Cisco CTO implores VARs to embrace cloud

Vendor's tech guru Padmasree Warrior outlines ambitious plans at partner summit

Happy families: Cisco's CTO told VARs the vendor and its channel need to "fly together"

Cisco’s technology chief urged partners to get on board as she detailed the networking titan’s “pragmatic approach” to “the next internet”.

The second morning of the vendor’s partner summit, being held in San Francisco, focused on technological market trends and the vendor’s product roadmap. Chief technology officer Padmasree Warrior told attendees of the three trends she sees shaping businesses’ technological investment for the next few years. The first of these concerned “the future of work”.

“The future of work collaboration will evolve from intra-company collaboration to inter-company collaboration,” she said. “The manufacturing industry has led this shift and now many other verticals are following suit. The business world is looking to leverage social networking in the workplace.”

The second trend Warrior addressed was “the future of connected life”, focusing on how technology use will shape government and community interaction.

“The focus is on how we consume content,” she said. “How do we make content consumption more of a common experience?”

The final trend she picked out was “the future of computing”.

“Virtualisation is very quickly emerging as a disruptor,” she said.

Warrior stressed to partners that networking technology should be sold on business and community benefits, rather than simple specifications.

“The internet will transform industries,” she said. “The network will play a significant role, not just in providing more connectivity, but in enabling business transformation across all verticals. That (provides) a huge amount of untapped opportunity.”

She claimed that the business world would move from what she called “the information economy” to “the networked economy 2.0”. Ways of doing business for both enterprises and consumers would change irrevocably, she predicted.

“Consumption models will change and we have to create the next internet,” said Warrior.

She outlined her expectation that a business network would move from a “data transport” model to being a “media experience platform”. Messaging platforms will become collaboration platforms and end users’ focus on technology’s price and performance will migrate towards concerns about its sustainability. Finally, the network’s “vertically integrated architecture” will be replaced by a “distributed virtualised architecture”, she predicted.

Warrior then discussed Cisco’s cloud computing plans. She explained that “our vision is aspirational, but our strategy is pragmatic”. She stressed that delivery models would not change overnight.

“There will be a hybrid consumption model going forward,” she said. “Some will be delivered in the cloud, some will be on-premise.”

She claimed Cisco would go all out over the next two years to educate businesses on how they can use cloud technology. She claimed “the applications will dictate” how Cisco approaches cloud technology delivery.

“Are we going to be a cloud provider or a cloud infrastructure provider? It is not an ‘or’ it is an ‘and’,” she explained.

Warrior closed by stressing the channel’s importance in delivering the technology of the future.

“We see a lot of opportunities to rewrite the rules of innovation,” she said. “We can either fly solo or fly together. When we fly in formation, with unmatched cohesion and unwavering resolve, we can reach new heights.”