As NXTcomm 2007 begins here in Chicago (June 18-21), many attendees will be searching for”the next big thing” to help sustain the growth and profitability that the global service provider market has enjoyed throughout FY07. While compelling applications like IPTV and TelePresence continue to gain greater subscriber adoption, the next big thing may lie in the”little things” that customers are able to do with these and other services-personalize them.From Cisco’s perspective, service personalization allows residential and business subscribers to tailor offerings to meet their unique individual interests or corporate needs. Customization can encompass a wide array of options-services on-demand, content preferences, buddy lists, quality of experience (i.e., standard- or high-definition) and much more. As we’re demonstrating in our Cisco booth (# 4851),”The Connected Life” means that personalized services are always available and accessible everywhere a subscriber goes. NXTcomm’s event organizers understand the value and importance of personalization. Attendees will have an opportunity to use”myNXTcomm“-an automated web-based service that gathers solutions, contacts and resources and personalizes them for the NXTcomm community.I look forward to sharing my”personal” NXTcomm 2007 insights with you throughout the week and I encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas to this blog as well.The Connected Life: at home, at work, and on the moveSee a Pre-show tour of the Cisco booth at NXTcomm with Doug WebsterDuration: 3 min. 12 sec.

In a video message to employees today (internal use only), Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers challenged all Cisco employees to “cancel one trip this quarter and use Web 2.0 collaboration technologies to conduct your business in lieu of traveling.” Chambers made the video from his laptop computer…and, yes, as most of us mere mortals do, one never quite knows where to look when using a webcam. : )As I see it, his challenge has many goals. It is a way to demonstrate the power of our collaborative technologies (be it TelePresence, WebEx or MeetingPlace). After all, if we don’t demonstrate our technology to customers and potential customers, how are they going to see the power of the network and our technologies. Sure, it’s also a way to save some dough — we are, after all, a frugal company, which our shareholders and investors love. And, sure, it’s also a way to take some strain off of the environment. Read More »

We do a lot in education across the company and most recently dedicated a lot of money and human resources to helping transform education and schools in Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- our 21S program…or 21 Century Schools Progam. We are coming up in our second year of the investment and I thought

Cisco TelePresence. Cisco WebEx. Cisco MeetingPlace. Unified Communications. Cisco is strong and long in the collaboration space. This IS the way the new workplace is being managed, designed and implemented. However, as John Chambers said in his commentary in Forbes magazine: technology cannot replace a handshake.From a technology company, saying this might be sacrilege, and while Telepresence technology makes you feel like you are in the room with the other person and is the next best thing to being there, there is something about sitting across the table at lunch and talking that is tough to replace. Read More »

Yesterday, you had back to back to back meetings so you were unable to attend Cisco and BPCC’s New Media Summit either in person or via webcast. In the on-demand world in which we live, I’m here to tell you that you can now re-live the Summit…on your schedule…where you want…when you want. The video is now online.Watch Cisco Media Solutions Group’s GM Dan Scheinman talk about the Social Media Explosion. Watch Tom Foremski talk about “Foremski’s Law.” Watch and learn about Second Life from representatives from BMW, Intel and Cisco. Learn about the ROI of Social Media, Best Practices in Internal Communications and more. Read More »