Cisco: Cisco GM underscores focus on issues critical for Spain's tech development

Cisco recently celebrated its 40 anniversary, and its mission to connect the world remains intact. It's focused on critical areas such as AI and cybersecurity that have worldwide relevance, including in Spain, where Cisco has more than three decades of history, says Andreu Vilamitjana, general manager of Cisco in Iberia, who spoke recently at the company's Engage event in Madrid.One of the milestones highlighted by Vilamitjana came in November 2022, when Cisco announced plans to build a next-generation semiconductor design center in Barcelona leveraging the EU Chips Act, a European Union plan to strengthen Europe's competitiveness and capacity in the chip industry.This is one of the examples, in Vilamitjana's words, of the company's "involvement" and "vision" in the country to achieve "a more inclusive, fair and happy society."In addition, Cisco has trained some 350,000 people in digital skills through programs such as Digitaliza and Cisco Networking Academy. Vilamitjana also highlighted Cisco's commitment to sustainability, its focus on clean energy, and its emphasis on artificial intelligence and the ethics of AI. In this regard, Cisco has a dedicated $1 billion fund to boost startups.One of the pillars of Cisco's current strategy is based on AI and the preparation of data centers that enable AI and that need, according to an internal study, more maturity for the future. Although 47% of local organizations already allocate between 10% and 30% of their IT budget to AI - mainly in cybersecurity, data management and analytics - only 9% have an infrastructure that is fully prepared to take advantage of AI's potential.Vilamitjana referred two additional areas of focus for the company. One is the creation of the workplace for the future, with new collaborative models and a multitude of connected devices, which is especially relevant in Spain after the Covid crisis that began in 2020. The second focus is cybersecurity, an area that Cisco has been refining in recent years with major acquisitions such as Splunk.This story originally appeared on Computerworld Spain.