The Cisco Live 2022 EMEAR Press Conference revealed a number of new releases coming to Cisco’s technology portfolio.
- 14 Cisco Webex Integration Apps for Meetings and Messaging
- Cisco’s Collaboration Sales Dip Again
- Cisco Prime Approaches EOL – What do businesses do next?
A Bluescape for Webex application has been announced, which offers an alternative to screen sharing. Generally, the event has stuck closely to its theme of security and networking.
Cisco Live 2022 news highlights also include the Cisco Meraki and Cisco Catalyst integration, the Cisco ThousandEyes predictable network solution, a new full-stack Observability platform, the launch of Panoptica and Calisti, and a partnership with Pharrell Williams’ Non-Profit YELLOW.
Speaking about the latest customer demands in a post-Covid world, Koen Jacobs, Vice President, Systems Engineering, EMEAR at Cisco, said: “Based on where we are now relative to where we were in the past, there is clearly a demand for more secure products.
“Security has become an imperative together with sustainability. The energy consumption always has to be optimised.
“There’s a lot more awareness around the environment as a whole, which translates back into the supply chain and production overall.
“Then there’s what we do with our customer data. As we continue to accelerate digitisation, there is an avalanche of data coming at us from all angles.
“Where that data resides, how it moves, and how we look after it from a sovereignty and privacy perspective is extremely important, and there’s a clear ask for that.
“Last but not least, it’s all about consumption, flexibility and ease and accommodating things like value shift between different products.”
The Big Announcements
Bluescape for Webex App: A partnership has been announced between the collaboration solutions company, Bluescape, and Cisco Webex to provide a new workspace alternative to screen sharing. The application will enable meetings via collaboration and whiteboarding tools, users can collaborate asynchronously, and feedback and discussion can be accessed at any time in the persistent workspace.
AppDynamics Cloud: Cisco is launching AppDynamics Cloud to improve customer experiences by enhancing cloud-native applications. It speeds up the detection and resolution of performance issues and offers actionable insights. AppDynamics Cloud also enables investment protection through OpenTelemetry’s data integrations.
Cisco Meraki and Cisco Catalyst: Gordon Thomson, VP, EMEAR Specialist Sales at Cisco said we are going to see significant investment from Cisco around the cloud. The first such investment pertains to its Meraki cloud networking portfolio and Cisco Catalyst, a premise-based networking portfolio, which are being integrated to combine the visibility and insights available in the cloud through the Meraki dashboard into Catalyst 90 switches and some access points as well.
Cisco Nexus Cloud: The Cisco Nexus Cloud, which delivers networking connectivity for the cloud, is being scaled up to 400 and 800 gigs. Cisco will also be managing the cloud connectivity for data centres from its existing Intersight cloud platform. New power visibility tools will also help customers understand their power consumption.
Cisco+ Secure Connect Now: This is a unified SASE (Secure Access Server Edge) as a software solution offering for customers to manage security requirements at the edge of your network effectively. Cisco+ Secure Connect Now promises to “securely connect users, things, and applications from anywhere”. This is a subscription-based service, and no upfront investment or setup is required.
Cisco ThousandEyes: To help manage the internet’s unpredictability, Cisco acquired the online security company, ThousandEyes. It now delivers predictable insights to its customers through the new Cisco ThousandEyes. It will let them know about future impacts on their networks so they can take remedial action before it happens. Thomson believes this will improve the experience for IT departments as they can deal with network issues in advance instead of reacting to them when they happen.
Observability: A new full-stack ‘Observability’ platform delivers insights by mapping the relationships across every siloed domain, such as end-user experience, application performance, and infrastructure performance. It analyses application performance, incorporating cloud and an integrated user interface with a single dashboard. It promises to create a simplified, unified experience with fewer clicks, faster resolution, and more optimal costs.
Cisco Security Platform: Cisco is working to provide an open security platform that delivers prevention, attention, response, and remediation capabilities at scale from the cloud and with unified management. This includes AI and machine learning delivered insights, as well as Security Cloud, which is its vision of a unified global platform for end-to-end security for all organisations.
Panoptica and Calisti: Panoptica and Calisti have been added to Cisco’s cloud-native, API-first suite of solutions to speed up application development cycles. They help manage and secure distributed application architectures and provide businesses with connectivity, security, and observability. Cisco provides developers with flexible options by allowing them to “try, buy, and scale” their usage from solutions in its portfolio.
Pharrell Williams’ Non-Profit YELLOW: Pharrell Williams discussed empowering disadvantaged youths and the tools they need to succeed with CEO Chuck Robbins. YELLOW is a non-profit founded by Pharrell Williams to help marginalised children attain access to high-quality education. YELLOW has recently established its first micro-school, YELLOWHAB, in Norfolk, Virginia. Cisco will provide the school with collaboration, connectivity, and security technology, such as the Webex Suite, Secure X, Meraki, WiFi 6, data centres, and DNA Spaces.
Thomson said: “The game-changer is, as we deliver cloud-based services that rely on the internet, we need to ensure that the internet’s unpredictability goes away.
“We have started that game-changing journey today with the ability to make the internet more predictable with the predictive network capabilities we’re launching through ThousandEyes and our SD-LAN offer.
“There are many different kinds of foundational elements here. I am really excited about how it will ultimately help our customers deliver this unified, exceptional experience that is both predictable and sustainable.”
Cisco Live 2022 takes place in-person and online, beginning on 12th June and concluding on 16th June. The company’s annual conference showcases the latest Cisco news, products, keynotes, and technical sessions.
