Think software-defined networking will change the industry? You're thinking way too small, according to Cisco CEO John Chambers. In Cisco's strategy, SDN is just a single element in a holistic architecture that brings intelligence, programmability and application awareness to every facet of your infrastructure and spans the data center to the cloud. In this installment of the IDG Enterprise CEO Interview Series, Chambers spoke with Chief Content Officer John Gallant about the power of Cisco's Unified Framework and how delivering on that vision could make Cisco the number one IT company overall. No small ambition there.
Chambers also explained the role the much-talked about spin-in venture Insieme plays in that strategy and why competitors will struggle to keep up with Cisco's architectural play. He also talked about what IT leaders should be doing to drive the Internet of things and why customers should expect big changes in the network and IT vendor landscape in the years ahead.
What's your feeling about the overall economic state of IT in the U.S. right now?
John, anything I say should not in any way imply how our current [quarter] is going or how the next quarter looks. I assume this [article] will come out in front of my earnings, so I've got to say that even stronger.
If you look at our last quarter, it was a very good quarter, and I'm using us as an example, from a share of wallet perspective, a market share perspective, and execution vs. our peers, and yet it was only a growth of a little bit over 5%. The market is tough, and most of the gains that are occurring in the market are share-of-wallet gains.
This story, "Cisco CEO: We will become the No. 1 IT company" was originally published by Network World.