Cisco: Virtualization, security and collaboration to grow

Cisco introduced the CCIE certification in 1993 to aid the industry in distinguishing the top inter-networking experts worldwide.

Fifteen years later, the company has announced the results of a comprehensive end-customer survey conducted by the international CCIE community. Through this survey, Cisco is trying to gain insight into what digital infrastructures will look like over the next five years.

Perspective of IT professionals

This research was conducted by a strategic research firm Illuminas, and commissioned as part of Cisco’s overall 25th anniversary celebration. The survey was designed in a manner to know the unique perspective of some of the most knowledgeable information technology professionals in the networking industry.

According to Cisco, there are several factors that are driving innovation such as virtualisation, security and risk management, unified communications, video, and real-time collaboration.

The majority (two-thirds) of the CCIE holders surveyed expect virtualisation to be the top networking investment over the next five years. Virtualisation is seen as an energy-, space- and cost-saving measure and the respondents believe that a holistic and comprehensive virtualisation strategy can increase operational efficiency and simplify management.

Avoid security breaches

Cisco emphasises the importance of networking professionals to stay ahead of the increasing number of internal and external security breaches. About 64 per cent of respondents said security and risk management will be the networking skills in greatest demand in the coming three to five years.

About 50 per cent expect more companies to adopt unified communications leading to increased collaboration in the workforce. Thirty per cent of those surveyed expect that over the next five years, CIOs will especially focus on accommodating the needs of a highly collaborative, global workforce.

Real-time video solutions such as Cisco TelePresence will be one of the top green initiatives affecting networks and network engineers, according to 52 per cent of the respondents.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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