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February 29, 2008
Jump into a Quantum Shift
For those of you who missed Randy Sisk's post on the Cisco Virtual Worlds blog, starting Saturday, Cisco will be hosting a number of days of events around our forthcoming Quantum Shift announcement. Hop on over to Randy's post on the VW Blog for details on how to participate in the live music events, and the exciting new announcements planned!
Enjoy the party, and see you there!
Christian Renaud
Chief Architect, Networked Virtual Environments
Posted by Christian Renaud at 02:07 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
February 27, 2008
VIDEO: Building the Hospital of the Future
Alas, we couldn't take the Connected Bus there, but our team did head to Orlando, Florida, this week for the annual HIMSS healthcare industry conference, where our vision for "Connected Health" was the subject of discussion. The journey to better health systems sometimes seems like it's been a slow one, but a new healthcare CIO survey we helped launch at HIMSS suggests more connected health systems are finally coming our way.
In this video from the conference, Frances Dare, director of our healthcare group, and Matthew Holt, Health 2.0 guru, discuss how unified communications technologies are improving healthcare experiences for clinicians and patients.
We also hear about one of the best examples of a "hospital of the future" from Michael Covert, CEO of Palomar Pomerado Health. You might have read about the new Palomar West hospital that Cisco and PPH are building in San Diego, California, on Christian Renaud's Virtual Worlds blog. My colleague Amber Allman was able to corner Michael at HIMSS and ask him exactly why building a hospital simulation was such an important part of PPH's plans for its futuristic new medical campus.
Posted by David McCulloch at 11:14 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
February 21, 2008
VIDEO: Take a Tour of Cisco's Green "Bus of the Future"
The Who sang about the "Magic Bus," and while the bus unveiled yesterday in San Francisco at Cisco's Connected Urban Development conference isn't magic, the San Francisco Chronicle called it "the bus of the future."
The bus is a joint project between the city of San Francisco (where we got our name!) and Cisco. The bus is a hybrid (look at all the batteries on top of the bus) and the technology and "green" goal is to provide wireless internet access (Cisco equipment, of course) and other services on the bus to increase ridership. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is quoted in the Chronicle article saying, "This is a smart bus in every way, shape and form. You can download music, you can play video games. It's a bus where you are connected. It's constantly generating information about your connection to the rest of the Muni system."
So, we invite you to take a technology tour of the bus with Cisco's Dave Evans (Chief Technologist of our Internet Business Solutions Group) and also hear from Muni driver Johnny Mathis (yes, that's his real name) about why he thinks riders will like this bus.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:02 PM Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
VIDEO: Cisco at "NBA Cares" Day of Service
More than 2,500 people attending NBA All-Star 2008 rolled up their sleeves to participate in one of 10 service projects throughout New Orleans on Feb. 15, marking the largest single-day effort by the NBA Family in its ongoing support in rebuilding the city.
Cisco teams from the 21S program, and the marketing organization and their families participated in the Laurel Elementary School revitalization project. The group was responsible for painting a mural of the New Orleans skyline.
Cisco's Molly Ford talked to Mary de Wysocki, Internet Business Solutions Director & Cisco 21S Fellow and Jeff Platon, vice president of marketing, representing, Cisco Sports and Entertainment Group about Cisco participating in the "NBA Cares" Day of Service.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 11:59 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
February 19, 2008
VIDEO: Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban at NBA All Star Game 2008
Not to be confused with the other big news out of another famous Cuban today, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban talks to Cisco's Molly Ford at the NBA All Star Game in New Orleans. In his inimitable way, he waxes poetic about the Mavericks use of technology, Led Zeppelin, the one-hit wonders of "viral video," technology media including PCWorld, Cisco equipment, and much more. If you haven't checked out his blog, on topics varying from who should be the next president of the US to his thoughts on YHOO/MSFT, please check out BlogMaverick.com.
Apologies for some interference with the sound during Cuban's last answer...you can still hear his answers, but it seems there was a mobile phone nearby during the taping.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 10:43 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
VIDEO: Cisco's Jeff Platon at the NBA All Star Game
Jeff Platon, vice president of marketing, Cisco Sports and Entertainment Group, talks to Cisco's Molly Ford at the NBA All-Star Game and answers the following questions:
1. Explain Cisco and the NBA's relationship.
2. Give us an overview of Cisco's Connected Sports program.
3. What is Cisco’s role at the NBA All Star game? Can you explain Cisco's product integration?
Posted by John Earnhardt at 10:06 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
February 18, 2008
VIDEO: NBA's Steve Hellmuth at 2008 All-Star Game
Cisco's Molly Ford interviews Steve Hellmuth, Senior Vice President, Operations and Technology NBA Entertainment. Hellmuth discusses his views on the use of technology in the NBA and how they look at "fantasy sports," China, Cisco TelePresence and Digital Signage, and the future of entertainment. He also talks about Chris Bosh's videos, Baron Davis' movie reviews and Gilbert Arenas' blog.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:54 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
VIDEO: Cisco's Alan Cohen at the 2008 NBA All-Star Game
My colleague Molly Ford traveled to sultry New Orleans, LA for the NBA All-Star Game this past weekend and captured some great interviews with Cisco's Alan Cohen and Jeff Platon; Steve Hellmuth, Senior Vice President, Operations and Technology NBA Entertainment; and, last, but not least, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network, and active blogger.
Each of them discusses their views on the use of technology in sports and how "anytime, anywhere" access to content is literally changing the game of sports.
In this video, Alan Cohen, Cisco's peripatetic VP of Enterprise and Mid-Market Solutions Marketing, talks about Cisco's role at the NBA All-Star game and how he sees the evolution of technology in sports. He, as others, also highlights the NBA's embrace of technology by touching on Toronto Raptor star Chris Bosh's YouTube "campaign" video for the All-Star game among other uses of social media.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 02:04 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
February 15, 2008
The NBA All-Star Game and the Heart of Human Communications
This weekend marks Cisco’s second participation in the NBA All-Star Game. As it takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, it takes on a twin importance for us: both global and local.
We share the NBA’s commitment to the revitalization of New Orleans and the Gulf region -- we, through our 21st Century Schools Initiative (21S) and the league through its NBA Cares program -- still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Secondly, we share a vision of sports as an ultimate venue where technology can dramatically enhance the total and global experience of sports.
And for many of us, our identification with sports begins in childhood and spans our entire life: from the soccer fields, blacktops, sandlots and schoolyard venues of youth to metaphor of work/industry competition to the persistent personalization of a lifelong fan.
While sports can be narrowly reduced to athleticism, it is so much more about teamwork and collaboration. No less a management expert than Mike Krzyzewski, “Coach K” of the Duke Blue Devils basketball program (and coach of the U.S. Olympic Basketball squad) notes: “effective teamwork begins and ends with collaboration…people want to be part of a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good.”
Having gotten to know the NBA quite well over the past year, I can let you in on a little secret: NBA Commissioner David Stern and Cisco CEO John Chambers both know the next wave of the Internet is about Human Communications and Collaboration on a massive, global scale unlike anything we have seen before.
The power of sports and technology is not a North American phenomenon, but a global one. Why is it that both Cisco and NBA have recently announced ambitious multi-billion dollar plans to expand in China? Perhaps it something to do with the number of Internet users growing in China as well as the growth of basketball (today, over 300 million people play basketball in China).
While upwards of a billion people will follow the All-Star festivities – the NBA has over 70 international players and its programming is seen in over 215 countries in 44 languages – this weekend’s blending of technology and
sports is more about localization than globalization. It is about our support for the people and the city of New Orleans, a city characterized by an open, friendly culture, the heart of a classic music form, Jazz, and the crossroads of cultures, where the great Mississippi River flows into the Gulf.
Technology can play a role in helping New Orleans get back on its feet: it is a great leveler for education and commerce. Or as NBA Great Bill Russell once said: “the idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.” Technology can dramatically connect a community to the world on an amazing scale.
As we saw earlier this week at the GSM event in Barcelona, every screen fixed or mobile, will be connected to the Internet, striving to integrate the experience of video, The next wave of the Internet, powered by Collaboration and driven by the compelling experience of Video, is changing how we relate to sports, soon allowing us to experience the power of sports collectively. Even if we are thousands of miles apart, we will soon watch a game together and argue and laugh over our favorite players and teams.
Post by Alan S. Cohen, Vice President Enterprise and Mid-Market Solutions
Posted by Cisco PR at 04:12 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
February 14, 2008
Technology: Bringing Us Together on Valentine's Day
There is a vocal part of the populace who says that technology disconnects people from other people. They say that being head-down in a computer is no way to connect with other humans. To this, I say, "Hogwash." I'll speak personally here, but I know that there are others who are in the same boat. I have never been MORE connected to family, friends and colleagues. Through e-mail, facebook, myspace, linked-in, youtube and other collaborative and "connecting" technologies, I know what a heck a lot more of my peeps are doing now than ever before. Sure, I still like getting the holiday card updates and personal e-mails and phone calls, but technology allows me to track my (Cisco plug alert!!) human network seamlessly and keeps me more connected to people, not less.
So, on this Valentine's Day, I say, connect with your universe through technology, send your loved ones an e-card, order flowers online, book a restaurant reservation on opentable...or, go to match.com or yahoo personals or whichever site and meet the person of your dreams online...and, back on the personal side, I met my wife online some four years ago and couldn't be happier. Happy Valentine's Day, Bella!!
Posted by John Earnhardt at 10:54 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
February 12, 2008
Chambers redefines ‘mobility’ at Mobile World Congress
It’s not easy to wow a mobile phone industry audience just after they have heard from the bosses of Vodafone, Nokia and China Mobile. Yet that was the task facing Cisco chief executive John Chambers at this year’s Mobile World Congress opening keynote speech in Barcelona, Spain.
Where previous speakers had pointed to the unstoppable progress of the industry so far—with 3 billion subscribers worldwide, mobile is officially the fastest-growing technology innovation in human history—Chambers provided a startling vision of the future.
Chambers foresaw a new phase of Internet productivity driven not by business but by consumers; the provision of everything (not just software) as a service; and emerging countries taking the lead in global innovation.
To prove the point, he demonstrated a Unified Communications video session moving seamlessly from a desk phone to a mobile, a handheld computer and finally a home TelePresence screen—clearly not a traditional mobile device, but one that enters the Cisco mobility umbrella nevertheless.
The video link was an apt example of future mobile use, as Chambers predicted moving images would prove a major factor in helping to boost mobile industry growth at rates of up to 500 percent a year in the near future, creating new ways of collaborating and innovating in the process.
In Cisco’s view, said Chambers, ‘mobility’ is no longer about particular devices, technologies or services. It is about using any device to access any content over any network, with IP as the basis for all communication.
Chambers didn’t expect everyone to go along with his vision of the future. “If you agree with everything I say today, I’ll have failed miserably,” he quipped at the start of his talk.
But a review of technology’s achievements against a set of predictions that Cisco made in 1997 indicated that, if anything, even the most outlandish expectations of today could come to pass, and possibly much sooner than we expect.
Post by Matt Morgan, Cisco PR
Posted by Cisco PR at 10:47 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
New CFO at Cisco
Dennis Powell is passing the Cisco CFO baton to Frank Calderoni. This morning, they jointly opened the NASDAQ stock market and on Friday, February 15th, Calderoni officially assumes the role of Cisco CFO. I've had the pleasure of working with both men and while I'm sad to see Dennis go, Frank is a great replacement.
I first got to work with Dennis when he was our executive in charge of Y2K operations and planning when I managed the media for that "event." He is a great guy and, just as his predecessor Larry Carter is missed daily at Cisco, we'll miss Dennis as well.
I've now had the opportunity to work with Frank over the past year or so and he is a great successor to Dennis and Larry's legacy of a strong, transparent, conservative finance organization that focuses on shareholder value. You can read more about Frank and his approach to his new role here. The press release announcing the transition is here.
Frank Calderoni (left) with Dennis Powell (right) at the opening of NASDAQ in New York this morning.
Here's hoping that Dennis will focus on working to lower his golf handicap and that Frank's skyrockets. : )
Posted by John Earnhardt at 08:50 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
February 07, 2008
Cisco Q208 Earnings Report
You've likely already seen media coverage of our quarterly earnings report today which was announced after market close yesterday, but I thought I'd point you to our News@Cisco site where you can read a Q&A with our Chairman and CEO John Chambers and CFO Dennis Powell, see our earnings press release, and peruse our quarter technology and customer highlights.
Says Chambers in the Q&A, "This quarter was another solid quarter with good balanced results from a product, geographic and customer segment perspective. We achieved total record revenue of approximately $9.8B, a 16.5% year-over-year increase. We are pleased with the growth on both the top and bottom lines."
I would also like to highlight a web video interview that Chambers did with BusinessWeek's Peter Burrows...we obviously are trying to utilize new ways to talk to our online audience of customers, shareholders and employees.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 10:50 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
February 06, 2008
DVR Alert: Cisco, Amazon and George Foreman
Cisco will be featured this week in The History Channel’s presentation of "Modern Marvels: 90s Tech." Long-time Cisco employee Dave Evans, chief technologist of Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), will talk about the early days of the Internet and the importance of the router in the development of Web.
The show premieres tomorrow, Thursday, February 7, at 8 p.m. EST/PST (please check local listings).
The "90s Tech" episode looks back to the end of the 20th century and the beginning of today’s trendy technologies. The program will cover DVDs to TiVO to GPS, and how the digital gadgets we can’t live without all started in the 1990s—and, of course, how Cisco and the router made the Web accessible to the world.
Also featured will be Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, who will show how to "knock out the fat" with one of the best-selling cooking appliances of the 1990s...which I enjoy using to make a nice grilled cheese sandwich.
You can view some Cisco milestones here.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 09:33 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
February 05, 2008
EXTRA Super Tuesday
Listed are a few reasons why today is an Extra Super Tuesday.
1. It is Super Tuesday primary day in the U.S. Presidential elections. It is the biggest primary is U.S. history (I have read.) 23 states are voting today to select the respective party nominees for President. I voted by mail-in ballot already, but if you are in a primary state and you haven't voted, please do so..."early and often" as they say. If you don't know where your polling place is, go to your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com, etc.) and search "polling places (your state here)" and you'll have a pretty easy chance of finding it.
2. Today is a ticker tape parade for the Super Bowl Champions New York Giants. Not expected to win, they pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history by defeating the previously undefeated New England Patriots. Personally, I was pulling for the Giants, but, truth be told, I was more pulling against the Patriots quarterback (he really shouldn't be posing for Stetson cologne ads, in my mind) and his irascible, hoodie-wearing coach...I'm just not a fan...much to the chagrin of some good friends who are die-hard Pats fans. Great season for both teams and unbelievable two years for the Manning family.
3. For me, what makes is an extra super tuesday, is that it is my little guy's first birthday today. A year ago, Jack was born at 10:36AM, weighing in at 10 pounds, 4 ounces and 21.5 inches long. It has been a great (and tiring) year. He's a happy, healthy guy and we're going to keep him.
4. And, last and certainly not least, tomorrow we report our Q208 earnings. For more information on how to listen in to our call, please visit our Investor Relations site.
Posted by John Earnhardt at 08:32 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
