The tech-fest that is the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is just under a month away, and we're celebrating it with a live Tweet-chat from Las Vegas, to dig into the intersections between devices, and the cloud.

The numbers alone make it a big topic: An astonishing 80% of the world's Internet traffic will be video by 2019, according to our latest Visual Networking Index, and the average household will have nearly five (4.3, technically) Internet Protocol/IP connections. (Bet you a dollar your house already has more than 4.3...)

That's why the interplay between devices and cloud isrising to the foreground of technical discussions, for a few reasons. One, neither the device nor the cloud landscape is getting any smaller - quite the opposite. Two, cloud-based automation is quickly becoming table-stakes for video service providers, as they adapt to compete with "broadband native" operators. Three, security techniques and mechanisms in an open-cloud environment will need to transform as quickly as the digital malcontents seeking ways around them.

In this#CiscoChat, Cisco's VP for Service Provider Video Software and Solutions (SPVSS), Jeff Seebeck (@seebecj) and Head of SPVSS Strategy, Simone Sassoli (@sisassol) as well as Multichannel Newstechnology columnist Leslie Ellis (@LeslieEllisEdit) will discuss how cloud and virtualization innovations are equipping video service providers with ways to offer "bigger-faster-stronger" customer experiences - meaning faster and more frequently than ever before, on any access network, anywhere, on any screen. The two will also discuss holistic approaches for securing these new services and experiences, from the time content is created, to the time it hits the screen.

Bring your questions. Share your thoughts. We look forward to chatting with you on Twitter live from CES.

• Thursday, January 7, 2016, 9-10am PT / 12-1pm ET
• Join and listen the conversation with#CiscoChat
• Moderated by @CiscoSP360