Cisco brings its biggest & best to Beijing

Two points of interest in this short C114 story on China Mobile showing off SDN at a Beijing industry event yesterday.

First, almost a quarter of the China Mobile booth is taken up with SDN – a sign of intent if nothing else. Staff on the stand cited a script that referred to SDN as a way for China to "solve network congestion.”

Second, prominent on the stand was Cisco, showing off its NCS 6000 router - reportedly the only one of its kind in Asia-Pacific.  Given that this is a high-profile event organised by China Mobile, the largest industry player, and the telecoms and IT ministry, this surely scotches the idea that Cisco has become persona non grata in China because of the Snowden disclosures.

Sure, the fact that it brought along its biggest and best new router shows it's working hard to impress. But that also reminds us that Cisco has gear that China needs, and as long as that's the case it will make sales.