Cisco is all about innovation. And there was plenty of it on display at Cisco Live 2022 in Las Vegas.
Day 2’s theme was Vision of the Future. And as Chuck Robbins emphasized to a packed crowd, Cisco innovation serves the company’s higher purpose of powering an inclusive future for all — whether it’s around hybrid work, security, supporting ambitious Net Zero goals, or making organizations as efficient and innovative as they can be.
“We care deeply about inclusion, Robbins said, “and it shows up in everything that we do.”
On the sustainability front, Robbins highlighted innovations like the Nexus 9800 switch, which is 54 times more power efficient — thereby helping customers reach their own Net Zero targets — and smart building innovations that can reduce energy needs by 45 percent.
Cisco’s powerful and groundbreaking Silicon One chip is at the heart of reducing data center energy needs. And Jonathan Davidson, EVP and GM of Cisco’s Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group, explained how it will enable powerful, agile networks to meet the demands of a world in which the unexpected is becoming the norm — and sustainability is a prime concern.
“Cisco Silicon one is by far the best routing and switching Silicon in the world,” Davidson explained. “In fact, it only consumes 2.25 Watts of power per every hundred-gig port and in a system that consumes one third of the power of our closest competition. That is true, true innovation.”
Of course, the best, most impactful technology is simple to use, as Todd Nightingale, Cisco’s EVP and GM for enterprise networking and cloud, stressed.
“By focusing on simplicity, without compromising power and sophistication,” said Todd Nightingale, Cisco’s EVP and GM for enterprise networking and cloud, “all of your teams are going to unlock the power of Cisco technology in ways we never thought possible.”
Nightingale elaborated on Cisco’s cloud-platform strategy, which now combines the power of Catalyst switches with the simplicity of Meraki dashboard monitoring.
“We are delivering cloud platforms that are truly simple,” Nightingale added, “with platforms that are powerful, that drive end-to-end automation, and that drive best-in-class insights to help you drive a compelling, powerful end-user experience.”
In a cloud-based, app-centric world, complexity is the enemy of IT and security teams everywhere. So, Liz Centoni, Cisco’s chief strategy officer and GM for applications, picked up the simplicity theme in terms of observability and security with new products like Panoptica and Callisti, along with Cisco’s best-in-class solutions like AppDynamics, ThousandEyes, and Application Security.
“Our focus really was on being able to design something that was intuitive, usable, and simple,” she said.
Jeetu Patel, EVP and GM of security and collaboration, spoke of how these innovation trends merge in hybrid work — from collaboration and best-in-class networking to security and visibility. And he emphasized the higher purpose of making it all work together.
“When you have flexibility in how and where you work,” he said, “you actually get more people involved in the global workforce because someone who in the village in Bangladesh can now participate in the global economy, just like someone in the heart of Silicon Valley. And that creates for a more inclusive future for all.”
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