Cisco Live has never been the same since this event was first launched. One of the key recent accomplishments has been adding the service provider booth to the main campus thus establishing SP presence on the main show floor. This year we are enjoying the redesigned SP booth with new additional features. Namely, an addition of a mini-theater, flagship demo station, and a help desk station in the style of Apple's Genius Bar as the new way we want to ignite new conversations.  Overall, you will get an enhanced experience of learning about the SP's products and solutions portfolio.

Here is what to expect when you come to the SP Booth: you may go to the mini-theater to listen to a brief strategy introduction for our solutions that you can later explore in depth by proceeding to a traditional demo station. Overall, traditional demos are where you will spend most of your time and we have 18 demos that are hosted in this area. I also recommend that you stop by our flagship demo that is featuring threat-centric security presentation and learn how it applies to service providers. Security is a very relevant subject for service providers and that it why we made it stand out from the rest of the demos. Our unique approach to security delivers consistent security policy across physical, virtual, and cloud environments by combining the power of open and programmable networks with deep integration of Cisco and third-party security services.

Our help desk area is very diverse in nature where you can get help on any topic and guide you further to address your interests; however, in addition to the traditional help desk topics, we added three specialized areas for discussion and we call it a "Guru Bar". You will be able to learn about the Connected Analytics tool, and WAN automation tool, as well as services that are represented by Cisco and Ericsson partnership. As you may know Cisco Ericsson go to market partnership has been evolving since last year when the announcement was made. Next-generation strategic partnership will drive growth, accelerate innovation, and speed digital transformation demanded by customers across industries. So please stop by and learn about the IP transformation services and solutions as seen through the lens of this alliance.

As I mentioned, most of your time will be in the traditional demos area. We have gotten a lot of feedback on the value of the service provider demos and hence we are continuing in that tradition and bringing you the following demo set:

We understand your requirements and that is why all our demos are mapped onto business goals such as "Increase Revenue", "Reduce Costs", and "Increase Agility". When you are in the booth, we will explain to you during the course of a demo how that product or solution maps on those three goals.

We also provide end to end coverage of the SP portfolio and hence devised seven categories of solutions and map our demos onto them.

Among those categories we have the following seven:

When you are at Cisco Live, please attend service provider-relevant training sessions. Here is the summary list that we pulled together; however, I invite you to see the complete list of offered classes. Click here for a complete list.

And of course, don't forget to attend the Service Provider Innovation talk. Our demos are tightly linked to the subjects covered. Please visit the SP booth to understand the key steps you need to take to transform your network to meet your business goals.  Learn how Cisco has the technology and tools for you to be successful today and in the future.