Barcelona, Here I Come!

As they say in Barcelona, next week will be “la leche.” A very good week indeed. Cisco Live Barcelona kicks off on Monday, and I’ll be there taking it all in!

The Spanish metropolis has long had a reputation for being at the forefront of urban technological innovation. They have a municipal network of 500 km of optical fibre and free Wi-Fi routed via street lighting. How cool is that? They also have sensors to monitor air quality, parking spaces, and even waste bins.

Without a doubt, Barcelona is an international benchmark for smart cities—and an impressive testing ground for the Internet of Things. And, as you know, IoT is a topic I’m very passionate about.

I can’t wait to walk the floor at the World of Solutions to experience how Cisco and our partners are working together to create new innovations that will bring even more things online to build out our digital world.

Innovation isn’t possible, however, without both invention and execution. And that’s where Barcelona truly leads. And invention + execution is the only way enterprises will become digital. Admittedly, there are challenges. As decision making moves closer to the action and to the customer, scale is a significant issue. That’s why I’m watching closely as edge and fog computing come to the forefront.

I’m also having many discussions with my mentor and friend James Mobley (Cisco’s VP/GM of Emerging Technologies & Innovation, Advanced Services). He strongly believes that innovation has hit an exciting moment in time, where automation, analytics, and architectures—the ‘Three A’s’—are transforming our entire industry. I couldn’t agree more, and expect to see disruption continue to shake up the enterprise.

You can learn more about disruption and the new decision economy on Thursday, when I’ll provide an in-depth look at how disruption isn’t about “if” but about “when.” I’ll also be on stage with Joe Cozzolino, SVP of Cisco Services, on Wednesday. We’ll discuss how emerging technologies are the game-changers for technical services. Want to talk with me 1:1? You can do that, too. I’m in the Meet the Executive track.

Cisco Live Barcelona runs through February 2. I hope to see you there. I’ll share what I saw and learned at the event when I return home to Chicago. Meanwhile, wish me safe travels!