Data Center Day Shines in the Lone Star State

The third annual Cisco IT Data Center Day put a spotlight on the Internet of Everything (IoE) market transition and gains of deploying an Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI). Over 300 attendees, including 124 customers representing 85 different companies, attended the event held at our state-of-the-art data center in Allen, Texas.

The day was filled with keynotes, executive panels, discussion sessions, and a tour of the Allen data center. Attendees stayed connected at the event through Fitbits that tracked their movement throughout the day and tallied up user metrics such as the total average steps taken at the end. Lance Perry, VP of IT Customer Strategy and Success, hosted the event, providing insights and takeaways for all the keynotes. Top Cisco IT executives shared their perspectives on some hot industry topics: how IoE will change every company and business model, the importance of predictability in an IoE world where real-time feedback can actually be too late, and how IT can earn a front seat at the business table by enabling Cisco’s concept of Fast IT. John Manville, SVP of Global Infrastructure Services, led a lively executive panel that took customers’ questions. Christoph Nienhaus, a Cisco IT Regional Leader who attended the event, summarizes the executive keynotes in his blog.

Discussion sessions continued throughout the afternoon, as executives and Cisco IT experts explored ACI’s role in the future of the data center, and how the Cisco Intercloud Fabric for Business through hybrid cloud can help simplify infrastructure, ensure agility, adaptability, and security, and provide elasticity and scalability in the dynamic data center environment.

The number of C-level executives at this year’s event grew 150 percent over last year, and an overall customer satisfaction rating of 4.7 out of 5.0 underscores the success of this year’s event. Check out this highlight video for a glimpse at what attendees experienced at Data Center Day.