Global leaders in wireless are here in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, the gathering place for top-of-mind topics like architecting and building cloud-based service and IoT offerings -all while positioning for the inevitable shift to 5G.

Cisco is here, showing off new technologies and solution capabilities, 5G offerings, demonstrations, and (my favorite part!) new customers.

It's all about building a transformative architecture and strategy that makes it easy to simplify, automate and virtualize today's dynamic workflows. And, even though full 5G standardization is probably a few years out, it makes sense to start getting ready now. It's a to-do list that contains things like building a unified enablement platform that ties together access, transport, core, and services, with end-to-end open automation, management, orchestration, and security.

If that sounds like a mouthful, it is - and it's just some of what we bring to the table for service providers, which  only Cisco can deliver.

If you're at MWC, we'd love to show you around. We've organized everything into zones this year - from automating IP transport for 5G readiness, to creating IoT, mobile video and business services, and of course, securing it all.  You'll also see transformative transportation, connected UX, and an immersive, smart city environment.

We're in Hall 3, Zone 8 Booth#3 E30-Hope to see you!