Chambers Wades Into Web 2.0

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Networkers Live Conference -- Cisco CEO John Chambers preached a gospel of virtualization and Web 2.0 technologies during his keynote here today, predicting major changes in how businesses work over the next few years. (See Cisco Acquires Reactivity and Cisco Reports Q3.)

"The role of virtualization is huge -- it's the ability to communicate to any application, any server, in your data center," he said, adding that Cisco has managed to consolidate its own data center hardware through the technology. "Most of us have server and storage utilization at under 25 percent. Ours was under 20 percent."

By implementing virtualization and data center provisioning technologies, Cisco's server and storage utilization is now up beyond 50 percent, saving the company hundreds of millions of dollars in the last four years, according to Chambers.

The CEO also highlighted recent growth in Web 2.0 technologies such as podcasts, Web services, and wikis. (See Keynote Monitors Web 2.0 Apps, HP Hoists Software Upgrades, Dunes Adds Web 2.0, and In Search of Enterprise 2.0.) "What makes these Web 2.0-type capabilities so important is that you can communicate as if you were really there," he said, explaining that these will link with virtualized systems in back-end data centers. "It doesn't matter if the data is in your home, in a data center, or at an Internet content creator."

To illustrate his point, Chambers used the example of Cisco's own M&A strategy, contrasting the 2005 acquisition of Scientific Atlanta with the purchase of Webex earlier this year. (See Will Cisco Make an IPTV Middleware Move?, Cisco Reports Q1, and Cisco Acquires WebEx.) "Scientific Atlanta took 45 days -- 18 months later, we did Webex in eight days [because] we did it all virtually."Cisco is also using Web 2.0 technologies in its expanding services operation in India. (See Cisco Updates Investment and Cisco Opens Indian Campus.) "We took 20 of our top execs and moved them to Bangalore. We will be able to communicate from our execs' homes to anywhere in the world," explained Chambers.

The CEO explained that Cisco is planning to boil its different product lines into common form factors. "Storage area networking is not separate from virtualization, it's not separate from application security," he said, explaining that Cisco plans to offer "the number one" router, security, and video technologies all within a common chassis.

As usual, the fast-talking Chambers returned to one of his favorite topics, the network, throughout this morning's keynote. (See Chambers Touts 'Network of Networks'.) "The network has become the platform for all forms of communication in IT," he said. "It's the ability to communicate at 200 to 300 words a minute, as I do."

The CEO's keynote sidekick, Cisco chief demonstration officer Jim Grubb, also put in an appearance, demonstrating a hotel booking system which uses RFID and virtual room keys on handheld devices.

True to form, the casually-dressed Chambers could not resist a joke at his minion's expense. "We're not supposed to be wearing ties today," he chastised the formally-dressed Grubb prior to his presentation. "It's bad to outdress your CEO!"James Rogers, Senior Editor Byte and Switch