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Stephen Speirs

SP Product Management

Cisco Customer Experience (CX)

Stephen Speirs is part of the Cisco Customer Experience Product Management team. This team is tasked with developing major new professional service offerings for Cisco. Stephen has worked on a range of technologies - 5G, NFV, Cloud, Data Center, SDN, DevOps and more. Working with customers and partners worldwide, Stephen has over 30 years industry experience in software development, IT, Data Centers and Service Provider Network Management.

Working with and building a 30 partner consortium, Stephen brought to life the 5G RuralFirst project - potentially the world's most ambitious rural 5G trial - winning part government funding to take 5G to Orkney and Somerset in the UK. Before joining Cisco Services in 2009, Stephen was senior manager, product management, in Cisco's Network Management Technology group, where he brought to market the multi-award winning Cisco MPLS Diagnostics Expert product. In Cisco Services, Stephen drove development of the Cloud Enablement Services - rated #1 by IDC in their 2013 client survey.

Stephen is based in Cisco's offices in Glasgow, Scotland, and was "acquired into" Cisco in 2000 through the acquisition of Atlantech Technologies Ltd. Since 2019, Stephen has served as non-exec director on the Ofcom Advisory Committee for Scotland (UK communications regulator). Stephen has a BSc (1st Hons) in Applied Physics from the University of Strathclyde, an MSc in Digital Systems Engineering from the University of Heriot Watt, and an MBA from the University of Strathclyde Graduate Business School.

Outside of work, family, cycling, running, and skiing keep him busy. Since 2019, he has been a member of the Ofcom (UK telecoms regulator) Advisory Committee for Scotland. Believing in "Giving Back" with work-related skills, Stephen also is a guest speaker on the Strathclyde University MBA program, an advisory board member on MaaS Scoltand (Mobility as a Service), and a student project mentor with Dundee University's Product Management BSc/MSc

Articles

December 4, 2015

DATA CENTER

Ten Learnings and Observations from the 2015 London Gartner Data Center Conference (Part 1)

3 min read

This past week I attended the 2015 Gartner Data Center Conference in London.  This is always a great conference to learn from, although it always pays to look out...

September 23, 2015

DATA CENTER

Part 2: Why not Initiate a “Save to Invest” Program for your Data Center?

3 min read

Two weeks ago, in my previous blog, I invited you to consider ways in which you could initiate a “Save to Invest” program for your data center. That is, how can you save money from your current data center spend, in order to re-invest it into currently un- or -under-funded areas of your data center. Thanks to […]

September 9, 2015

DATA CENTER

Why not Initiate a “Save to Invest” Program for your Data Center? (Part 1)

3 min read

 As a Scot, I have a natural predisposition – almost a gene – for money saving initiatives!  As I’ve been researching new initiatives in my work for Cisco Services over the past few months, I’ve become aware of – for the first time I am ashamed to say in some cases – some huge sinks […]

August 25, 2015

DATA CENTER

5 Top Challenges of SAN Design: View from our SAN Design Experts – Part 2

3 min read

Last week, here, I started my 2 part blog on some of the top SAN design and deployment challenges we see.  As I mentioned, I put this together...

August 18, 2015

DATA CENTER

5 Top Challenges of SAN Design: View from our SAN Design Experts – Part 1

3 min read

One of the aspects I really enjoy about my job is that I get to learn from some of the world’s top network and data center design engineers, and...

July 21, 2015

DATA CENTER

Part 2: How Many Servers Do You Have …. Comatose and Sitting Idle?!?!

3 min read

Last week I introduced this topic, the pervasive problem of “comatose” servers in data centers, based upon an interesting recent eWeek article entitled “30 Percent of Servers Worldwide Sit Idle”, which in turn was based upon the research report by Stanford University in conjunction with the Anthesis Group.  In my blog, I described the costs […]

July 15, 2015

DATA CENTER

How Many Servers Do You Have …. Comatose and Sitting Idle?! (Part 1)

3 min read

In my role in Cisco Services, I’m more interested in the challenges of technology adoption and deployment than I am in speeds and feeds, statistics and technology fads. ...

May 28, 2015

DATA CENTER

Criteria for SDN/NFV Vendor Selection – Heads Up on Cisco Live

3 min read

Cisco Live US 2015 is just around the corner, and will start in San Diego on June 7th, running through Thursday 11th June.  I’m surprised and honoured to...

May 13, 2015

DATA CENTER

Discovering Application-Server-Network Dependencies to Facilitate ACI and Application Migration

3 min read

Earlier this month, I blogged about the challenges of Cloud Sprawl.  Let’s now turn to the challenges of “Application Sprawl”!If you are planning migration of applications inside or between data centers, or if you are planning a migration to Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), the understanding of your applications and how they tie to the […]

May 3, 2015

CLOUD

Identifying and Solving the Cloud Sprawl Problem

3 min read

An interesting read for me one day last week was the Wall Street Journal reporting on the exploding yet ungoverned use of cloud services by employees in just...

February 5, 2015

DATA CENTER

Your Design Engineers Need Support and ‘Expertise on Tap’ Too!

3 min read

If you are involved in designing, supporting or managing a data center, you will undoubtedly rely on technical support services from one or more vendors.  Running your data center, there...

December 3, 2014

DATA CENTER

Part 3 – SDN Questions to Ask at the Gartner Data Center Conference

5 min read

My final observation from my days at the London Gartner Data Center Conference is related to SDN and ease of network management – or otherwise.  Hopefully this discussion will give...

December 2, 2014

DATA CENTER

Part 2 – SDN Questions to Ask at the Gartner Data Center Conference

3 min read

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, last week I attended the Gartner Data Center Conference in London.   I came out of the conference with some questions...

December 1, 2014

DATA CENTER

SDN Questions to Ask at the Gartner Data Center Conference

5 min read

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Gartner Data Center conference in London.   I attended 3 different sessions on SDN-related topics.  Here are some...

June 26, 2014

DATA CENTER

Observations from London SDN Conference… “Wait, it’s coming…” … But Can You Afford T …

4 min read

Last week I spent some time at the “Software Defined Networking 2014” conference in London.  It’s a relatively small conference I would say however given the growing interest in SDN and rapid progress of the technology it’s always good to hear alternative viewpoints and experiences.  And I certainly found the previous conference here in December […]

Cisco, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and My Day in the Queen’s Baton Relay

2 min read

It’s an exciting year for Scotland, with several very high profile events happening. On our doorstep in July is the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – what we call “Glasgow 2014” – which, after the Olympics and World (soccer) Cup, is the third largest multi-nation sports event in the world.  (The Commonwealth Games is sporting celebration among the 53 member […]

June 18, 2014

DATA CENTER

Delivering Business Outcomes: When Did You Last Reduce Time To Market?

1 min read

Working in the Data Center and Cloud Professional Services team in Cisco on cloud and software defined networking, I am sometimes asked "What do...

April 5, 2014

DATA CENTER

Are You Ready for Dev Ops and SDN Software Development with Cisco ONE?

5 min read

One of the great challenges of SDN – that many in my view underplay – is the change in paradigm from having a vendor deliver your network (hardware...

February 27, 2014

DATA CENTER

How a Snowboarding ‘Wipeout’ Can Guide You On SDN Deployment

4 min read

  As I was thinking about how best to advise you on how to "experiment" with SDN technologies, and more specifically why you should run a formal pilot to evaluate...

February 14, 2014

DATA CENTER

Get Started on SDN and Cisco ONE: Learn from Our New Technical White Paper

5 min read

If you were to believe the industry press, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that many companies across the world were rolling software defined networking (SDN) technologies into their...

December 23, 2013

DATA CENTER

SDN Adoption Challenges: My Wrap Up For 2013

3 min read

2013 was the year I started working on SDN - specifically in the area of devising professional services for Cisco ONE and Application Centric Infrastructure, ACI.  A few...

December 11, 2013

DATA CENTER

SDN Reflections on the London Gartner Data Center Conference – Part 2

3 min read

Last week I started my SDN reflections on the London Gartner Data Center Conference, and I found I had quite a lot to discuss. Last week I covered: Do we need SDN? SDN and the Gartner Hype Cycle SDN Deployment Models So here is the concluding part. This week I’ll cover: Overlay-Based SDN — and the […]

December 6, 2013

DATA CENTER

SDN Reflections on the London Gartner Data Center Conference – Part 1

4 min read

Last week I was in London for the Gartner Data Center Conference.  As always there was a wide range of interesting topics being discussed, all very useful.  Working in Cisco...

November 19, 2013

DATA CENTER

The Quickest Way To Get Started with ACI

3 min read

By now, given all the launch and blogging activity activity over the past week or so, I am sure your understanding of and interest in

November 5, 2013

DATA CENTER

Navigating Your OpenStack Roadmap: Why You Should Run a “Pilot”

3 min read

The road in my picture below – the A82 that winds through Glencoe in Scotland – was used in the James Bond “Skyfall” movie in one of the amazing car chase scenes.  This road winds through sparsely inhabited territory, has lots of ups, downs, bumps and turns and if you’re not careful it can be […]

October 9, 2013

DATA CENTER

Cisco Domain Ten: The Compendium

3 min read

It’s hard to believe but it’s ten months since I first blogged on  Cisco Domain TenSM,  which is Cisco Service’s framework to guide you on your path to data center and cloud transformation. I’ve now covered all ten domains of this concise and powerful model.  I’ll now collect all articles – including my most Cisco Domain […]

September 26, 2013

DATA CENTER

SDN: Cisco Domain Ten tells us it’s not (just) about the Network

4 min read

In my first SDN blog, I asserted that "Services" - that is technical support, professional and consultancy services - are the missing "S" in the SDN debate.  I'd...

August 1, 2013

DATA CENTER

Learn More About Data Center and Cloud Adoption Challenges With Cisco Services Magazines

1 min read

Since around the turn of the year, specific to each region of the world, we in Cisco Services have established magazines (available in both printed and online formats)...

July 15, 2013

DATA CENTER

Cisco Domain Ten: Domain 10: Process and Governance – Part (b)

3 min read

Operational process and governance, as I discussed last month, is “Domain 10” in the Cisco Domain Ten(SM) model for data center transformation.  It’s so important in my opinion, and so often disregarded or de-prioritised when planning and executing data center transformation, that I’ll cover it twice! Last time, I discussed some of the “Process and Governance” […]

June 26, 2013

DATA CENTER

Cisco Professional Services for Cloud Ranked #1 in IDC Survey – Announced at CiscoLive!

1 min read

Having been part of the team who developed the Cisco Cloud Enablement Services, our professional services to help customers enable and adopt cloud computing, I was absolutely delighted watching the CiscoLive! keynote yesterday to hear Padmasree Warrior announce the results of the March 2013 IDC market research study that showed Cisco come out on top for […]

June 25, 2013

DATA CENTER

Meet our Experts @ CiscoLive!

2 min read

Some of our Cisco Services strategy and design consultants and leaders are at CiscoLive in Orlando this week.  If you are around, please take some time to learn from their...

June 23, 2013

DATA CENTER

Leading the Network Evolution to SDN – Helping You with Your SDN Adoption Strategy

3 min read

  If you are following the industry debates around Software Defined Networking (SDN), and are wondering “What really is SDN?”, “How the concepts of network virtualization and network programmability relate...

June 21, 2013

DATA CENTER

Cisco Domain Ten: Domain 10: Process and Governance – Part (a)

4 min read

So, with this blog, the end of my Cisco Domain Ten(SM) journey approaches.  Starting back in December, I’ve now covered each of the ten domains in our Cisco Services’ framework for data center transformation. A few weeks back, I discussed some of the challenges you may face in Domain 9: Security and Compliance, and it’s […]

Take 3: Ride Across Britain (again) to Raise Funds for Paralympic Athletes

3 min read

  It’s 5:30am on Monday morning (10th June 2013 to be precise). ” Wake up it’s a beautiful morning” by the Boo Radleys  is blasting out of the speakers at the camp site.   “I shouldn’t be up at this time” is one of the lines of this songs which rings so true to me on this day. […]