Cisco, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and My Day in the Queen’s Baton Relay

It’s an exciting year for Scotland, with several very high profile events happening. On our doorstep in July is the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – what we call “Glasgow 2014” – which, after the Olympics and World (soccer) Cup, is the third largest multi-nation sports event in the world.  (The Commonwealth Games is sporting celebration among the 53 member states that were mostly territories of the former British Empire). As the official network infrastructure supporter for Glasgow 2014, we are proud to say that Cisco technology will help make the third biggest multi-nation sports competition be more connected than ever.

As part of our involvement, a number of Cisco employees were nominated to take part in the Queen’s Baton Relay. Like the Olympic Torch Relay, the Queen’s Baton Relay is attracting huge engagement from people all over the Commonwealth. I was lucky enough to be selected to represent Cisco in the relay, as a result of my “giving back” participation in our “Ride Across Britain” cycle (where, over the past few years, we have raised tens of thousands of pounds for ParalymicsGB each year) and work with local universities. The video here shows some “point of view” film from my participation in the small town of Uddingston in Scotland, which is close to where I stay and to the local Cisco Scotland office. It was both exciting and humbling to see the large number of people out on the street to see the baton relay and support the baton bearers – the town center in particular was “mobbed”! And it was a huge change from my usual “day job” working in Data Center and Software Defined Networking services!

The Cisco Baton Bearers

Nine of us from across Cisco UK & Ireland were selected to participate, and without doubt we were all astounded by the level of interest from the crowds who lined the streets.   I think the picture here of my colleague David O’Neil says it all!  For us all, it was an experience that was over all too quickly, and the advice to our fellow team members after we’d ran was almost exclusively “don’t run too fast”!

Cisco’s Involvement in Glasgow 2014

As part of the overall objecting of creating a legacy for the Glasgow 2014 games, Cisco has extended the Cisco Business Innovation Gateway (BIG), originally established as part of Cisco’s involvement in the London 2012 Olympics, to Scotland – with the University of Strathclyde and University of Abertay Dundee added to the National Virtual Incubator, part of the Cisco BIG.  The video below gives some more detail on this.

And to The Network

Cisco are the official network infrastructure supplier for Glasgow 2014.  The Cisco network will deliver a resilient, secure, flexible, intelligent high performing IP platform that will help underpin the success of the Commonwealth Games.  The Cisco network will connect 71 nations, carrying all voice, video, and data traffic for Glasgow 2014 around the 40 venues and to the 1.5 billion people who will make up the global audience.  You can find out more on Cisco’s role in Glasgow 2014 in the following video:

A Day to Remember

For me, being involved in the Queen’s Baton Relay was a genuinely humbling experience, and marks the start of an exciting summer, including attending some of the world class sporting events on my doorstep.