News
Network giant’s new IoT cloud unit aims to foster ecosystem growth, address enterprise, telco demand.
Cisco on Tuesday completed its US$1.4 billion (€1.26 billion) acquisition of IoT platform provider Jasper, and outlined its Internet of Things strategy going forward.
Jasper forms Cisco’s new IoT cloud business unit, which is tasked with helping enterprises, telcos and ecosystem partners capitalise on the IoT opportunity. Cisco said it plans to enhance Jasper’s platform by adding support for enterprise WiFi, low-power wide-area networking (LPWAN) and advanced IoT security.
"Cisco already has the network equipment, cloud, analytics and security layers, and the addition of Jasper brings the critical IoT service platform layer needed to provide enterprises with a complete digitisation strategy," said Carrie MacGillvray, vice president of mobile and IoT at research firm IDC.
Cisco says it wants to help enterprises to transform their products into connected services, creating new business models and tapping fresh revenue streams.
The combined strengths of Cisco and Jasper will also help telcos and service providers address the IoT needs of their enterprise clients.
In addition, "Cisco and Jasper will provide an industry-wide interoperability platform that ecosystem partners can build on, accelerating the creation and deployment of IoT services by enterprises," Cisco said, adding that IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce and SAP already use Jasper’s platform.
"This acquisition provides value for both Cisco and Jasper’s enterprise customers, their service provider partners and broader IoT ecosystem partners," said MacGillvray.
Restructuring
Meanwhile, an internal email from Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins was published by Business Insider on Tuesday, and revealed that the networking giant is restructuring its engineering division to focus on four areas: Networking and Market Segments; Cloud Services and Platforms; IoT and Applications; and Security.
Networking and Market Segments will comprise Cisco’s core hardware and software units, the enterprise and service provider segments, and the technology and architecture department. It will be led by engineering head Pankaj Patel.
Kelly Ahuja, who has been with Cisco for 18 years, most recently heading up the service provider group, will leave the company, and will be replaced by Yvette Kanouff, who will lead "an expanded service provider organisation", Robbins said. Until now, Kanouff has been SVP and general manager of cloud solutions.
Cloud Services and Platforms will be headed up by Zorawar Biri Singh, who will also continue in his role as CTO of platforms and solutions.
David Goeckeler will be in charge of the Cisco division, while IoT and Applications will be led by Rowan Trollope.
"Cisco is deeply focused on innovation, and we are continuing to make the changes needed to accelerate our growth," said Robbins in his email. "As a team, we will continue to evolve to deliver against our customers’ needs. This will ensure we will be the most strategic partner to our customers in their transition to digital."
