Cisco Loves Lisbon: 23 Scenes From Cisco Channel Exchange

Cisco Systems welcomed a small band of channel partners, press and analysts to Lisbon, Portugal, for the Cisco Channel Exchange. At the event, the company shared details on its push into the small business market, its plans to help partners globalize and steps it's taking to aid partners as they try to cut costs.

Keith Goodwin, Cisco's senior vice president of worldwide channels, told conference attendees that Cisco plans to keep focused on long-term goals, despite the current economic slump. "We have the opportunity, together with our channel partners, to really lead: lead in new markets like SMB ... and lead in building out the second phase of the Internet," Goodwin said.

Keith Goodwin (right), Cisco's global channel chief, joins Cisco's Akbar Hasan, director of sales strategy and planning for U.S. and Canada channels, to demonstrate new a collaboration tool for Cisco's channel partners called Partner Connect.

Cisco's Partner Connect tool is an online portal solution providers can use to create communities around shared areas of interest, including technologies or even Cisco accounts. The aim, Goodwin said, is to help partners better collaborate with each other and with Cisco around deals. The site is built on WebEx Connect, Cisco's hosted collaboration platform.

Solution providers can add several widgets to their Partner Connect pages, including feeds for blogs, news feeds and polls. Another widget provides a mash-up with Google Maps that pinpoints the location of all members that are online.

Alex Thurber, Cisco's senior director of technology go-to-market, shares details of a new program that aims to help partners do business with each other around the world. Cisco's new Global Resale Agent model sets polices, establishes processes and provides tools for solution providers seeking to go global that need to engage with local partners in other countries to work with their clients.

Benny Covers, director of ICT consulting and development at Getronics, an Amsterdam-based Cisco Gold partner, participates in a breakout session on partner talent. Despite the economy, "we will continue to hire, but much more selectively," Covers said, adding that there is still a shortage of IT talent, especially in areas such as architecture, consulting and solutions sales. "You really cannot just continue to steal the best people from competitors. The pool is not large enough. It's not sustainable," Covers said.

James Hughes, senior key account service manager at CCT, a U.K.-based Cisco partner, said his company has had great success working with Cisco's Smart Care, a hosted network monitoring service targeted at small and midsize businesses. "We had one customer with 16 locations, and they asked us to do device discovery and network inventory. They gave us a list of 70 devices they thought they had, but we found over 140 devices [with Smart Care]," Hughes said.

Andrew Sage (right), vice president of worldwide small business sales, and Rick Moran, vice president of small business solutions marketing, laid out details of Cisco's $100 million initiative to target customers with fewer than 100 employees.

Cisco treated conference attendees to a night on the town that included a trolley ride through the Alfama district of Lisbon.

A trio of musicians serenades conference attendees during a cocktail hour before dinner at Palacio Sao Vicente.

Edison Peres, Cisco's senior vice president of worldwide channels go-to-market, leads a toast to welcome conference attendees to dinner in the ballroom of the Palacio Sao Vicente. The palace was built in 1606 and is said to have been a popular venue for high society events.

Dinner guests were entertained by "The Three Waiters," a group of singers who performed famous arias such as "Nessun Dorma," "Toreador" from Carmen and perennial crowd-pleasers such as "That's Amore." Here, one of the performers (far right) encourages the crowd to swing their napkins in the air during the finale.

Cisco's Edison Peres discusses the vendor's strategy to help partners through the economic downturn, including Cisco's plan to waive audit requirements for certified partners for one year.

Riordan Maynard, CEO of Touchbase Group, a Denver-based Cisco partner, participates in a breakout session on communications and collaboration.

Cisco took conference attendees on a bus tour of the city that included stops at several landmarks. Here, partners, analysts, press and Cisco executives head to Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, a monastery built to commemorate the voyage of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. His tomb is located inside.

Inside the church at Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, which is built of limestone in the Manueline architectural style. Construction began on the monastery in 1502 and was completed 50 years later.

Cisco's Edison Peres (left) and Mike Allen, director of channel operations, Asia Pacific, pose in front of Torre de Belem (Belem Tower), a 16th-century fortress on the banks of the Tagus River.

Cisco's Keith Goodwin in front of the Ponte 25 de Abril (the 25th of April Bridge). The structure closely resembles San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, on which Cisco's logo is based (both bridges were built by the same company). The suspension bridge opened in 1966, connecting Lisbon to Almada, and was given its current name after the Carnation Revolution brought democracy to Portugal on April 25, 1974.

Bob Cagnazzi (right), CEO of BlueWater Communications Group, a New York-based Cisco partner, and Richard McLeod, senior director of collaboration solutions for worldwide channels at Cisco, pose in front of the 25th of April Bridge.

Cisco's Keith Goodwin (center) and Richard McLeod (right of center), gather with other conference attendees to listen to the tour guide at the foot of the Monument to the Discoveries.

Lisbon's Monument to the Discoveries was built in 1960 to commemorate the 500-year anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator, who is represented by the figure on the far right. He is followed by representations of notable Portuguese explorers, artists, scientists and missionaries.

For more news from Cisco's Channel Exchange conference, follow these links.



Cisco Targets Small Biz With New Products, $100M Investment



Cisco Certified Partners Get to Skip Audit This Year



Cisco Says Bye-Bye to Linksys Brand For Biz



(Picture: Statue of King Jose I in Lisbon's Comercio Square)