Cisco’s ‘Collaboratory’ transforms a Manhattan space into a dazzling display of cutting-edge retail experiences. A secure, seamless network enables it all.
Whether in a small shop or flagship store, retail depends on the network more than ever before. Because wherever the shopping takes place, it’s all about experience. And that experience must be seamless, secure, fast, and fun.
A powerful, integrated network platform enables it all. Especially as brick-and-mortar retail (when done right!) continues to gain loyal shoppers.
“The truth is, retail can’t work without the network,” said Lawrence Huang, Cisco’s general manager and senior vice president for network platform and wireless. “The network powers everything in the store. And when you have the best devices on the best network, it brings the best retail experiences to customers.”
Huang was speaking this week before a select group of more than 140 retail executives and industry analysts in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. Dubbed the “The Collaboratory,” the event was held in a downtown events space resembling a storefront that was completely transformed by Cisco and its partners into a mind-bending display of all that’s possible in the future (and present!) of retail.
Guests were immersed in a pop-up retail store experience that surrounded them with dazzling video, audio, and interactive displays, all powered by Cisco network innovations. That is, everything from next-gen Wi-Fi 7 integrated with Cisco Spaces and Cisco Meraki smart cameras to switches, energy-saving Power Over Ethernet switches streamlined point-of-sale capabilities, and much more. And even as the National Retail Federation (NRF) kicked off its annual industry showcase a few blocks away, the Cisco event stood out — by revealing what powerful, simplified, and secure infrastructure can enable for the future.
“With the advent of all the technology we’re seeing here tonight,” said the chief technology officer of a premium luxury fashion retailer and Cisco customer, “it’s about unlocking the many unique solutions that are becoming available through innovations like AI and augmented reality.”
AI, AR, and more…
One such unique experience powered by AI, augmented reality, and a powerful network? The Collaboratory guests were able to custom design their own customized sneakers via a sneaker design station leveraging iPads — and have them shipped directly to their home or office.
Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research, was busy concocting some elaborately personalized footwear. But he stepped away from his design on the iPad to share some insights on the complexities facing today’s retailers.
“Across different demographics, everybody wants to experience retail in all different ways,” Kerravala explained. “You might want to go to a store to order and have it delivered to your home, or you might order from home and want to pick it up in store or curbside. You also might want assistance from an AI agent to help you buy, or you might want to talk to a live person.”
Again, it all comes down to powerful, flexible network infrastructure.
“A retailer today has to be able to bring all the different shopping modes together,” Kerravala continued, “and really be able to merge physical and virtual environments and digital environments. And until recently, the value of the network to support all that has gone underappreciated.”
The broadest scope of solutions, integrated and simplified
The key, Kerravala stressed, is simplifying the network and IT environment. Cisco, he argued, has an all but unique portfolio spanning network, security, observability, AI, analytics, collaboration, and more. And while he believes the company has not always highlighted all of the individual capabilities, he’s excited to see that changing in a more wholistic approach.
“There’s a big initiative to bring these technologies together,” Kerravala said. “And that’s so important, because with everything being so network centric, all these components have to work together. If you’re going to create that great seamless experience, Cisco’s arguably got the broadest set of infrastructure of any vendor — collaboration, compute, security, observability, networking.”
Another analyst and sneaker recipient, Bob Laliberte of theCube Research (part of SiliconANGLE), added his own thoughts on driving seamless integrations.
“To me, the most encouraging thing I’ve seen of Cisco in the last six months is that ability to start leveraging comprehensive, integrated solutions in converged networks,” he said. “Whether it’s fixed, wireless, cellular, etc., being able to have that operational efficiency to drive it from a single location, is really what’s going to be important. And I see Cisco as a leader there.”
Cisco’s Wi-Fi 7 technology is but one example of this ongoing simplification. By integrating additional solutions such as Cisco Spaces, it brings smart-building and Internet of Things capabilities — high-grade analytics, security, environmental sensing and more— to the wireless network.
“Many of you would agree that so much starts with a strong wireless foundation,” said Huang. “And at Cisco we’ve been incredibly busy, on a journey of simplifying your operations. What that means is no matter how you want to operate that infrastructure, whether it’s cloud first, on-prem or anything in between, it’s the same set of SKUs, it’s the same license, it’s the same support model. Whether you’re upgrading a store in Hoboken or opening a new flagship store in Perth, we make it incredibly easy for you to get started with that network modernization.”
“On top of that,” Huang continued, “we’ve also embedded Cisco Spaces technology. Cisco Spaces allows you to bring next-gen retail experiences to life with our mapping and with our rich IoT connectivity to unlock use cases such as highly accurate asset tracking. And that’s just the beginning.”
Supporting customer visions
Listening to customers is a critical element to successful innovation. And Grant Shirk, senior director of product marketing for Cisco’s campus and branch networking products, was excited to see the longstanding relationships with customers and partners, many of whom were represented at the event.
“Cisco is hyper aware of our customer’s needs,” he said. “And we’re able to work with them and our partner ecosystem to deliver on their unique retail vision. Even tonight, with help from our partners, along with the flexibility and agility the network drives, we were able to stand up this entire event in six weeks.”
The luxury brand CTO also emphasized, that flexibility agility enables technology that’s so seamless it seemingly disappears — while still enhancing the human connection.
“The technology should just blend, so you don’t even see it,” he said, “You can learn about an individual’s values, tastes and preferences, while you leave the technology on the side. If you can do that seamlessly, then you’ve done something right. And we’re way closer to that with some of these innovations we see tonight.”
Data — lots of it — is critical for this level of customer insight. But as Shirk stressed, “It’s not just data; it’s the ability to find the signal in the noise.”
To that end, the integration of the analytics powerhouse Splunk into Cisco platforms is supercharging data insights — for security, observability, customer insights, and much more.
“Data helps understand what customers are looking for next,” Shirk explained. “And what the Splunk data layer brings us is not just on the security side, but the opportunity to build a data infrastructure that can collect millions and millions of data points on a regular basis and start understanding how it’s changing shoppers’ online habits, impacting the products they’re looking at, and creating the ability for perfectly tailored shopping experiences. To do that you need the data, you need the power of the integrated platform, and you need AI.”
Cisco is creating its own AI-driven solutions — in security, networking, collaboration, and beyond — while building the infrastructure to support the heavy demands of its customers’ own AI innovations.
In retail AI, represents a massive transformation.
“AI to me, will have as big or even bigger a transformative effect on retail than the internet did,” said Kerravala. “I think it’s going to change the way you shop, the way you buy things, the way supply chain is managed – just about everything.”
To do all that, a secure, integrated, future-proof network is essential. So, Cisco is looking not just at where retail is, but where it is headed.
“The other network vendors should watch out,” concluded Laliberte, “because as Cisco finishes pulling all this stuff together, it’s going to be really powerful.”
