Futurist Cisco Chief Addresses CES
Cisco Systems Chairman John Chambers shared a bold vision for the future of the networked world in a rousing Consumer Electronics Show evening keynote on Tuesday. Chambers, who has grown the company from $1.2 billion in revenue in 1995 to $30 billion today, spoke for about a half hour.
Chambers, who first addressed CES in 1999, said a great deal has changed in the industry in the last nine years. Back then, when he spoke about the Internet's role, he had a "device-centric" mentality. In the future, the approach will be "network-centric," he told the Leaders In Technology dinner.
The West Virginia native also predicted that computing will move from an individualized experience to a community one and he cited the popularity of social networking sites as proof of that trend. Chambers, who was impressively unaided by note cards, also said the next generation of will be built around "visual networking."
Near the end of his speech, he touched on the importance of partnerships within industry and reaching beyond the United States' usual international high-tech allies. Chambers said Eastern Europe, India, China and the Middle East are making great strides and have a lot to offer.
His enthusiasm and optimism about the future of the industry may be best exemplified by a quip he delivered mid-speech: "You'll literally be able to 'beam me up Scotty' in a decade."
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus