The highlight of Cisco Connect 2013 Saudi Arabia

I had the opportunity to attend Cisco Connect 2013, It was a two day conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh, with multiple sessions of talks, presentations, and technology demonstrations.

Event Organization

There were plenty of partner booths showing various Cisco and Cisco partner components, but the space felt crowded. The hall was big, with enough space for walking and meeting up with people. Although I didn’t like how the coffee and drinks time was very restrictive.

Talks

The talks were all very informative. The keynote was the highlight, Duncan, Dan, and Rabih made a very interesting presentation. I would say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. The other talks were interesting as well. I give it to Cisco to give interesting talks.

Technology

We saw a new networking device. The Unified Access Switch. It is a switch that give connectivity for the wired and wireless. It is a Switch and a controller. I would say that switch 3850 is the go switch to install at the edge of network. To this day, no competitor has came up with something even remotely similar to this. I would talk about this switch in details in coming days.

Identity Services Engine (ISE) +BYOD was the second highlight. With a live demonstration how BYOD can be added to the enterprise network with the right security policies applied through a single interface. I did like how Cisco are trying to integrate their management solutions, and easing the network and security operations with Prime + ISE.

Overall, the event was successful, entertaining and informative. We saw new technologies, how Cisco is adapting to changes in the networking field,  A killer switch 3850 which was being sold at the price of 3750X, and ISE with adaptability to observe the BYOD movement.