At the recent VMWorld Conference, Cisco CEO John Chambers layed out his vision for the future of the Internet and Cisco.
He sees Virtualization as powering the next wave of innovation. 
Virtualization is not just a technology though, but the process of taking real-world interactions and bringing them into the digital and computer world. In his words, we are entering “the second phase of the computer industry.” And virtualization “unlocks the capability of technology to change business models.” It's the maturation of Web 2.0 across the consumer and business world. Apps like Facebook, Myspace, Wikipedia, and YouTube will continue to develop and be ported to other applications resulting in massive increases in productivity. The chart shows how productivity soared during the last Internet boom, has dipped recently. According to him, Web 2.0 and virtualization will provide the next tools to increase this productivity.
Of course Cisco profited mightily from such jargon during the first Web bubble. Cisco not only wants to sell more products and services as an arms supplier to this virtualization market, but it also wants to serve as 
a role model for how companies can benefit. He trotted out examples of how the company has embraced collaboration across its business. He claims that costs in their legal office are 60% of their competitors because of the use of web 2.0 and collaboration software. He also said that they’ve taken the process of buying a company from 40 days to 8 using tools like WebEx (which they purchased recently). And he showed a slide of how they recently did an earnings reports across multiple continents virtually. They clearly want to lead by example.
Cisco’s stock at 31is at a 5 year although down from its bubble peak of near 100. It has quarterly earnings growth of 25% and a PE of 27. The question, is this for real and will Cisco lead the charge? I don’t know. It's equally possible that companies that VMWare and EMC could be the leaders in this field. Or perhaps all of them. What's clear is that the hype for Web 2.0, Virtualization, whatever you want to call it is beginning to get a bit hotter.
Related Articles:
Sharing the Wealth by PhilR - Aug 05, 2007
Is Web 2.0 A Bubble? by Mass Market Tech - Jun 21, 2007
How a six-month-old startup got bought by Google by Mass Market Tech - Jun 23, 2007
EZChip in Bed with Cisco by JRodgers - Jun 28, 2007
Cisco is the Real Web 2.0 Winner by Jeremy Artish - Aug 07, 2007
Google and Cisco Aren't in the Mortgage Loan Market by Sam Cass - Aug 10, 2007
In Europe, a push by Phone Companies into TV by R Polk - Aug 29, 2007
VMWare Explanation and CNBC Coverage by Sam Cass - Aug 15, 2007
Wall Street Doesn't Fully Endorse VMWare Valuation by H Ruiz - Oct 09, 2007.
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