Today we are seeing a step change in the applications and data infrastructure. No longer do we rely only on large centralized repositories. Instead, hyper-distributed infrastructure is hosting apps and data at any location, resulting in a growing network of "centers of data." These centers of data are small computing hubs used by people and processes within an organization. As ecosystem dependencies increase, businesses are not only dependent on these centers of data inside their organization, but also on those outside their organizations. This paradigm unites information from sources that had never been connected before to produce new insights, new processes across value chains, new contextual experiences and people engagement.

Across these centers of data, Cisco has been investing in new software platforms to to help you create new and better connected user experiences and to refine business processes based on far more extended data sets.

Here's how it works: As part of your business and public service, you need to create applications for mobile phones, kiosks, or digital signs. People using the apps provide certain types of information to you: where they are, where they are going, what they want to buy, what services they are looking for. Providing data-gathering and analytics out at the edge -as well as access to other data sources such as internal data centers, social media, and so on -our software automatically reviews this information and determines the best response. In real time, that response is then sent back to the user, providing the personalized interaction they want and helping to build a relationship with that person.

The same practice applies to business processes. Our service exchanges integrate your own processes with those of your supply chain partners, vendors, customers, service providers (such as in healthcare), and other systems. These exchanges are secure, cloud-based environments that allow you to share applications and data across even global environments to help make your business run more effectively.

Underlying all these capabilities, we need middleware that ties all this together. At a Cisco Live breakout session onWednesday, June 10, 10:00 AM -11:00 AM, Pankaj Srivastava, our VP of Engineering Technology, and I will discuss how you can automate on-premise and cloud-based processes, applications, data, and infrastructure -please join us in Room 7B-Upper Level if you are attending this San Diego event! Our speakers are Canadian building services companyEllisDon Torontoand water utilityLondon Hydro, who will discuss insightful examples of how they are using Cisco software.

Over the next several months, Cisco will be talking more about this topic, which is a significant step forward in creating the digital business.

If you're at CiscoLive, I hope you'll also take the time to attend our other breakout sessions:

• June 8, 2:30-3:30 pm: "Create B2B Exchanges with Cisco Connected Processes"
• Tuesday, June 9, 8:00-9:00 am: "Using Cisco's Customer Solutions Architecture to Deliver Connected Analytics"
• June 9, 10:00-11:00 am: "Develop Mobile Apps and Interactive Displays with Cisco Connected Experience"