Data Center Automation Sessions at Cisco Live Melbourne 2023

Melbourne’s weather in December makes it an especially lovely time to visit. The festive period arrives in Melbourne in December and the city is bedecked in lights and alive with celebrations all over. For me, the special draw is Cisco Live Melbourne, 2023 and the opportunity to meet, learn, and collaborate with industry experts across Data Center and Cloud Networking.

In just less than a week, Cisco Live Melbourne 2023 will be ready to sizzle at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center. From a Cisco Data Center Networking standpoint, Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco ACI, and latest Nexus 9000 Series switches and many more related Data center technologies will be featured in a big way.

Read on to learn what you can expect and experience at this buzzing event, and a tour of how Cisco Data Center Networking and DevNet Zone is ready to engage and enrich you.

1. Can’t miss keynotes and innovation sessions

At the outset, I would recommend that you attend all keynotes to gather insights and strategies from Cisco Executives. Keynotes and Innovation showcase provide insight and strategic direction. With compelling innovation, the power of IT, and a focus on meaningful impact in our communities, businesses can drive change and leave a lasting impact for generations to come. Join us for a dynamic, opening keynote session KEYGEN-1001 on Dec 6 at 10 AM AEDT, featuring Cisco Execs Jeetu Patel, Dave West and several other executive leaders, to learn how Cisco is building an inclusive future together during this new era of hybrid work.

Innovation Talks highlight new innovations and best practices on solutions and services. I strongly recommend innovation session INTGRN-1008, featuring Cisco Execs Thomas Scheibe, Denise Lee, Jeremy Foster, on topic “Accelerating your journey to Net Zero with Sustainable Solutions” to learn how Cisco’s portfolio integrates with a comprehensive ecosystem to deliver innovative solutions to support a reduction in energy consumption while meeting regulatory standards. Do not miss Innovation session INTCLD-1100 by Cisco Exec and SVP Rebecca Stone on Dec 6, 2.45 PM AEDT, to learn how Cisco platforms deliver simple, unified experiences that can accelerate your journey to a cloud operating model.

We also have innovation sessions featuring Security, IoT, Enterprise Networking and many other hot topics. Make sure to check them out.

2. Take a DevNet deep dive

Get hands on with Cisco Data Center and Cloud Networking at this year’s Cisco DevNet Zone. We’re hosting multiple sessions, workshops, demos and learning labs featuring Cisco ACI, NX-OS, Nexus, Infrastructure as Code, and Nexus Dashboard. Cisco DevNet Zone is a beehive of excitement at all Cisco Live events and many attendees find it very compelling given its appeal to everyone from beginners to API experts. Over the years, our DevNet community has grown to 500,000+ members and offers software certifications starting with this edition of Cisco Live. DevNet certifications are designed for both network engineers and software developers and provides Associate, Specialist, Professional and Expert level paths to specialize.

The top draw in the DevNet Zone is the special DevNet Spotlight Session (DEVNET-1687) on Tuesday, Dec 5, 2.30 PM AEDT. Cisco Exec Camillo Rossi will introduce an open API approach with Data Center Networking.

In this session you will learn how Cisco is tackling the IT challenge of managing hyper-distributed workloads with illustrations on the new capabilities designed to bring operational simplicity to network operations, changing the way customers configure, operate, and analyze cloud networking. Themes covered include cisco’s infrastructure automation strategy, sustainable energy networking etc., and interspersed with demo-based illustrations. We also have a Demo Pod in DevNet Zone where Cisco’s latest Cloud Networking innovations will be featured during the entire course of the Cisco Live event. A full hour of giveaways, happy hour and fun awaits you. Be sure to reserve this session slot in your calendar.

Besides, we have insightful DevNet zone sessions featuring Cisco ACI, HashiCorp Terraform and RedHat Ansible, and do not miss Shreyas Srish’s DEVWKS-2302 to learn how to easily manage and translate a large Ansible based ACI infrastructure configuration to a Terraform configuration with associated state.

Cisco Live distinguished champion Quinn Snyder features prominently in the DevNet zone and his session DEVNET-1174 adds more excitement to Terraform enthusiasts. Quinn is ready to enlighten attendees how Cisco Modeling Labs (CML), Terraform, and some open tooling can help you build a continuous-delivery (CI/CD) pipeline right from your source code manager of choice, with full change records as part of our pull-request (PR) workflows. And there are many more on the menu around programmability and automation in DevNet zone this year. Check the session catalog for your specific interests.

3. Get hands on at the World of Solutions (WOS)

The World of Solutions (WOS) is your opportunity to explore the broader Cisco Partner Ecosystem, find answers to your specific networking challenges, and hear the unique perspective of Cisco engineers and partners. Get into the center of the Cisco Live action! Here’s what you’ll find in the World of Solutions: Join us for our welcome reception on Tuesday, Dec 5, at 5.30 PM, and connect with fellow attendees and Cisco partners to help us celebrate the opening day of the World of Solutions with music, food, and drinks. We hope to see you there!

The WOS enables you to immerse yourself in the Cisco Showcase  where you can embark on a journey to discover Cisco’s cutting-edge innovations across various domains, with more than 100+ demos. Our goal is to let you discover the latest Cisco software solutions that provide the visibility and management that IT managers need to transform business. Dive deeper and learn even more about specific products, industry solutions, services, and hardware. Explore the Cisco Show Case for demo specifics.

We have stacked a rich technology demo solutions menu featuring Full-Stack Observability, Hybrid Cloud, IoT, Cloud Networking, Software Services, Security, among major ones. Specifically, on the Data Center Networking front, we have demos featuring Cisco ACI, Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights among major ones.

We also are showcasing a special Cisco Networking stand in the WoS this year, with Cisco Partner Ecosystem demos (Data Center Networking and Meraki), Cisco Networking Cloud, Cloud Managed Catalyst, among highlights. The list of WoS demos is vast and the best way for you to experience them all is to stop by at our demo booths.

4. Choose your own adventure with breakout sessions

To your heart’s delight is how I will describe Cisco technical breakout sessions. Yes, we have hundreds of breakout sessions from industry recognized experts at the show. Cisco ACI, Nexus Dashboard, infrastructure-as-code and other Data center Networking breakouts feature prominently.

With the growing emphasis on DevOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automation toolchains like Terraform and Ansible, we offer more sessions this year, and mark IaC expert Shreyas Srish’s session DEVWKS-2302 on your calendar. Another technical advocate and IaC expert Quinn Snyder, is hosting DEVNET-1174 and a few others featuring Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes technologies.

5. Connect with your peers

As a Cisco Live attendee, you benefit from the opportunity to interact with your peers, Cisco staff and partner technical experts in both structured and informal settings. Our Welcome Reception and Customer Appreciation Event are the highlights of the week’s social calendar. Get ready to be entertained at the Melbourne Convention Center on Dec 7, 7 PM at our annual celebration event! Step right up and let’s go into an extraordinary experience like no other at the Carnival Extravaganza!

I can go on and on, but I would never be able to cover all the excitement in store. There is so much more you can explore on your own, and our Meet and Greet ambassadors will be happy to assist you at the show. Safe travels and a happy Cisco Live.

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