If it is May, it must be raining conventions in Las Vegas. I am heading for a double header the first week of May to be part of the excitement at Interop and EMC world. It is going to be extra exciting for me personally, as I will be shuttling from Mandalay Bay (Interop) and EMC world (Venetian) every day to meet Cisco's customers and partners and share with them what's latest from Cisco on the technology innovations front, and how they can derive business outcomes deploying them.

In this blog, I want to give a quick tour of Cisco ACI presence at Interop and EMC World. First, Interop.

Interop is near and dear to me. Both in 2014 and 2015, I have fond memories of walking up to the awards stage to receive Best of Interop awards for Cisco Nexus 9516 and Cisco APIC products .This year  we have several in the list of finalists and running for the coveted winner's spot. The ringside view to catch all Cisco ACI excitement is no doubt, the Cisco booth. Jeff Reed's keynote on May 5 is a must attend if you are embarking on a digital journey to transform your business.

Next, I'd like to draw your attention to the Cloud Scale Nexus 9200 and 9300 Series Switches we recently introduced to the market. Visit Cisco booth#105 in the world of Solutions to see these switches up close and personal, and learn how you can future-proof your data centers with the option of 10/25/40/50/100G -an "all-in-one" offering. Our product experts will be on show-floor to explain the latest ASICs powering these switches, and how they enable greater application visibility via real-time telemetry. Besides, we have compelling Ted-style talks at the Cisco Theater featuring ACI Security and  L4-L7 services automation with ACI among some of the major topics.  And should you desire a deep-dive on these or any topic, do not hesitate to stop by our demo Pods where we can engage you in a one-one style white-board architecture discussion. Plus there is plenty more and our booth ambassadors will be happy to assist you.

After spending the morning session at Interop, I will be heading to EMC World during the afternoon session to continue my customer engagements.

At EMC World, the CliQr-ACI joint solution will dominate in both the world of solutions and in the breakout sessions. Cisco Insieme Product experts Carly Stoughton and Farid will lead a breakout session on May 4 about Cisco's recent acquisition of CliQr, and how Cisco's DC portfolio and VCE Vblock enable customers to embrace hybrid-cloud, and gain new business opportunities. We will also have technical demos at the World of Solutions featuring CliQr-ACI-EMC and ACI-EMC RecoverPoint. This validates the breadth and depth of Cisco's DC portfolio. For a detailed tour of our solutions and product showcase visit Cisco Booth#412

We will also have meeting rooms for one-on-one  customer engagements.  Please let us know if you have a desire to engage our Product Managers for a deep-dive.

It won't all be hard work as there will be plenty to party hard about. EMC World will be providing attendees a music feast on Customer Appreciation Day with Duran Duran. I could go on and on, but it wouldn't do justice to the vast array of activities in store for you.  Have a great Interop and EMC World -see you there!

Useful Links

www.cisco.com/go/aci

www.interop.com

www.emcworld.com