Cisco run 3 'Winners Circle' events globally every year for partners in the Americas, EMEAR and APJ respectively. Places are awarded to the top 100 fastest growing partners in each region and Ultima were lucky enough to attend!
As a global business Cisco did circa $50bn revenue last year. And with over 25,000 channel partners worldwide, I was understandably thrilled that Ultima had won a space - recognising us as a top performer!
The events themselves serve several purposes:
- They’re a great opportunity to network with other professionals in the IT industry and share contacts and best practice
- You hear the latest updates direct from the horses' mouths (i.e. members of the Cisco senior management team)
- You get the chance to give direct, one-to-one feedback on how Cisco can help to improve things moving forwards
I must admit as the plane touched down in South Africa I felt nervous...maybe it was because it was my first time on the African continent, or the fact my personal phone had completely died on the way out (work phone to the rescue!)
More likely it was because I’d made the somewhat brazen decision to put 'Ross Kemp on Gangs – Cape Town' on the TV as I packed 24 hours earlier. Either way, there was no time for nerves, as I’d be meeting my fellow Winners Circle attendees - as well as my Cisco hosts - within the hour and it was game-face time!
Automation & Intelligence
As you might expect, the focus of the event was around Cisco’s latest developments regarding intent-based networking and automated security policies.
Using the Cisco DNA (Digital Network Architecture) platform to effectively incorporate both automation and intelligence into their products, Cisco enable organisations to quickly and intuitively change their networks' behaviour - without the need to manually configure individual devices. This in turn enables the scale, complexity and security that will be essential to manage the flood of new devices connecting to corporate networks every single second.
Networking isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about automation, but it probably should be. Automating network policy and configuration allows you to build a more secure network in less time. A statistic commonly bandied around at these events is that there will be 30 billion devices connected to the global network by 2020, and 500 billion devices connected by 2030.
In an ever more competitive world, we’re constantly being asked to do more for less - whether it’s configuring networks, provisioning servers or providing services. Whilst automation and intelligence individually can help with this, when applied correctly the two can magnify one another to deliver exponential increases in efficiency.
Interesting times indeed, but that’s not to say that I only learnt about networking over the week.
Cape Town
Did you know for example that there are penguins in Africa (I certainly didn’t!), or that there are seemingly more Aston Martins in Cape Town than London? I don’t have any statistics to back that up - but I saw a lot...proof that every day’s a school day.
Cape Town did not fail to impress with it's beautiful mountain range, pristine white beaches lapped by the Atlantic (a common misconception is that Cape Point is where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet, this honour actually goes to Cape Agulhas) and breathtaking nature.
Within the confines of the hotel and some of the more affluent areas we visited, it was easy to forget where we really were. However, this was squarely brought home during the party on our final night where a group of children from the local dance school performed.
These children, we were told, were from some of the most deprived areas of Cape Town and lived a life of desperation that most of us can’t even comprehend. The youngest of the group can’t have been older than seven and I tried to imagine how she felt.
The dance troupe quickly got going and my gut feeling was that all of them were happy to be there – these organisations make such a difference to peoples lives when they have so little! I was pleased to hear we collectively raised 74,000 rand (over £4k) over the course of the evening to help provide some security for their future.
A short sleep, two flights and 36 hours later and I walked back through my front door and back to reality. The memories made and people I met in South Africa will stay with me for years to come - it was a trip of a lifetime.
- By Tom Walker (Vendor Alliance Manager)
