Digital Workspace

Cisco Live 2021: What to Expect at the Virtual Event

This year’s user conference will be packed with content about hybrid work, security, networking and more.

Bob is the managing editor of BizTech magazine.

Change is nothing new for IT professionals, and 2020 delivered more abrupt change than ever before. The sudden shift to remote work helped organizations recognize — if they didn’t already — how integral their tech departments are to their success.

The challenges will keep coming for tech leaders in 2021. How can they best secure networks and endpoints from increasingly sophisticated threat actors? What’s the most effective way to optimize network performance? What’s the right way to continue (or begin) their journeys to the cloud? Perhaps most urgent: How do they optimize employee and customer experience as companies begin shifting back toward onsite work, while continuing to keep everyone safe?

Enter Cisco Live 2021.

Thousands of Cisco Systems customers, employees and other stakeholders will gather virtually March 30 and 31 to discover how the company’s technology can drive business outcomes and help solve today’s unique set of problems.

Hybrid Work Will Be a Key Theme at Cisco Live 2021

With large, in-person events still on hold, Cisco has adapted its flagship event into a virtual affair, condensing the conference from the usual four-plus days to two, focusing the content on more than 30 webinarlike sessions, plus celebrity appearances. This event will be the second — and, company leaders hope, final — virtual Cisco Live.

BizTech will be covering keynotes and other sessions, interviewing thought leaders and discovering Cisco’s latest tech offerings. So, keep this page bookmarked for articles and videos from the BizTech team. How businesses will manage their workspaces on the other side of the global COVID-19 pandemic will naturally be a major focus of this year’s event, as will the ways Cisco is supporting them with vital tech solutions. Cisco anticipates that the second half of 2021 will be characterized by hybrid workplaces that accommodate both onsite and remote workers.

Such workplaces will require some special support from tech, and Cisco Live will be heavy with educational sessions on the topic, with guidance on how organizations can enable “intelligent hybrid workspaces” in the office and at home, how the Webex collaboration application can help businesses support hybrid work, how zero-trust security can help keep businesses safe during hybrid work, and how smart building technology can help keep employees safe.

WATCH THE WEBCAST: Unlock the Insider-exclusive video to learn more about defending your infrastructure.

As always, cybersecurity will be another important theme at Cisco Live. Several sessions will focus on enabling zero-trust security protocols. Others will explore using encryption to bolster endpoint security and outline the emerging offerings around secure access service edge, or SASE.

Finally, even though the event is virtual, Cisco still plans to roll out some big names from the entertainment and sports world to keep attendees engaged from their home offices. Live virtual performances are planned by singer Brittany Howard, the a capella group Pentatonix, the pop group Train and the soul band Black Pumas. Tennis legends Billie Jean King and Serena Williams will also be on hand for a conversation about “equality, resilience and giving back.”

Whether you’re attending Cisco Live or not, follow us on Twitter at @BizTechMagazine, or the official conference Twitter account, @CiscoLive, and join the conversation using the hashtag #CLUS.

Getty Images/ Laurence Dutton