1. Cisco is going to keep acquiring.
Even after the recent shopping spree, Robbins said "we’re going to continue to make acquisitions. Amongst other things, Cisco has recently bought cloud-based software provider MaintenanceNet, security firm OpenDNS, and has registered its intent to acquire another security firm, Portcullis.
2. Cisco’s infracstructure is changing
"Everything we build will be programmable, from the data centre to campus", Robbins said at the Global Editors Conference, saying that the application layer and the infrastructure layer are coming togehter to help customers.
3. …and so is the role of IT companies….
He told the audience that "we don’t have to evangelise", because businesses now understand that technology is the driving force behind company strategy.
Cisco does regularly have companies over to its San Jose headquarters to talk through possible solutions. Robbins revealed one of the banks in Canada had be visited just recently.
4. … the customers are changing too
"For the first time, I believe," said Robbins "the customers are more concerned around the operation costs of their IT infrastructure than the CapEx, and I can tell you in our history that has not been the case." The ongoing costs are becoming the issue, he thinks, "because that’s where 70% of the total cost is".
5. Chuck Robbins was a programmer
"Yes I wrote code" he said, "I was an application programmer. It’s unlikely he’ll be helping build any new Cisco products though: "In today’s world if I was writing code, you should be very afraid."
