OK, using data to make decisions to streamline operations is not a new concept, but the resources and types of data that we have at our disposal is unprecedented. Gone are the days when we had to rely on data only available in the data center. There are new exciting ways to sift through terabytes of data to proactively predict problems before they impact service, optimize your IT and application infrastructure and gain an end-end view of operations.

Today there are more and more applications, devices, users, and tasks. They are generating a large amount of structured and unstructured data at the edge of the network. The net result is the old -read 5 years ago - centralized approach is no longer sufficient enough to guarantee true operational efficiency.

Let's talk about some of the technology break-throughs and solutions that are driving this:

• On premise Hadoop offerings are replacing high cost Multi Parallel Processing (MPP) Platforms.
• Customers are now leveraging NoSQL Databases with Hadoop to uncover analytics from live interactive data to create operational analytics platform.
• Security solutions are now focusing on meeting the challenges presented by the Internet of Things (IoT) that addresses concerns over malicious intruders and malware.
• Business users and data scientists are now able to easily and iteratively derive insights from the unstructured data.

As I speak to customers daily, I am amazed that how many don't realize Cisco is leading the operational analytics paradigm shift with its portfolio of hardware, software and services. Cisco's offerings are augmented by the partnerships with companies like Cloudera, Hortonworks, MapR, Splunk, Platfora, Attunity, Intel and others to deliver integrated solutions facilitating crucial decision-making that can result in operational excellence and rigor.

To address that lack of awareness, on September 9^th, we're hosting a virtual conference on the topic of Operational Analytics together with Intel and some key Big Data and Analytics partners.

When you go to register, you will notice that this conference is one in a series of three conferences. The first focused on data warehouse optimization, which kicked off June 17^th. The sessions held at this event are still available for replay, so be sure to take advantage of the recording for some great insights on how to modernize your data centers. And we'll wrap the series up with a conference on Business Analytics in November, so be sure to let your colleagues know about it.

Hope to see you on September 9th. Follow me on Twitter for real time updates.