21st Century Business Herald reporter Wu Bin reports from Shanghai
In 1994, Cisco opened its first office in Beijing, which has grown together with the Internet era in China in the past 30 years.
Cisco Global Vice President and CEO of Greater China, Huang Zhiming, told reporters that Cisco's entry into China in April 1994 was a small matter that not many people knew. In the same year, China's full access to the Internet was a major event. At that time, Cisco routers were used.
On the one hand, over the years, Cisco has introduced many groundbreaking technologies into China, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) VPN, Internet Protocol Storage Area Networks (IP SANs) and Application Center Infrastructure (ACI). Cisco also worked with Chinese universities to jointly promote the development of RFC 4925, the first IPv6 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard.
On the other hand, Huang Zhiming stated that Cisco established its Shanghai R&D center in 2005, and it has been nearly 20 years since then. It has developed into a large-scale R&D base with over 2000 people and has made many innovative and R&D contributions to Cisco worldwide.
Embracing the opportunities of the AI era
For the past 10 years from 2015 to 2024, Huang Zhiming believes that it was a period of transformation that was not easy, as there were new changes in the international situation, technological transformation, and so on. Although the next decade is still full of uncertainty, he said that Cisco will continue to bring new technologies and products into China and enter the AI era with Chinese companies.
The opportunities of the AI era are coming with a brand new look. Simon Miceli, General Manager of Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Business at Cisco Asia Pacific, analyzed to reporters that although AI investment has slowed down recently, this trend will not continue. For enterprises, there are many opportunities in the AI world, and overall investment will definitely increase. The AI investment boom will continue.
Cisco's Vice President for Greater China and General Manager of the Security Business Unit, Xianlu Bu, stated that companies attach great importance to AI, and everyone is very concerned about whether AI will increase future revenue, gain more market share, and position in this new competition. Everyone is worried about falling behind in the new round of competition, which is a significant driving force.
However, AI related threats are also constantly increasing. Bu Xianlu analyzed to reporters that AI technology has entered a new stage and has also facilitated hacker attacks on enterprises. After successful extortion, payments can be made through cryptocurrency, which poses a huge challenge to network security. The good news is that AI will also empower network security products and solutions simultaneously. Human computer interaction intelligence can enhance the effectiveness of tools, AI can significantly improve detection efficiency and capabilities, and make complex workflows more automated, helping us cope with increasingly complex challenges and attacks.
In 2024, Cisco spent $28 billion to acquire Splunk. Splunk told reporters that this is the largest acquisition in Cisco's history of over 200, and also the largest merger in the entire network security industry in 40 years.
Miceli told reporters that when it comes to AI, people often think of computing power, but models, data, networks, and security elements are also very important. We need a network to connect our infrastructure, and GPUs do not exist independently. We also need to ensure the security of infrastructure, data, models, and other aspects. Networking and security are Cisco's core competencies.
Continuously cultivating China
Cisco's business strategy focuses on artificial intelligence security Wi-Fi 7、 Advanced technologies such as AI ready data centers, future workplaces, and digital resilience empower enterprises and drive their digital transformation. Huang Zhiming stated that Cisco will continue to deeply cultivate China and contribute technological innovation momentum to this rapidly developing and vibrant market.
Cisco has launched the next-generation Wi Fi 7 solution for Greater China, offering a unified subscription license that includes Meraki and Catalyst management options, eliminating the need for users to choose between on premises deployment and cloud management. The new Wi Fi 7 product kit includes CW9176 and CW9178 access points, providing intelligent, secure, and reliable connectivity for future workplaces. These wireless access points have built-in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Ultra Wideband (UWB), and GPS functions, expanding the application scenarios of the Internet of Things, especially for precise sub meter level positioning services. In addition, the product has built-in numerous AI and security features to ensure the security and optimal experience of each connection.
Cisco Secure Access enhances protection against hybrid working modes through a zero trust based Secure Services Edge (SSE) solution. Integrated with cloud native firewall, secure web gateway, cloud access security proxy (CASB), and zero trust network access (ZTNA), this solution provides secure access from any location. Users can enjoy seamless connectivity, while IT teams benefit from centralized management and stronger threat detection capabilities.
Cisco's AI ready data center adopts the latest technology and is designed specifically for the needs of generative AI. Its features include high-performance computing, low latency networking, and advanced storage solutions, supporting AI workloads from anywhere. Relying on Cisco's latest data center networking and computing technologies, including Nexus 9364E-SG2 switches and UCS C885A M8 servers, this infrastructure meets AI's high throughput, low latency, and high-performance requirements while providing strong security protection. Cisco has also launched innovative solutions such as AI POD, which supports AI use cases from edge inference to large-scale inference clusters, with infrastructure pre configured and validated. In addition, Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric AI further simplifies the various stages of operation and flexibly meets the deployment requirements of AI workloads.
The wave of Chinese enterprises going global has also brought huge opportunities for foreign-funded enterprises. Fang Xiaoxi, Vice President of Cisco Greater China and General Manager of Cisco East China and Multinational Business, told reporters that many Chinese companies are more willing to choose foreign brands and globally leading enterprises when going global, which can meet the needs of conducting business in various parts of the world at the same time. In the context of a low base, Cisco's overseas business has grown rapidly in the past two years, basically doubling every year.
Looking ahead to the future, Fang Xiaoxi believes that there is still great potential for enterprises to go global. Chinese companies are going global one after another and need help to deploy globally, which is also a dimension advocated by policies. It is important to consider how to further empower companies to go global.