The future's bright

VARs would do well to listen to Cisco's John Chambers and his vision of the 'network of networks', says Paul Briggs.

When Cisco chief executive John Chambers talks about IT trends his comments are, by his own admission, sometimes seen as being on the "lunatic fringe". But, as I mentioned last week, this is because his thinking is so far ahead of its time.

The thing is, he is usually right. Even a seasoned hack like myself tends to worry when Chambers starts talking about the "network of networks" or network virtual organisation (NVO), where there is a seamless connection between home and corporate networks and a wave of applications running over the top.

My first thought was that Cisco was about to implement a scenario out of The Matrix, where the machines run the show and humans exist only in virtual reality.

But when you take a closer look and grasp what such an infrastructure could do for business productivity, you realise how future technology will shape the way humans interact, and how companies will benefit.

Although it will take some time for this vision to turn into reality, as businesses not only embrace new IT infrastructures but change underlying business models, it is always encouraging to hear vendors alerting partners to new opportunities.

It is also refreshing to hear passionate chief executives talk up technology because they believe in the correlation between IT investment and business benefit.

And Chambers is willing to bet the farm that NVO will be "as important for business as the assembly line was [for Ford]".

But Cisco isn't just talking about its vision; it is implementing it and reaping the benefits.

By realigning its focus to increase productivity and move into growth areas such as IP telephony, storage and security, the firm made nearly $2bn in savings last year.

The challenge for its VARs now is to convince end-users to reinvest in new technology infrastructures and business models to share these rewards.