Cisco Live: 5 things businesses need to know

June 11, 2019 Off By jrtrombold@gmail.com

Cisco announced software upgrades using AI and machine learning to help IT teams gain more insights from network data.

Cisco Live 2019: CEO Chuck Robbins pushes multi-cloud connectivity Karen Roby interviewed Teena Maddox, who was reporting from Cisco Live 2019. During the opening keynote, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins discussed multi-cloud connectivity, security, and how tech has changed in the past 30 years.

Cisco Live 2019 is underway in San Diego this week, announcing several upgrades to existing software and collaboration platforms and taking stock of the rapidly changing enterprise technology landscape.

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“We have to rearchitect the entire portfolio for the world we live in today,” David Goeckeler, Cisco executive vice president and general manager of networking and security, said during the keynote address. This includes the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as the data center, cloud providers, service providers, and network security, he added.

Cisco’s latest announcements at the conference are around unifying enterprise collaboration tools for a more seamless user and IT team experience, as well as adding in more artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to software to help organizations glean more insights from their network data. The moves follow those of other tech giants including Salesforce and Google, in their attempts to extend their big data and analytics reach for their business and customers.

Here are the five biggest announcements made at Cisco Live 2019, and what businesses need to know about them.

SEE: Securing IoT in your organization: 10 best practices (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

In the keynote address, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins discussed the continuing explosion of emerging technologies including IoT, blockchain, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and the need to rearchitect networking to accommodate dynamic environments, TechRepublic’s Teena Maddox reported from the event.

Multi-cloud connectivity is a growing topic, as users have multiple devices across a range of networks, along with ongoing security concerns. Cisco is also working on improving organizations’ ability to glean insights from the data they collect.

Cisco announced a number of software upgrades designed to add more AI and machine learning to the network, with new network automation and analytics tools meant to help enterprise IT teams gain more insights and visibility into network data.

Cisco’s developer program DevNet will update its professional certification program, joining software developers with network professionals under a new community-based developer center to speed the progress of network automation across businesses.

New certifications include DevNet certifications to validate software professionals, streamlined certifications to validate engineering professionals, and training to help entry level professionals in both the network and software industries.

Cisco’s new ruggedized industrial switches, access points, and routers will be able to extend its networking technology to harsh or remote work environments, such as chemical plants, oil refineries, and mines.

Cisco is unifying its collaboration portfolio to make communication easier for both users and IT teams, the company announced at Cisco Live. All Cisco devices are now on the same operating system, making it easier to move between them. The more unified experience will help IT teams transition their users to the cloud more easily, Cisco said.

For more, check out Photos: Cisco Live 2019 keynote and highlights on TechRepublic.