Rui Brás Fernandes, CTO at Cisco Portugal, writes about how all the startups and developers can make the most of Cisco’s tools and resources to foster innovation and bring new solutions to the table. As one of the founding partners of the Smart Open Lisboa these technologies will be available for the teams participating in this project that aims to redefine and improve the city life in Lisbon.
Digital transformation is here. With less than 1 percent of things in the physical world connected to the Internet, there is an incredible opportunity to connect the unconnected, creating vast opportunities for the Internet of Things (IoT) to transform businesses and industries by re-inventing business processes, operational efficiencies and customer service innovations.
No company can do it alone. We need to grow an ecosystem of digital transformation solutions and partners, but this depends on everyone’s participation. On our side, Cisco aims to be at the forefront of innovation and we can best do that by discovering the next generation of startups that will partner with us.
Let’s look at the picture:
- Cisco is an innovation engine, with more than 170 acquisitions over 30 years plus an annual investment of 5,9B$ in internal R&D.
- Cisco is, and has always been, looking into market transitions and disruptive technologies that impact the world.
- While the world is becoming more collaborative, more dynamic and more open, Cisco is also opening its traditional Network world to this new paradigm
- Technologies like Cloud, SDN, Big Data and Analytics provide new tools to develop solutions and applications based on traditional or new business models and Cisco is making these tools available and “consumable”.
So, what do we have to offer you?
Following this commitment to innovation, in 2014 Cisco launched an initiative called DevNet to make a shift to this new world. DevNet is Cisco’s developer and innovation program, where we give developers the learning and coding resources needed to develop with Cisco platforms and APIs.
How can DevNet help?
- DevNet’s learning and coding resources are available at http://developer.cisco.com.
- DevNet Learning Labs are free, self-paced labs that help people learn coding 101 (with REST, JSON, XML, and python) or networking 101 as well as deep dive into Cisco APIs ranging from collaboration to software-defined networking and work with open source. You have to register to use the Learning Labs, but all the Learning Labs are free.
- The DevNet Sandbox is a place for developers to code on real Cisco kit, ranging from live networks to contact centers. Jump in and code on real kit!
- DevNet Labs is a place to showcase DevNet Innovations made by Cisco and by DevNet developers. Take a look at the innovations that exist, or submit your own innovation.
And what Technologies can I use in the Smart Open Lisboa Hackaton?
Cisco is one of SOL founding members and will be looking for disruptive ventures that harness the power of the intelligent network in the Four Challenge areas by developing synergies with the Cisco solutions such as: