So, OK, Charney didn't spill the beans on any major new initiatives being undertaken by the network infrastructure vendor. But the Cisco senior vice president (who is part of Cisco's "office of the president") did get attendees thinking: about how network integrators can distill all the wonders and possibilities associated with the Internet into a form simpler for mere mortals to comprehend.
"Even the people he talked about were world thinkers, instead of technical minds," observed Paul Cronin, vice president of Atrion Networking, Warwick, R.I., a 1NService member company.
Moreover, the fact that Charney showed up at all made the attendees tend to think more favorably about Cisco.
(Note to the Cisco channel team: Smart move, guys!)
Being inherently geeky, when I sat down with Charney after his speech, I asked him what technology advances he believes will have the most profound impact on network infrastructure solutions development this year. He indulged me by pointing to five different areas as skills in which network integrators should invest time and talent: IP telephony, video over IP, wireless, the data center and (surprise, surprise) security.
Charney's theme, which also ended being the undercurrent during my own panel with IT managers about convergence the next day, is that the expectations of network infrastructure will continue to multiple exponentially as these technologies take hold. It's dangerous to look at any one of them in a vacuum. It's also dangerous to discount the importance of basic networking philosophies in the converged network infrastructure world, Charney said.
"Don't give up hard-won expertise you have gained in switching and routing," Charney warned.
Sound advice, but how will Cisco recognize it?
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