August 10, 2005

For the first time in its history, the Nasdaq Stock Market conducted its opening and closing ceremonies outside of its New York City MarketSite broadcast facilities. On August 10 Cisco Systems chief executive officer John Chambers rang the bell at the company's San Jose, Calif., headquarters from a "virtual" control center, complete with a replica of Nasdaq's famous video wall that tracks trading on the exchange. For television viewers of the opening, little difference could be told. Thanks to advances in communications technology, particularly Cisco's Internet protocol networking equipment, this "virtual" event was possible. Cisco networking equipment and software seamlessly transferred the data from New York to California and out to the hundreds of financial organizations that trade on the Nasdaq.

This event underlines the advances in virtualization technology that are radically changing commerce and communities around the world. Thanks to such developments, geographic location is increasingly less of a factor in how businesses operate and how individuals interact. News@Cisco spoke with Chambers about the historic event and about virtualization's importance for today and tomorrow.

What inspired Cisco to host the first ever opening of the Nasdaq MarketSite outside its New York headquarters?

John Chambers: Well, Cisco has been a prominent member of Nasdaq since we first went public, and Nasdaq has been very gracious in the past in honoring me with an invitation to open the market in New York City. But as is often the case in business, scheduling such an event was challenging. Then the idea hit us--let's use our technology to achieve the very thing it helps our customers achieve: efficiency and productivity. By virtually opening the marketsite here, we circumvented logistical, geographic and time restraints. And, of course, it's a great stage to demonstrate how our technology and virtualization change the way businesses operate and people interact. Nasdaq is the perfect partner for such an event, because unlike many financial markets, it does not have a physical trading floor. Nasdaq used communications and networking technology to create one of the world's most important virtual markets, and perhaps the most important one for technology industries. In many ways, Cisco and the Nasdaq are closely tied to the incredible technology transformation of the last decade.

How would you define virtualization, and what does it mean for society and businesses?

John Chambers: Virtualization is the use of communications technology to bridge distances, making it possible for people or organizations separated geographically to communicate as if they were in the same place. The telegraph and the telephone are two of the earliest examples of virtualization. But the advent of fiber optics, digital technology, and the Internet has greatly accelerated the development of virtualization and made it far more dynamic and three-dimensional. Now sound, images, and data can all be shared simultaneously among people across the globe. Virtualization is now something we rely on every day--it's woven into the fabric of our lives. For example, most people don't think of email as a virtualization application, but it is probably the most significant application for businesses since it allows coworkers to pass memos around as if they were in the same office. And, of course, there are all of the collaboration applications for virtual meetings. Now, video conferencing is possible with Internet-protocol (IP) networks that are both easy to use and affordable. Recreationally, people around the world are playing online games and meeting like-minded enthusiasts of every possible interest via the Internet. Today, we are even virtualizing the sense of touch for remote surgical procedures.

Virtualization technologies have allowed businesses to hire the best employees, open offices across the globe more cost-effectively, and not be tied to physical locations. For society, the benefits of virtualization have been perhaps even more significant, particularly with distance learning and telemedicine. Educational opportunities that were not logistically possible are now opening up for a whole cross-section of individuals. And people are receiving quality medical care they might not have been able to access because of their location from urban centers. The possibilities of virtualization are enormous. As profoundly as communications technology has changed our lives, we have only just begun to tap its potential. Only our imaginations limit what is possible.

This event marks the end of Cisco's 20th anniversary year. What are you proudest of during Cisco's first two decades, and what are you looking forward to in the next two decades?

John Chambers: It is just this type of event that makes me most proud. It's exciting to see how our technology is making the world better by helping people more easily communicate, work, learn, have fun...all the things that make life good. Virtualization technology is not so much about doing things differently but, rather, opening up the same opportunities to more people. In the process, communications technology is bringing the world closer, making it easier for different cultures to get to know, and hopefully, appreciate each other more. It's about democratizing information, so people, no matter where they are or what their economic status, can access the same information available to others. It's about giving small businesses access to the same information and tools available to larger corporations and making it affordable for them to expand to new locations and bring their products and services to far larger markets. It's all of these things and much more. This is just the beginning. As certainly as networking technology has evolved over the last 20 years, it will continue to bring amazing changes to the world. At the very beginning of the digital revolution, a computer took up an entire building. Today, one very affordable PC is all you need to start a small business. That's the kind of unbelievable change I'm looking forward to for the next 20 years. I can't wait to see what happens.