Cisco is aiming to help businesses to accelerate their digital transformation – and at GITEX the IT and networking company has been demonstrating a range of solutions designed to do just that.
A key part of Cisco’s approach is the use of automation that employs artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance cybersecurity.
“This is the most important pillar for digital transformation,” said Osama Al Zoubi, Cisco’s chief technology officer for the Middle East.
A focus this week is on Cisco’s capability in data analytics, an area Al Zoubi said would become increasingly important in a huge array of sectors ranging from education to healthcare, oil and gas, and retail.
“They all rely on data analytics to optimise their operations,” said Al Zoubi.
Another hot topic for Cisco is the multicloud, something that is coming to the for as organisations develop a heterogeneous environment based on using numerous storage and cloud services.
“The data centre has been the core of every business. Then a few years later, the promise of the cloud came. People thought it would solve their problems – it would be cheap, easy and have fast implementation. But most of the businesses are left with massive complexity, cost and inconsistency,” said Al Zoubi.
“We introduced a multicloud solution. It allows them to manage their workload based on their business priority.”
With this multicloud solution, particular applications can run, for example, either in the public cloud or on the software as a service (SaaS) provider’s servers, based on factors such as the time of day, day of the week or business priority. This results in a system that is both optimised and less complex.
Cisco’s portfolio of solutions has been enhanced with the introduction of technology such as Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure, which improves application agility and allows for the automation of data centres.
Other key technologies have come from Cisco’s acquisition, in March last year, of AppDynamics, which offers real-time details on what is taking place in digital businesses. If a transaction on a website fails go through, for example, this can indicate why and suggest a solution.
Cisco is also demonstrating technology that brings people in an organisation together, notably through Webex Teams, a multi-device application that can be used for file sharing, white boarding, group messaging and video meetings. Al Zoubi and his team are enthusiastic users.
“It’s able to bring people together with a single click. We share links, we share files, but we can also have a conference,” he said.
