is completed, we will announce the top teams selected to move into Phase-2. We expect this to happen within the next two weeks. If you have not received an intimation of being designated as a potential finalist, you may assume that your team is not shortlisted at this point. We trust this provides an update on the status. The large number of entries, coupled with inter continental logistics has made this an exciting, yet challenging task. We are happy to stay close to our original deadlines and want to sincerely thank the multitude of contestents who have sent in such quality proposals all over the globe. Read More »

Restructurings, layoffs, slashed budgets. These are the words we’re hearing everyday in the news as we continue to wade through the current economic crisis. It’s a challenging and uncertain time to be sure, but it’s also an excellent time to be preparing for turnaround. Because the reality is that any time we’re forced to do more with less, we become more inventive, more resourceful. And that’s essentially the theme we’re carrying to this year’s Interop: Redefining Innovation. Igniting Your Business. Read More »

When meeting with some of my industry peers, I often get asked “How’s Cisco doing?”. In some ways it is a loaded question. On one hand, I think Cisco is doing extremely well considering today’s turbulent times. The innovation engine is humming along. On the other, it’s not being complacent either taking things easy. With a publicly stated goal of cutting costs by $1 billion by July, it’s a challenge that’s top-down and across the company. It’s fair to say a lot of these costs savings are through increasing operational efficiency and better collaboration. There are different ways to weather turbulent times. Solid cash and cashflow. Good M&A strategy. Good leadership, strategy and execution. Frugality. Sustained innovation coupled with operational excellence. If it were a multiple choice question, this is the one that you’d tick “E” -- “All of the Above”. To a large extent it is about understanding market transitions, and being in a good enough position to drive some of it.Funnily enough, none of this is new. This stood us in good stead during the dot-com crash and technology-led bust of the early 2000s. A quick search on Amazon.com will reveal books like “John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating through volatility” and “The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers steered Cisco through the technology collapse“. I’ve often heard John remark, that Cisco has benefited tremendously by being a good listner, understand our customer requirements and working with them to execute. This time, our ears are perked up even more, as our customers and partners are challenging themselves (and us) to deliver operational excellence with limited budgets and without compromising on innovation. “Do more with less” is the clarion call.Cisco IT Innovation ForumThis is a challenge we have to resolve together with our customers and partners on a global basis, by proactive partnership, transparency and sharing best practices. Any product innovations are a means and not an end to deliver on our customer requirements.In line with this mindset, on May 7th, 2009, Cisco is hosting a Virtual IT Innovations Forum, an interactive platform that brings together our global customers, our solution partners, industry analysts and some of our own executive and technology talent from within Cisco to share best practices and ideas to weather this economic downturn and prepare for the upturn. Despite the seriousness of the current economic climate, a little humor never hurts. Thank God for Scott Adams. We’ve our own take on injecting a little humor. Some of it is reflected in these viral videos that our team put together to help promote the Innovation Forum. This one’s titled “The copier”Look out and watch for the other videos in the series. After you’ve had a good chuckle, or fallen out of your chair, go ahead and take the next step. Register to attend the Cisco IT Innovations Forum on May 7th. It’s FREE! You don’t have to leave your desk to hear some of the best minds in the business talk shop. What better way to foster Innovation? Or Operational Excellence? Or Both? Read More »

Greetings. Interop 2009 is just around the corner! We’re excited and looking forward to catching the latest news and views about IPv6 industry uptake. We’ll be video blogging from the floor so don’t be shocked if you see me coming around the corner with a video photog in tow! We’d love to hear your insights and attitudes about IPv6 and other important issues facing our industry. You can tell us here and at the show. Here’s to a great show. See you there!Jennifer Geisler, Manager of Network Systems Switching Solutions for Cisco.