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Kip Compton

No longer with Cisco

Kip Compton is Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Cisco Networking, Cisco’s largest business. Kip leads the teams responsible for strategy, portfolio management, and M&A. He and his team lead strategic cross-company programs, strategic technology partnerships, and drive a focus on how engineering at Cisco can build products for a more sustainable future. Kip has over 20 years of senior leadership experience driving innovation in cloud, video, the Internet of Things, and networking. His areas of expertise include video, distributed systems, IoT, cloud, and digital media security. He has held leadership roles with technology companies as well as service providers. As a senior leader, Kip is inspired by technology innovation and its impact on people and the world. He is passionate about building sustainable organizations by mentoring the next generation of technology and business leaders. Kip believes that bringing diverse backgrounds and experiences to the table leads to the most compelling innovation and the best solutions to the most challenging problems. Previously, Kip served as CTO and Senior Vice President, Strategy and Operations for Cisco’s Enterprise Networking and Cloud organization and has also held senior leadership and general manager positions for Cisco’s Cloud Platforms, Internet of Things, and Service Provider Video Software and Solutions groups. Kip also held the position of Chief Technology Officer for Cisco’s Video and Collaboration Group, and Vice President of Strategy and Product Management for the Service Provider Video Technology Group. Before joining Cisco, he was with Comcast as Vice President of Video and Media Engineering, responsible for development of Comcast’s digital cable, content security, video on demand, and streaming media infrastructure and services. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and an MBA degree from the Wharton School. He holds multiple patents in the areas of digital video, security, and networking.

Articles

August 11, 2017

CLOUD

The Growing Complexity with IoT, Cloud, and the Edge

1 min read

The convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), edge, and cloud has changed how enterprises balance core applications and processing capabilities between public clouds and the edge. Remote branch offices, manufacturing sites, and retail stores are no longer just connecting through a centralized WAN – a good majority of these connections are happening in the […]

June 30, 2017

CLOUD

Cisco Live Las Vegas 2017 Recap: There is No “I” in Cloud

3 min read

Reflecting on Cisco Live 2017, I’m excited about Cisco’s role in shaping the future of digital business. Customers are also excited and want to know what that means for cloud.

June 19, 2017

CLOUD

Uncovering More Value from Cloud

3 min read

Organizations want to know how they can innovate more and deliver new offerings for their users and customers with cloud. As I shared in my last blog, the focus has shifted from making workloads portable or getting the best pricing, to centering on how you can take advantage of the incredible innovation happening in cloud. I’m excited about how Cisco’s differentiated approach is helping customers do just that.

May 17, 2017

CLOUD

Beyond Workloads: The Changing Shape of Cloud Strategies

1 min read

Over the last year, we’ve seen a significant shift in enterprise cloud strategies. What used to be about cost cutting, has become more about how to transform and digitize business. It’s all about innovation. CIOs we talk to are ready to make cloud investments to help solve business problems and bring better business outcomes. While cost is still important, the value they see from cloud goes beyond cost and focuses on how cloud can speed innovation while maximizing security at the best possible cost. If you are viewing cloud through the single lens of cost reduction, you may be missing a bigger opportunity.

April 27, 2017

CLOUD

Managing the Complexities of Multicloud

2 min read

Many of you are already working in multicloud environments – a combination of public and private clouds (i.e., AWS, Azure, Google, and on-premise IT). In fact, IDC found that 84% of IT executives surveyed expect to use multiple clouds from multiple cloud providers. Organizations are pursuing multicloud for a variety of reasons including increasing revenue, reducing costs, decreasing time to market, or simplifying IT infrastructure. While a mulitcloud approach can deliver tremendous benefits, it can also create complexity, exposing a gap between the business need for digitization and what IT can reliably and confidently support.

March 16, 2017

CLOUD

Hybrid IT: The New Frontier

2 min read

IT has evolved from running and maintaining traditional infrastructures, to a broader role of delivering new business outcomes. Enter Hybrid IT, which recognizes that where workloads run is just one small part of an entire IT infrastructure. More than just hybrid cloud, it’s a strategy that blends cloud and non-cloud capabilities, including networks, end-points, and workloads with the best that cloud can offer in public IaaS and SaaS. Despite recent outages with public cloud, enterprises need to strike a balance.

March 3, 2017

CLOUD

It’s a Complicated World Out There – Thoughts on the Amazon S3 Outage

3 min read

It’s a complicated world out there, especially when it comes to cloud. Customers are trying to figure out the right cloud strategy, and it isn’t easy. The Amazon S3 outage is an example of just how complex the situation is. While that interruption only lasted four hours, the impacts were felt far and wide. So is public cloud still a viable option? Or course it is. Amazon Web Services published their post-mortem and the issue was human error and fully correctable. Despite this, there is no disputing the reliability of S3 which is on-par or even better than most enterprise storage options. It’s just that since AWS is so large and so pervasive, it makes the news when it fails and when that failure happens, we see multiple systems that all rely on S3 failing at once.

February 16, 2017

CLOUD

5 Imperative “Must Haves” for Your Cloud Strategy

3 min read

Cloud is a top investment area for digital transformation but why is it that only 3% of enterprises have an optimized cloud strategy? In a recent InfoBrief sponsored by Cisco, IDC categorizes the maturity spectrum of cloud adopting organizations from ad-hoc (beginning awareness and immediacy to adopt) to optimized (mature and delivering IT-enabled products and services).

February 2, 2017

CLOUD

Getting to Better Business Outcomes with Cloud

1 min read

I’ve spent a lot of time hearing from our customers about cloud adoption and there are three things they all agree on: (1) it’s essential to digitization, (2) not everyone starts the journey in the same place, and (3) there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Some customers need support for new cloud native as well as […]

January 11, 2017

CLOUD

A Cloud Strategy for a Multicloud World

3 min read

Welcome to 2017! Cloud permeates everything we do, powering digital transformation. The impact on customer experiences, business processes and models, and workforce innovations is undeniable. Our customers are looking to Cisco and our partners for a complete cloud approach, regardless of where they are on the journey. The new year promises to be an exciting time for our customers in cloud. And we are here to help them navigate a multicloud world.

Innovation in Action: Warp Accelerated Rapid Prototyping (WARP)

1 min read

We know innovation requires more than just a great idea - it requires the successful delivery of a solution, and that starts with working prototype. A few weeks ago, we...

CHILL is Doing Cool Innovation

1 min read

In my last blog, I touched on some of cool innovation happening at Cisco. Today, I want to focus on one in particular: CHILL (Cisco Hyper-Innovation Living Labs). CHILL is helping Cisco re-define how ideas come to fruition. CHILL takes a vertical and creates an environment where a handful of Cisco’s biggest (non-competing) customers come […]

December 18, 2015

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Gaining a Competitive Edge with Innovative Services

2 min read

It’s been a few months since I took on the role of Chief Technology and Strategy Officer for Cisco Services. In that time, I’ve been inspired by the senior technical talent on our team and by the amazing ways we are helping customers. Every day, our 30 excellent Distinguished Services Engineers (DSEs), Principal Engineers, and […]

October 22, 2015

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Helping You Transform in a Digital Age

2 min read

October marks five quarters since I took on a role to lead Cisco’s Internet of Things (IoT) Systems and Software Group, a critical business for Cisco to help organizations connect the unconnected. And, wow, what an incredible time it has been. I’m so proud of the many team accomplishments—from the IoT System launch with 15 […]

Accelerate Your Business with the New Cisco IoT System

2 min read

Consider this: By the time you’ve finished reading this short paragraph, another 1,000 “things” will be connected to the Internet. And we’re not even talking about a lengthy paragraph of...

John Oberon Joins Cisco as Vice President of IoT Software Platforms

1 min read

I am delighted to announce that John Oberon has joined Cisco as Vice President, IoT Software Platforms. His responsibilities include the development of platforms that enable developers to access Cisco’s IoT infrastructure capabilities. John’s hiring is significant because delivering on the promise of the Internet of Everything – the intelligent connection of people, process, data, and […]

The Internet of Things: What Does It Take to Make the Internet of Everything Real?

2 min read

I recently delivered a keynote address called “The Internet of Things: What Does It Take to Make the Internet of Everything Real?” at the IoT Global Innovation Forum in Dallas. I talked about the important linkage between the Internet of Things (IoT) and the next wave of the Internet — the Internet of Everything (IoE). […]

April 15, 2015

SECURITY

Secure Access Control in the Internet of Everything

3 min read

In my role leading the development of Cisco’s IoT Systems and Software, I spend a fair amount of time speaking at industry events and talking with customers and partners. There is a lot of excitement about the Internet of Everything (IoE) – the intelligent connection of people, processes, data and things to the Internet – […]

Cisco’s Culture of Innovation: Thriving in the 21st Century

3 min read

On March 26, I gave a presentation on Cisco’s culture of innovation at the Unleashing Innovation Summit in New York City. This venue gave me the chance to discuss our belief that the next billion-dollar idea can come from anywhere and that our innovation strategy and culture reflect that philosophy. Innovation is a core part […]

February 6, 2015

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

IoT’s Prominence at Cisco Live Milan

2 min read

The Internet of Things (IoT) was a hot topic at Cisco Live last week in Milan. I got to spend a lot of time with customers, partners, and developers, and came home impressed by the tremendous focus on IoT applications. There is an enormous amount of energy directed at building on the foundation Cisco is […]

October 14, 2014

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Fog – A Clear Vision

3 min read

This week at the Internet of Things World Forum we are challenging the industry to accelerate the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT leverages many ‘off the shelf’ technologies but also has some unique requirements, which must be met. How do we make sure that the right critical information is being processed while […]

Writing a new chapter of my story: Taking on the Internet of Things opportunity at Cisco

3 min read

This week I’m excited to participate in an event we are organizing in Chicago, home of the 2014 Internet of Things World Forum.  We’re meeting with some of our partners and customers as we make a few joint announcements – including a new IoE Innovation Center in Barcelona, and showcasing some new solutions built on […]

Videoscape + Cloud Services = Cisco SaaS Advantage

2 min read

At CES this year we announced the expansion of Videoscape to the cloud. By launching Videoscape Cloud Software and Videoscape Cloud Services, we are empowering our customers with flexibility and agility to provision and scale infrastructure on demand, service velocity to introduce new functionality more rapidly, and cost optimization from more manageable and predictable cost […]

February 17, 2014

SP360: SERVICE PROVIDER

Milestones in Cisco Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Deployments

2 min read

The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) confirms much of what we already know: Service providers will need to carry more video traffic to more devices delivered as unique on-demand streams. All at the time and place of the end-user’s choosing. But the sheer scale of this demand makes interesting reading. The Cisco VNI projects that […]

February 12, 2014

SP360: SERVICE PROVIDER

Marching towards Cloud CDN

2 min read

Why should you put a virtualized content delivery network (CDN) in the cloud? This is not just a theoretical question. It has come from our customers. At our recent Cisco Live event in Milan, we demonstrated how our continued CDN technical leadership can answer this question. First, some history, as you can’t just begin with […]

September 17, 2013

NETWORKING

Capturing Value from Mobile Video in Motion

2 min read

You don’t have to look far to see how mobile video is changing how we communicate, collaborate and consume information. From collaborating with co-workers across the globe while you catch the morning train to connecting with friends and family from the comfort of your sofa. From checking out the latest viral Vine video during a […]