As retailers will have us believe, we've already kickstarted the holiday season, but with Cisco participating in three mobility events in the span of 5 days, it also feels like mobility season here.

Managing BYOD and Mobility USA in San Francisco wrapped up yesterday after two days of keynotes, presentations, and networking. With a broad spectrum of IT executives interested inBYOD and beyond, it was a fantastic opportunity for us to engage with key buyers in a smaller setting.

Customers spanned a range of industries, from healthcare and biotech to retail and transportation.  Some are just starting out in their mobility journeys, while others are looking to expand existing "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) initiatives. Not surprisingly, securing corporate data and streamlined user experiences topped the list of concerns in many of our discussions.  Our very own Prashanth Shenoy, Director of Marketing for Enterprise Mobility and Networking Solutions, also presented best practices in moving beyond BYOD to a full enterprise mobility strategy.

And as we've wrapped up Managing BYOD and Mobility USA, we're now gearing up for Open Mobile Summit, also in San Francisco, November 10-11. On the second day, Prashanth will participate in a panel from 4:00 -4:40 PM with fellow mobility executives from Box, Mayfield, OpenMarket, and Kidozen to share insights on how to simply and securely mobilize your workforce in the "Mobilizing the Workforce: Can it be simple and slick?" panel (track 4).

If you're heading to Open Mobile Summit, be sure to check out the panel and stop by our Cisco booth to say hello! We'll have some iPad Airs to raffle off to a few lucky attendees, just in time for the holidays.