(upbeat music)
>> Narrator: Live from the Computer History Museum
in Mountain View, California,
it's theCUBE, covering DevNet Create 2018,
brought to you by Cisco.
>> Hey, welcome back, everyone,
live here at DevNet Create,
Cisco's event here at the Computer History Museum
in Mountain View, California, the arc of Silicon Valley.
I'm here with Lauren Cooney.
We're here for two days, wall-to-wall coverage,
breaking down Cisco's move into the DevOps,
Cloud, developer world.
Separate from the DevNew community,
which is the Cisco developer program
and we've been bringing down Lauren,
great to have you these past two days.
>> Thanks so much.
I appreciate it, it's been fun.
>> We've talked to a lot of the Cisco folks,
a lot of the practitioners, let's analyze it.
Let's discuss kind of what's going on.
First of all, Cisco creates a new group,
almost a year ago next month,
called DevNet Create to get out of the Cisco bubble
and go out into the Cloud world
and see if they can't connect the Cloud ecosystem,
CloudNative, Kubernetes, all the micro-services,
goodnesses going on in the application side,
an infrastructure's code
and bring that with the Cisco network engineering community,
who are plumbers, network plumbers.
They're network engineers.
They deal with provisioning gear, routes.
>> Well, I think it's interesting
because you have this CCIE number
that has been decreasing over the past couple of years
and that's not because the network is less important.
It's actually because new skills sets are emerging
and folks need to take on these new skills
to learn and to really flourish in their careers.
So, I think what DevNet is doing is just tremendous
in terms of enabling delelopers to move Upstack,
to look at things like Kubernetes,
to look at things like, you know, CloudNative,
to look at new applications you can build,
new things that you can extend to,
API integration into, you know, new types of applications.
You know, we had folks here that were learning to code
in Python for the first time and I think that's awesome.
I think that's great.
>> And the timing's perfect, I mean,
I got to give credit to Susie Wee and her team at Cisco.
They're doing all the right things.
I think, the way they're handling this
is they're not overly aggressive.
They're not arrogant.
They're humble, they're learning, they're listening,
and they're doing all the right things.
They're bringing a lot to the table,
from the Cisco table to this community.
They're just very cool.
But the timing's critical.
If they'd tried to do this four years ago,
how hard would it have been?
You know, you've been there.
I mean, could they pull this off four years ago?
>> I think there was,
the goal was always there four years ago,
but I think the timing was,
you know, you have to kind of put
the mission in order and get things up
and running first.
You don't launch your community,
you build one and I think Cisco really needed
to build that core community first
and that was super critical.
>> Well, even four years ago,
let's just go back and rewind the clock,
where was Cloud then?
So, we're still the purest DevOps culture
and there was certainly hard charging,
it was definitely flying.
But still, even a lot of the on premises enterprise folks
were still kind of poo-pooing the Cloud.
Even Sword four years ago,
Oracle just made their move a couple years ago
to the Cloud and they're still trying to catch up.
So, you know, these legacy vendors,
and Cisco is one, they've pivoted nicely,
Cisco with this, because now the timing's there.
It's Kubernetes, there's enough code
to get glued in, plugged in, stacked,
so I think timing has also been a tail win for them.
>> Timing was critical, I mean, back then we were talking
about software-defined networking
and, you know, new services that you could deliver
to the Cloud in new ways and then DevOps came in
and is like, really the glory child, right?
Say like, this DevOps is going to solve world hunger
and what it came down to basically is, you know,
it is a critical part,
but there are certain piece parts that need
to come together, especially in the open source world
to make these things happen.
>> I mean, to me, if I had to like point out,
just riffing here, but, you know,
to me, the seminal moment for Cloud
and Agile is happening, that's a key driver,
but it was the fact that
with horizontally scalable tech, unstructured data,
the roles of databases,
software that was becoming
this new light weight, glue layer.
Controlled planes are moving up and down the stacks,
so there wasn't one thing.
A combination of these awesome things were happening.
That made people go, "Holy, holy, we could do more
"if we think about scale differently."
>> Scale differently and really how do you bring this
and, you know, this is where you get to edge computing,
is how do you actually bring these to the masses?
How do you go where the people are?
How do you store data where people are?
How do you extend security in new ways?
I mean, that's going to be super critical.
>> I think the other thing that's also pretty evident
is that when you start having new entrance
into a market, start eating some of your breakfast,
then they start eating some of your lunch,
then you go, "Wait a minute.
"If I don't do something, my dinner's going to be eaten."
I mean, you're starting to see people
see their business at risk. >> Yes.
>> This is a huge thing that lights up the CXO,
the CEO, the COO, CDO, CIO.
Now its like, "Okay, we got to make a move."
>> Definitely, I think that's the way that it has to be.
>> And in terms of Cisco, I want to get your thoughts
because I've always been talking about this
and I'm a big Cisco fan
and I know a lot of people work there,
been a big admirer of the company from day one
and what they did in the Internet generation,
it did buddle out of cubbies,
which created a little bit of a mash-mash,
but that's not your issue.
They really ran the networks.
What a great culture.
However, we're now seeing Apple Cases driving a lot of
the value and the network needs to be programmable
and the challenge that Cisco's always been,
how do we move up the stack as a company?
And all the little scuttlebutts and conversations
and parties I've been to, hallway conversations
with Cisco executives, employees,
that's been the internal debate.
How does Cisco, should Cisco move up the stack?
And if so, how?
So, it's been kind of this internal thing.
Good timing now to start moving up the stack
because automation's here.
>> Well, I think it was great timing four years ago
to move up the stack, to be honest.
I think that there were efforts then.
I know that I was engaged in some
to do that rather quickly.
You know, those turned into things that,
you know, went one way or the other.
I think that there are the right people
and the right places at Cisco now
to make that actually happen.
I think, you know, we were a little early on that.
I think Susie's effort is just tremendous in terms
of driving the users upstack,
to have the learn these new skills
and as they learn these new skills,
they're learning it on Cisco
and that's going to be really critical.
That's going to have the pull power.
>> Yeah, and I think Cisco's got a chance,
a real great chance to,
and it's not a far reaching of an accomplishment either
for them to do this,
is they can now actually build a developer program now
because before they didn't have enough software
but what Susie's doing,
if I'm Chuck Roberts, CEO of Cisco,
I'm doubling down of what's going on with DevNet,
DevNet Create and I can take that DevNet component
and almost kind of expand it out
because Cisco has a developer option.
If you look at what they're doing on
the collaborative software side,
the stuff with video.
They have a total core confidence in video.
I mean, they were early on so many things.
But now, they got Webex there still
and still for video conferencing
but still, beyond that, IoT is video application.
A huge opportunity in video.
>> You look at these communities that pop up
and right now you don't have a product
if you don't have a supporting community
and so Cisco should absolutely be doubling down on this.
They need to double down on it.
They probably need to invest more in it
than they are now.
I see it as absolutely critical as they move forward
because, you know, Cisco wants to be one or two
in the market for all their products, all their solutions.
To have that, they need to have the supporting community
to do that.
>> Yeah, we did two days here and, you know,
in terms of events, it's not the big glam event,
it's really a early stage,
only the second event within the...
It hasn't even been 12 months since
the first DevNet Create.
What I'm impressed by
and what I love about theCUBE is we,
when you get at these early moments,
when you see it magic happening.
You get into the communities and you realize,
wow, this is a team that could pull it off.
And I think, Cisco's a company
at Cisco LIVE at Barcelona, you know,
it really became apparent to me
that Cisco's really pulling in the right direction
on a couple things.
I feel they got the big company thing
they got to kind of clean that up a bit,
just make it more nimble,
but they got their eye on the prize in video.
They could really crush the IoT opportunity
and the leverage of the network
is a huge asset and if they could make that programmable
with an open source community behind it,
man, this could be a whole nother Cisco.
Almost bring back the glory days.
>> I fully agree.
(laughing) I fully agree.
>> All right, Lauren, what are you up to these days?
I mean, you got a new gig.
>> I do.
>> Share about your new company and what you're working on.
You guys writing code?
You doing advisory?
You doing consulting?
What's happening? >> We do a bunch of stuff.
I mean, you know, I like my hands in lots of things,
so I think it's important to say
that I've taken my experience at IBM
and Microsoft and Juniper and Cisco,
driving new innovation to market faster
and new revenue channels and I've taken that
and I've started a consulting firm,
called Spark Labs
and what we do is we use new models,
like Minimum Viable Product
and Business Model Canvas
to actually derive, you know,
whether it's product, whether it's service,
whether it's these, you know, new channels,
whether it's partner or whether you're just trying
to pull together your team in a new way.
We actually take this and help you do it in a faster way
and, you know, we've got the models,
we've got the background
and we're working with companies that are big and small.
>> What kind of engagements are you working on?
What kind of problems are you solving?
>> So, you know, we have, a larger company
that we're working with
and one of the things that they ran into
is they had just changed around, kind of,
their leadership and we've gone it
and worked with their leadership team
to kind of establish what this new team needs
to look like.
What are they going to deliver on,
what are the metrics, what are the, you know,
kind of success things that people are really trying
to achieve and how do we empower this new team
that has this new leader and, you know,
how do we make sure that everyone's aligned.
I think that's part of it. >> Alignment's critical.
>> Alignment is, you know, if you don't,
it's great to have an amazing vision,
but if you don't have the execution,
you're just not going to get there.
>> Yeah, Andy Jassy, one of my favorite execs
that I've interviewed.
He's pragmatic, he's strong.
Went to Harvard, won't hold it against him.
But super great guy,
but he's got a great philosophy.
I think it might come from the Amazon culture
is you argue all day long,
but once a decision's made you align behind it.
So bring some constructive discourse
to the table but once it's done,
they don't tolerate any, you know, dysfunctional,
passive aggressive behavior.
Okay, say your piece, but align.
>> Well, I think, that exactly it.
I mean, we pull people together for a day
or a day and a half
and actually run them through
the Business Model Canvas,
which will align with, like,
what their goals are, what their mission is,
how they're, you know, being seen in the market,
and lots of other things.
But the real goal there is to pull the team together
on, you know, what exactly those things are
and the value that their organization has,
because if you can't deliver on that message,
you can't deliver on much more.
So, you do need that alignment
and teams are so all over the place often.
When you're running fast, you kind of forget
and so sometimes they need to be reminded.
>> What's your take on DevNet Create this year?
What's your thoughts?
>> I think it's great.
I mean, I love the fact that, you know,
there's folks from so many different backgrounds
and so many different, you know,
kind of technical areas here.
I love the, you know,
Morakies giving away 1.2 million dollars
of equipment and software licenses.
I think that's phenomenal.
>> I'm impressed by the Cisco folks here.
Not to go overly overboard
and give them too many compliments
because, you know, they'll get cocky.
No, but it's all seriousness,
Cisco people that are here are kicking ass.
They're doing a great job.
They've got the microphones on,
they're doing the demos, they're doing the lights.
They are jazz.
And they're not mailing it in either.
They're doing a great job
and I think that's authentic, genuine.
I think that's going to be a great, you know,
seed in the community to grow that up.
Again, still, they got a lot of work to do.
But I don't think it's too far of a bridge
for network guys to be Cloud guys
and to kind of find some middle ground.
So, I think the timing's perfect.
I think I'm super impressed with the team
and I think this is a great path for Cisco
to double down on and really invest more in
because it's definitely got legs
and big fan of the camp, think, too, we talked about.
The Camp Create where they had competitive teams
hacking and spending two days on it so,
you know, love it, love the culture.
But, you know, again, early.
Let's see where they go with it.
I mean, if they can get the network ops going,
this DevOps for networks concept.
>> Yeah.
>> And bring it up and make it programmable.
Couldn't ask for a better time
with Kubernetes, all the coolness going on
that micro-services, good time.
>> Definitely a great time.
>> Well, great to host with you
and we're here live at DevNet Create,
wrapping up two days of wall-to-wall coverage
of theCUBE, DevNet Create,
again this is the Cloud ecosystem for Cisco,
separate from the core of DevNet,
which is the Cisco developer program for all of Cisco.
A great opportunity for them.
Of course theCUBE's here covering it.
We're going to wrap this up
and thanks for watching theCUBE coverage
here in the Computer History Museum
in Mountain View, California.
Thanks for watching.
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