“The way young people now communicate—through video, text-messaging and social networking sites—is how enterprises will be communicating in the coming years,” John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco, recently told the online tech magazine Network World.
In support of this vision, after the aquistion of FiveAcross, Cisco made another Web2.0 move, launching its “Cisco Virtual Campus” on Second Life. Although not the first tech giant to have a presence on Second life – Dell allows Second Life users to design a 3-D model of a laptop or home computer and purchase for real-world use; Sun hosts a technical Q&A in Sun’s SecondLife Pavilion to provide an update on its open source Java progress -, Cisco is approaching its online community from all directions. Today, Cisco’s online campus includes a virtual Executive Briefing center, a Cisco Networking Academy, a model of the Cisco Connected Home, private meeting rooms, a separate employee-only “island” for internal communications, and even an in-progress rendition of the future Cisco Field baseball stadium.
Cisco’s virtual community builder
Since Cisco has always labeled itself as the builder of the network that connects the world, its community building approach on the virtual, 3-D world should not come as a surprise. I, as a Cisco employee and an advocate of its Human Networking philosophy, have yet to create my Cisco avatar and explore its islands. More to come…
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