Top 100 Cisco Partner Summit Highlights (80-61)

Part two of our five-part countdown. Everything you need to know–and a few things you’d rather not know–about Cisco’s annual partner conference, held this week at the Venetian Hotel Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Let’s continue the countdown…

100 to 81) Read them here

80) We Do Mac, Too: Cisco demonstrates cross-platform unified communications (instant messaging, video, etc.). The demo included Mac OS and Windows Vista systems leveraging open source technology, Cisco and Lotus software. The key takeaway: Watch out, Redmond.

79) Why Unified Video Is Next: Cisco says people remember 20 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see but 70 percent of what they see and hear in combination.

78) What About (The Other) Bob?: CMP Channel Group President Bob Faletra walked the show floor Tuesday night. No sign of his alter ego, CMP/VARBusiness VP Bob DeMarzo.

77) Give Me Five Minutes: Cisco Chief Development Officer Charles Giancarlo says it only takes five minutes for a CEO to decide to buy TelePresence. But the deployment requires three to six months because of all the back-end work it requires.

76) Smart Assist: Think of it as “Plug and Play” for networking gear. Watch for Cisco to promote Smart Assist technology across its product line.

75) The World Truly Is Flat: A certain Cisco employee in San Francisco is dating a Cisco employee in Asia, who previously dated a Cisco employee in Canada. The VAR Guy didn’t ask for these details. But he’s curious: Why didn’t anyone from Cisco Europe qualify for this digital elimidate?

74) Avaya and Nortel Watch From Afar: The VAR Guy’s blog has seen considerable traffic from Avaya.com and Nortel.com since Monday. Good to have you here, folks. Can The VAR Guy blog from your partner conferences, too?

73) Pass the Molson: Cisco’s Canadian channel team hosted the conference’s best early evening party on April 3.

72) Look Into the Channel Cam: Former VARBusiness executive editor T.C. Doyle now blogs for Cisco. He’s offering an interesting mix of text and video on his blog site. Of course it’s pro-Cisco, but the messages and content are valuable to VARs.

71) You Can Start Small: Cisco isn’t just for enterprises anymore. The company unveiled a new VoIP phone solution for customers with up to 16 users.

70) Blue Man Groupies: The VAR Guy is considering a career change. He hears ladies love the Blue Man Group, which performs at the Las Vegas Venetian.

6 9) DVDs Are So 2005: Cisco’s Giancarlo has joined NetFlix’s board. You can almost see the big broadband plumbing going into NetFlix’s offices today.

68) You’re Certifiable: The VAR Guy means that in a nice way. Check out Cisco’s new Select certification program for SMB solutions providers.

67) Surplus Wine: The VAR Guy isn’t sure why, but there seems to be a surplus of wine at some of the press events here. Anyone who understands this entry has truly spent too much time reading The VAR Guy.

66) Vertical Market Sourcebook: A nifty hand-out from Cisco. This little handbook shows VARs how to target specific vertical markets with specific solutions. The book also includes two mini-CDs for easy information access.

65) How Many Points Is That?: The VAR Guy has been loading up on gelato at the Venetian. But don’t worry. He’s burning a lot of calories trying to keep up with Cisco VP Chuck Robbins.

64) Rare Triple Play: Imagine being (A) number one in a (B) growing market where you (C) continue to take market share from your rivals. That pretty much explains Cisco’s optimism here.

63) Black Market Shower Heads: The water pressure at the Venetian is among the most powerful The VAR Guy has ever experienced.

62) Managed Services for Small Business: Interesting opportunity for VARs, as covered by Ziff’s Channel Insider.

61) 4 million: Cisco says it has sold more than 4 million wireless access points.

The countdown continues with items 60-41 late Wednesday. In the meantime, it’s time to sample another flavor of gelato before the conference sessions resume.