In a move which will see it shift into relatively unexplored markets, Cisco says it is turning its eye to the power of the consumer.
Under a banner of "Welcome to the human network", Cisco executives from the US, Africa and SA this week told the company's annual Networkers conference that the world was fundamentally working towards the human as the network.
Keynote speaker and senior VP for Cisco's emerging markets technology group Marthin De Beer pointed to the rising trend of community networking throughout the world.
"Web 2.0 is forcing the world of technology into a state of transition. We see mass collaboration in sites like Wikipedia, social networking through the likes of YouTube and MySpace, personal programmability through Google Earth, and general mash-ups of consumer activity throughout the world," he enthused.
"Look at flickr; this photo networking platform is just 34 months old, yet it has four million users. You just cannot ignore this power."
Unlike previous years where the enterprise influenced technology adoption, De Beer said consumerism will be the most significant trend affecting IT over the next decade.
To date, Cisco's efforts in the consumer arena have been through its relatively small Linksys division. Accordingly, the rise of the consumer provides both opportunity and challenge.
"Cisco as a company is relatively new at being a consumer player. But we are excited about the opportunities and expect to do a lot in the arena."
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