Cisco is holding its first big developers’ conference,DevNet Create, on May 23-24 in San Francisco, and the focus will be on the Internet of Things and cloud computing.
You won’t find mentions of terms more commonly associated with Cisco, like routers or switches, on this event site, though they’re there in spirit in that the conference is described as being “where applications meet infrastructure.”
You can learn more about DevNet Create via my interview with Susie Wee, Cisco VP and CTO of DevNet Innovations. But here are 5 basic things to know about the event if you’re thinking this might be a show for you:
THE STORY BEHIND DEVNET CREATE
The event has stemmed from Cisco’s online DevNet community, which provides free learning tracks on topics from collaboration to mobility to security, and offers access to Cisco APIs and other technologies. DevNet Create also has grown out of smaller DevNet workshop zones at Cisco Live events and DevNet Express programs run around the world by Cisco system engineers and Cisco partners. Cisco already runs successful gatherings for its sales people and has a new program in the works for the fall for its internal engineers.
THE AGENDA
As mentioned above, IoT and cloud are the two main focus areas for DevNet Create, and tracks will be broken down along those lines. Cisco-specific topics such as Jasper, Cisco IOx and Cisco’s Docker partnership will be discussed, but so will plenty of broader industry issues, including microservice network policy, the serverless future and indoor location analytics for retail. The actual agenda hasn’t been shared yet, but Cisco has revealed a number of speakers, including Wee herself, as well as Heptio Founder/CEO Craig McLuckie, AppDynamics GM Prathap Dendi and Cloud Foundry Foundation Executive Director Abby Kearns. Organizers’ goal is to have 80% of the content for the event come from outside of Cisco.
ATTENDEES
The conference targets IoT, cloud and enterprise developers and DevOps engineers. A limited number of registrations for Cisco employees will be allowed, but the intent is to have mainly non-Cisco employees at the event. Attendees will be coming from as far away as Europe, Japan and Costa Rica. No more than 450-500 attendees can be supported by the venue for this event.
DEVVIE
Just so you’re in the know, be aware that Cisco has an official DevNet chatbot dubbed Devvie. Proud papa Kareem Iskander has shared his heartwarming story about the two-year-old Cisco DevNet chatbot in this blog post and welcomes brainstorming about Devvie apps at DevNet Create. Oh, and Devvie has a Twitter account, too.
TwitterTHE COST
Cisco’s Wee describes DevNet Create as something of a “giveback” event for the company in that it’s not charging a whole lot to go. You can snag an Early Bird two-day full access pass for $100 by April 13. But even if you miss that limited availability offer, the regular price is $200. One day passes go for $125 apiece. This compares with more than $1,000 for other developers’ shows, like Google I/O. For your money at DevNet Create, you get access to keynotes, sessions, hands-on workshops, breakfast, lunch and happy hours. The event is being held at Bespoke at Westfield San Francisco Centre.
