2007's Top Innovators

Network Infrastructure Leader
Cisco's top position in product innovation in Network Infrastructure is also paying off in big sales growth for its partners. Bob Olwig, vice president of business strategy for World Wide Technology, a St. Louis-based solution provider that won Cisco's U.S. and Canada Partner of the Year for 2007, said Cisco is the fastest-growing part of World Wide's business, which soared to $2.1 billion in 2006, up from $1.8 billion in 2005. That 2006 performance marked the 17th consecutive year of double-digit growth for World Wide. "We certainly see a strong return on investment in the form of new customers and broadening our presence with existing customers by providing business-relevant solutions," Olwig said.

Olwig credited Cisco CEO John Chambers for pushing the innovation envelope at Cisco. What's more, he said Cisco's tight relationship with the channel puts it closer to the customer so the vendor is able to identify, and then tap into, new opportunities, such as videoconferencing with its new TelePresence product. "Cisco values the channel, and that keeps them close to customers," he said. "They do a good job of developing the business-value proposition with resellers. They share the market data and billion-dollar bets they are making, and convince channel partners it's a worthy investment."

World Wide, for its part, has followed up its big bet on Cisco's core routing and switching to move into security, wireless and unified communications with Cisco. World Wide is also one of a handful of partners carrying Cisco's TelePresence videoconferencing product. "TelePresence is one of those applications that really allows customers to see the value of the network," Olwig said. TelePresence can be used as it is by Cisco itself to save literally millions of dollars in travel expenses and improve team collaboration. "They are definitely drinking their own champagne," he said.

World Wide is also leveraging Cisco's innovative Industry Solutions Partner Network, which encourages solution providers to team with ISVs and provides a virtual life platform in which they can meet and interact. World Wide, for example, is implementing Cisco wireless ISV AeroScout RFID solutions in health care.

As for the future, Olwig is confident Cisco will remain a product innovation leader. "I think they will continue to move toward more business-relevant applications beyond the core infrastructure," he said. "I see Cisco moving more in front of the end-user customer rather than just in the data center or the wiring closet."