Thoughts before CLEUR 2019
In just 3 days time I will be leaving for Cisco Live 2019 in Barcelona. Im thinking about what sort of event it will be and what to expect in term of announcements.
Especially one thought keeps reappearing and thats the thought of the transformation of Cisco. It is no longer a company with a future in just selling hardware. It itself has been disrupted by the emergence of “everything software” and merchant silicon.
The issues and consequences of merchant silicon has been discussed in many places, so I won’t mention them in this post, other than saying it has in some way forced Cisco’s hands in going down the route of being a software and services company.
Especially the software component will be huge this year. If you need proof of this, just look at the very large following as well as events from the Cisco DevNet community. But is this transformation smooth sailing from here? — I think not.
Traditionally Cisco’s reputation in the industry when it comes to software has been very flaky, to say the least. Something a lot of engineers hope will change in the coming years.
That being said, I think a lot of resources are being spent within Cisco because they have realized this and are taking measures to stay ahead of the curve.
So as you can tell, I am expecting quite a few “solutions” and services being announced, a lot of focus on the software stacks involved. And this post would not be complete ofcourse, without the use of the Cloud keyword: Im thinking we will see a lot of integration with the dominant cloud providers for sure.
All of this is pure speculation on my part, but I will make sure to follow up this post after the event.
Take care and hope to see you in Barcelona!
/Kim