The Platform Opinions and Insights from Cisco

Sorry, No Internet Today

There is a national turn off your TV week.  There is a national walk/bike to work day (Friday, May 18th for those keeping score at home). There are all kinds of national days or months to promote “heart health” or “read a book” etc.  However, there is no “Internet free” day.  Why?  Because it would be impossible.

The internet is now the platform for all of life’s experiences.  We bank online.  We communicate through IP voice, data and video.  The internet is now mobile.  Our financial markets are managed and operated online.  Our news is gathered and produced online.  We game online.  We book travel online.  We collaborate online.  At this point, certainly from a work standpont, we couldn’t do our jobs without utilizing the Internet.

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 04:39PM PST

Financial Times: “Cisco has Best Website for Customers and Media”

The Financial Times Digital Business today published its survey on corporate web sites.  Cisco’s online pressroom was listed #1 for serving media and our homepage Cisco.com was #1 for serving customers.  From being a member of the corporate communications team, I’m obviously very happy that my colleagues on the News@Cisco team got the recognition for News@Cisco, however from a Cisco shareholder perspective I’m very pleased that we are #1 for serving customers.

The survey was conducted by Bowen Craggs, a corporate website advisory firm that benchmarks company websites. Companies included in the Index are taken from the 2006 FT Global 500, ranked by market capitalization…or “capitalisation” if you are the FT.

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 06:19PM PST

“Wired” Magazine: Most Innovative Companies

So, I did my best sour-grapes impression when I lamented the fact that nobody from Cisco was on PC World’s “Most Important People on the Web” but that Perez Hilton and others, in the eyes of PC World, are more important than anybody at Cisco. 

Wired magazine this month came out with their 10th Annual Top 40 Most Innovative Companies in the World and Cisco, naturally, is on the list.  We are #8 (up from #12 last year) and while I may disagree, of course, with the fact that we are not #1…not everybody can be the #1 on every list.  They write: “As the petabits surge, Cisco keeps outflanking cut-rate competitors and surfing the flood of online video. VoIP gear and set-top boxes contribute to ‘90s-style earnings growth. Now CEO John Chambers hopes to sell the world on wall-size, hi-def telepresence.”  For more on TelePresence, see my previous blog entry...or see here.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 03:20PM PST

Holographic Visits to the Workplace

My seven-week old son, Jack, is scheduled to visit me at work today.  I’m excited to show him off and I know he’s excited to see where his dear ol’ dad works.  It made me think, however, if this time-honored tradition of the kid visiting the parents workplace will still be with us when Jack has kids.  With technology advancing like it is…video, chips, broadband, storage, etc….will Jack even have a physical office…or will his office be virtual using holographics?

Jack Earnhardt - one month old

I’m personally very skeptical of “Second Life.”  And, yes, to a degree, I mock what I don’t understand.  However, I do think that at some point in the future, the virtual world will be as useful and important to the workplace as the real world.  Will Jack’s kids visit him in a physical workplace where he joins with colleagues to collaborate?  Or, will his office only exist in a virtual world where the holographic Jack brings his holographic kid to visit his holographic colleagues?  I’m thinking that this isn’t too far off from what it may be like.

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 12:12PM PST

Blogging and the Media Capital of the World

NEW YORK, NY - I’m in New York this week having some very interesting meetings with some very interesting media outlets.  Many of the conversations I have had over the past two days with some of the leading business, wire and consumer outlets have included the topic of blogs.  On the topic of blogs, I’m generally not into navel gazing, but when some of the most influential publications in the U.S. (and, arguably the world) ask you about blogs or talk about their online or blogging efforts as much as their off-line efforts, then you know that blogs are having an impact on “the conversation.”

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 03:23PM PST

Cisco Chief Development Officer Giancarlo on WebEx Acquisition

Charlie Giancarlo is Cisco’s Chief Development Officer and President, Linksys.  His full bio here. (.pdf document)

Today, we announced Cisco’s agreement to acquire WebEx Communications, Inc. We feel strongly that network-based collaboration is a large part of our future and believe that WebEx is an excellent platform to build on.

Whether for students using the web to collaborate on research projects or for medical specialists to work together to make the best medical decisions, collaborative technologies are growing in sophistication and use because people want to work or play with other people regardless of physical proximity.

Many pundits are trying to define Web 2.0 or even predict Web 3.0.  What Web 2.0 means to me is straightforward: Web 2.0 technologies allow users to collaborate directly over the open platform of the Internet ...collaborating with video, voice and information 24 hours a day, 24 time zones around the world.  Web 2.0 is perhaps most evident in the consumer marketplace with social networking sites, mash-ups and video sharing services.  This is the "play" part of Web 2.0. 

But this collaborative technology will make huge advances in the business effectiveness with online collaborative tools like WebEx’s.  WebEx was one of the early leaders in this market and remains a leader 10 years later, making intercompany collaboration accessible and easy for their customers.

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Posted by Cisco PR at 08:00AM PST

MTVu and Cisco Sponsored UCLA Site Garners Award at SXSW

Last year, Cisco teamed up with MTVU - the broadband and college oriented cable network of MTV - to create the Digital Incubator project - a national grant program with the aim of discovering and supporting new digital media broadband innovators.
We are excited to report that a winning team from the first year of MTVU’s and Cisco’s Digital Incubator project won the student “Web Award” at the SXSW Interactive Festival.  The UCLA student web project known as “How Do I Say This” is the winner of the SXSW Interactive student web award!!!!  SXSW, of course, is South by Southwest Interactive, Film and Music Festivals and conference that takes place each year in Austin, Texas.

Cisco is obvlously proud to be a partner with MTVU and to help give a platform for all of the creativity at the Digital Incubator project, but, clearly, we’re most pleased for the team at UCLA and their “How Do I Say This?” project.  Great job, UCLA team. 

Now, if Arron Afflalo can just get hot in the NCAA tournament and bring home another bit of recognition to UCLA in the form of another NCAA basketball championship!!!  (And, with apologies to an un-named Cisco executive who went to Duke, I’d be quite happy with my home-state Tar Heels bringing home some hardware as well.)

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 04:54PM PST

PC World’s 50 Most Important People on the Web

Many of you have likely already seen PC World’s ”50 Most Important People on the Web” article that came out this Monday.  I just came across it thanks to the Fake Steve Jobs blog, which is back online after a brief hiatus. 

Lists always leave someone out who think they should be on it.  “Am I on the list?”  “Did I make the list?”  “Who’s on the list?”  My comment on the PC World list is this: (And, yes, this is Sour Grapes 101)...Cisco is not on the list that is self-entitled, “Here’s who’s shaping what you read, watch, hear, write, buy, sell, befriend, flame, and otherwise do online.”  To be sure, this list is focused on social media and web policy, etc.  However, the list says it includes what you “otherwise do online”...i.e. what enables your online experience.

IMHO, I would argue that it is Cisco gear that is enabling all of this interaction and social media to take place.  (Of course, we are not service providers, but our gear enables service providers (cable, telecom, etc.) to give the world “dial-tone” to the internet.)  Fake Steve Jobs blogs sub-head says, “Dude, I invented the frigging iPod.  Have you heard of it?”  I think the sub-head of this blog should be “We invented the friggin network router.  Have you heard of it?”

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 04:44PM PST

Thomas Friedman Reconfirmed

Wow, it’s March already.  What the heck happened to January and February?  And, as the old yarn tell us, March starts like a lion and ends like a lamb.  And, if there was any doubt in anybody’s mind that we’re now in a global economy, one need look no further than what happened on Wednesday with the Chinese stock market that then had the ripple effect on the world markets.

My out of work focus of late has been on one Mr. Jack Earnhardt.  One month old this coming Monday.  He’s going to live and grow up in a world very different from the one that we all live in today.  With the collaborative tools that are being built and the solutions that are being offered and will be offered (over the network, of course) he’s going to be able to have experiences and opportunities that you and I could never dream of.

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Posted by John Earnhardt at 05:39PM PST