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Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cisco president talks AI future: The networking giant's role in AI
Cisco (CSCO) president and chief product officer Jeetu Patel joins Morning Brief Market Sunrise with Ramzan Karmali to discuss how the company has found success in software despite its roots as a hardware company and how it's transitioning in the AI era. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief: Market Sunrise here. So we've been around for 40 years, we still power the internet, um, and, you know, networks, but we are so much more than that now because, uh, we're also one of the world's largest cyber security companies in the world. Um, we also, we acquired Splunk. So we have a lot of kind of data and log management and all of those aspects of the business. Collaboration is a big business for us, so WebEx, uh, and Telepresence, which used to be what it was known for is now, uh, you know, kind of a very immersive experience that you have in the rooms, uh, as you get into this hybrid work mode, uh, although it's nice to be in person. Um, and so, basically, uh, Cisco has moved from being a hardware company to now being over 50% in software revenues. Now, your, I'd say subscription revenues rather than software. So I was looking at your website and there's a banner on there which, um, promotes your, your presence in AI. Um, it actually says Cisco is where the hyphen ends and meaningful help begins. What, what does that actually mean? So, it's probably worth taking a step back on what's happening in AI so that I can then give you what we're doing. So, we are probably going through one of the most consequential shifts in the history of humanity and we are in the second phase of this AI movement. So the first phase was two and a half years ago, uh, you had ChatGPT that came out and you had these chatbots that were able to answer questions intelligently for us, um, and it, it kind of felt like magic, you know, uh, two and a half years ago. We're now at the stage where we're going to the next phase, which is instead of, uh, chatbots answering questions intelligently, we're going to agents being able to conduct tasks and jobs almost fully autonomously on behalf of humans. And this will fundamentally change, um, you know, kind of the entire throughput capacity per capita exponentially. So, what chatbots were probably 10 to 20% improvements in productivity, this will be 10 to 20x improvements in productivity, if not 100 to 200x. And so, I feel like there's going to be a massive kind of, um, you know, surge in productivity that will happen and these autonomous agents are going to be proactive in nature. Today, you see these autonomous agents that might operate for about 20 minutes by themselves. I think about deep research, you ask it a question, it goes out and does some work, comes back to you with a consolidated answer over time. It might be two days, might be two weeks, might be two months, might be two quarters. The longer the time it takes, the more progress we'll be able to have. And I, I feel like one of the most underhyped aspects of AI is this notion of, you know, original insights that can now be generated with AI that we could never generate in the past that can allow us to solve problems that we could never, you know, imagine. So then the question is, what are the constraints? Why it doesn't every person have the benefits of AI? It's because the one of the big constraints is infrastructure and one of the other big deficits is trust, people trusting these systems. On the infrastructure side, there's three big constraints, the power, uh, compute, and network bandwidth. And then on the trust side of safety and security. So if we get those pieces solved, we can really unlock AI, and that's what Cisco's in the business of doing is providing high scale infrastructure for the data center build outs, as well as providing safety and security. So just want to delve into those numbers you gave, those are, are they your own estimates in terms of? Those are just estimates of what I think is going to end up happening. Those aren't, you know, backed by any research or anything, but you can start to see and feel it because if you have an agent that's going to be able to automate a workflow versus you asking a question and getting a productive answer back, there's going to be a meaningful kind of uplift in, um, the throughput capacity per capita. So, this is clearly your way of trying to, you know, muscle in on the AI market. Do you think that will help you dominate AI going forward? I mean, there's a lot of competition out there or other companies who are trying to do the same thing, no? Well, so, if you think about the, um, um, where we are very unique is our networking friends don't really have a security platform and our security friends don't really have a networking platform. So the fact that we've fused security into the fabric of the network really makes us very unique. Uh, the other thing is, you know, when you start thinking about what is happening from these data center build outs, the way I think about is there's three big problems that we solve. The first problem we're solving is helping organizations build out AI ready data centers, right? The second big problem, and that's where all the digital workers are going to live. Think of it that way. The second big problem is helping make sure that organizations can future proof their workplaces. That workplace could be a campus, it could be a branch, it could be a home office, it could be a factory floor, it could be a store, whatever those workplaces are. We want to make sure that we can actually equip those workplaces for, you know, high performance, low latency, um, high energy kind of efficient energy consumption based, you know, networking and security. We're actually doing that. And the beauty is we've got the connectivity fabric to tie those together. So a human in a workplace can actually collaborate with an agent in a data center seamlessly, and all of that infrastructure should be resilient. Now to your question, how are we unique? Um, scale is actually what makes us very unique. Uh, and the second piece is, we've actually, so I was just recently about, I don't know, three weeks ago. So I was in the Middle East with, uh, with the President of the United States, with, um, with the Saudi government, with the UAE government, and we met all the world leaders over there. And we're starting to see that there's massive data center build outs happening in that region where you should expect Cisco to participate in that in a pretty meaningful way. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Livestreaming deadline is about more than convenience
State and local government have an upcoming deadline on live-streaming meetings. (Getty Images) Five years after seemingly everything went online during a pandemic, governments are still wrestling with how to make public meetings more accessible. And a July 1 deadline looms around the corner. Livestreaming is an important way to keep Hoosiers informed about decisions being made at all levels of government. And many city council meetings and state events have long been online. But with new technology also comes new concerns. Take the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, for instance. It had been regularly livestreaming meetings of various professional groups — from doctors and surveyors to nurses and plumbers. Some of the boards even allowed Hoosiers who needed to appear before them do so remotely. That saved upwards of five hours of travel a day for some residents. But then so-called Zoom bombings, which also came over WebEx, started to occur more regularly. We wrote about it in March. The 'isolated incidents' occurred during various professional licensing board, commission and committee meetings beginning in October 2024. Pornographic content was displayed during three incidents and KKK imagery was displayed during one. At the time, state officials said the incidents could be prevented and sent out reminders to all board, committee, and commission directors and assistant directors to enable the appropriate security settings when starting meetings. But four months later and there are still no livestreams or remote attendance for the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. That led to one member of the Indiana Pharmacy Board to express frustration at a recent meeting. 'As the consumer advocate on our board, I believe we are doing the public a disservice by not resolving this issue swiftly,' Kate Snedeker said. 'Requiring in-person attendance — especially for working families, caregivers, or out-of-state stakeholders — creates unnecessary barriers to civic participation and transparency. We should be making it easier, not harder, for people to engage with the decisions that directly affect their lives and businesses.' She said other states have figured it out. 'Reinstating secure Zoom access isn't about convenience — it's about equity and trust. When stakeholders have to take off work, arrange child care, or fly in from Texas for a 10-minute agenda item, we send the wrong message about accessibility and transparency and our willingness to serve the public.' Emily Cox, assistant director of communications for the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, confirmed that all PLA meetings were moved to being held in-person only because of the disruptions but promised that 'streaming will return by July 1 as required.' That brings me now to the July 1 deadline not only for the state, which theoretically should have more resources and expertise, but for local government. A recent Indianapolis Business Journal article looked at the challenges some are facing to meet a law passed in 2023. It requires state and local governments to begin livestreaming, recording and archiving meetings. The law covers public meetings held by state boards and commissions; elected school boards; county commissions; and county, city and town councils. Any other meetings held in the same room as those entities — such as a city plan commission or a board of zoning appeals — will also need to be livestreamed. I think the move ensures Hoosiers remain a part of the process. It is especially helpful for those working or who are physically unable to make it to meetings. But I would go further and recommend the General Assembly take the next step in accessibility. The Legislature set the standard more than a decade ago by streaming its daily sessions and then committee hearings. But not allowing remote testimony is still a missed opportunity. Lawmakers didn't even allow it during the 2021 session dominated by Covid-19, and still required that Hoosiers trek to the Statehouse to have their say. Livestreaming is about access and accountability, and both should be treated as equally important. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zoom's CEO explains how he balances work and family: 'I do not have a lot of hobbies'
Zoom's CEO, Eric Yuan, said he prioritizes family over work when conflicts arise. Yuan, who founded Zoom in 2011, said he delayed creating the company until his kids were older. He said that he watched all his kids' sports and dance practices when they were growing up. Zoom's CEO says he has two priorities: work and family. When they collide, family wins. On an episode of the "Grit" podcast published on Monday, Eric Yuan, who founded the company, said he doesn't have bandwidth for much outside his job and his wife and three grown children. "I do not have a lot of hobbies at all," he said. "Family and Zoom, that's pretty much it." Yuan said he wants to lead by example. "I tell our team, 'Guys, you know, there's no way to balance. Work is life, life is work,'" Yuan said. "However, whenever there's a conflict, guess what? Family first. That's it." Yuan founded Zoom in 2011 as a 41-year-old, after serving as the vice president of engineering at WebEx, which was later bought by Cisco. Zoom went public in 2019, and usage of its videoconferencing software exploded during pandemic-era remote work. Zoom is valued at $24.31 billion, with Yuan holding about 20% of its shares. Its stock is up 27.5% in the past year. On the podcast, Yuan shared an example where his duties as a CEO and father clashed. The company hosted a Christmas party in San Jose on the same night as his son's San Francisco basketball game. "I told our team I cannot make it on time, I need to finish watching my son's basketball game first," he said. He added that he watched all his kids' sports and dance practices and brings his laptop, but only worked when they were on the bench. He would return to watching when they got back in the game. "That's the reason why I have back problems today — because I was sitting there for way too long," he said. Yuan added that he wasn't happy for a year during his time at Cisco and wanted to build his own product. But he delayed founding Zoom because he wanted his kids to grow up and start middle school. He also avoided business travel until his kids left home, including for investor roadshows when the company was gearing up to go public in 2019. "I can use Zoom, giving me a great excuse," he said, adding that his chief financial officer did all the travel. Yuan said he is an "empty nester" now, and the only thing he regrets is not spending more time with his kids before they turned 15. Zoom did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Yuan is among a group of Silicon Valley leaders who are publicly speaking up about their roles as fathers. Last year, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian launched a podcast called "Business Dad" to talk about how men can balance being a dad with a successful career. "There's an opportunity here to normalize a different kind of masculinity," he said in an interview with People magazine last year. Lyft's CEO, David Risher, has also spoken about prioritizing finding a balance among work, family, and hobbies like reading. He told Business Insider earlier this week that he likes cooking and cleaning up with his wife and that he limits time on his laptop after work. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Public hearing planned for Spire rate case
Public hearings will be held around the state, including one in Joplin, for a rate increase filed last year by Spire, which provides natural gas to homes and businesses in Missouri. In November, Spire filed a rate increase request with the Missouri Public Service Commission that would raise company revenue by approximately $236 million annually, or about 14%. The utility said in a statement that for the average residential customer, the proposed increase would be approximately 15%, or $14 per month. Spire said its total request is to increase revenues by approximately $290 million, but about $54 million of the proposed increase is already being collected as part of the Infrastructure System Replacement Surcharge program line item that appears separately on customer bills. 'We're committed to safely delivering reliable and efficient natural gas service to more than 1.2 million homes and businesses in Missouri and doing so in the most affordable way for our customers,' Steve Mills, Spire Missouri president, said in a statement. 'We want our customers to know that even with this request, they will see bills that are slightly lower or unchanged compared to 2024.' In its statement, Spire said it proposes recovery of 'infrastructure investments, inflationary costs since its last case, increased costs of service, and weather and conservation impacts.' The company said it has invested nearly $1 billion to maintain and modernize service infrastructure, in turn reducing emissions and improving the safety of its distribution system. If approved, the rate increase would take effect this fall. As part of the rate case, the PSC is holding public hearings around the state, allowing customers to ask questions and offer testimony about the rate request. The hearings are attended by both the PSC and the Missouri Office of the Public Counsel, which represents ratepayers before the commission. Virtual public hearings will be held at noon and 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 3. To attend a virtual local public hearing by telephone, at the time of the hearing call toll-free 855-718-6621, listen to the prompt and enter the corresponding meeting number listed. For the noon call, the access code is 2866 775 5885; for the 6 p.m. call, the access code is 2867 463 1122. The password for both calls is 0107. To attend a virtual local public hearing by WebEx video, visit the website Participants also can download the Cisco WebEx meetings application on their mobile device, laptop, desktop or tablet prior to the hearing and join the meeting at the hearing time by entering the corresponding meeting number and password. Anyone wishing to participate in the WebEx question-and-answer session or make comment to the PSC during a WebEx hearing should register by calling 800-392-4211 by 5 p.m. the day before the hearing. In-person hearings will be held next week around the state, including St. Louis, St. Joseph, Kansas City and Joplin. The Joplin meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday in Corley Auditorium on the campus of Missouri Southern State University.
Sky News AU
06-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Skype shuts down for good - here are the best alternatives and how you can save your data
Pioneer video-calling site Skype has shut down after 23 years as other popular apps like Microsoft Teams and Zoom have swiped market share in recent years. Users of Microsoft-owned Skype were given just 24 hours to save their contacts, which could then be automatically transferred to Teams after logging in with their Skype username and password. Skypers could also save their data manually by going to 'Your Account' under 'Settings' on Skype. A prompt allows them to choose whether to export contacts, caller ID numbers or chat history. Then, click 'Submit Request' and 'Continue,' and finally select 'Download.' Microsoft did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment. While there are several comparable alternatives for those mourning the downfall of Skype, from Microsoft Teams and Zoom to Google Meet and WebEx, Skype's demise marks the passing of the early days of computer webcams and video chats. Best Skype alternatives For Skype users, Microsoft Teams might be the easiest platform to shift over to, since it's owned by the same company. It offers similar features to Skype, including one-on-one and group calls, along with messaging and file sharing capabilities. Unlike Skype, Teams was made to be used in a business environment, so its calls can include up to 10,000 participants. The free version has a meeting limit of one hour. A subscription costs between $4 and $12.50 a month. Zoom is another popular option, with the ability to include up to 100 participants for video calls and chat capabilities. It includes useful tools for work and school meetings, like notes, a whiteboard and screen-sharing. Users can record these meetings and download meeting transcripts. However, free meetings cut off after 40 minutes. For unlimited meeting time, users need to pay for a subscription, which costs between $13 to $18. Users prioritizing convenience might enjoy Google Meet, which is free and links directly to users' Google accounts and Gmails. Google Meet allows for up to 100 participants per meeting, and can record meetings and allow for screen-sharing. If a meeting has more than three participants, it cuts off after 60 minutes for free users. For unlimited time, users will have to pay for a Workspace account, which costs about $7 to $15 a month depending on the plan. WebEx is another similar platform, allowing up to 100 participants per meeting and offering the ability to record meetings and share your screen. It has a 40-minute time limit for free users, and paid plans cost between $12 and $22.50 a month. Other popular messaging platforms like Slack, Discord and Signal also offer video-call capabilities, though they can't handle larger groups and were not designed with formal business meetings in mind. Skype's downfall Founded in Luxembourg in 2003, Skype was the first platform to offer free computer-to-computer calls, soon updating after its launch to add video call capability. In 2005, eBay bought it for $2.6 billion in a massive deal for the time. That same year, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook was worth just $100 million. But just two years later, eBay took a $1.4 billion write-down on Skype and started to divest its stake in the video chat platform. Microsoft bought the platform for $8.5 billion in 2011. Skype enjoyed a brief surge of activity in March 2020 as quarantined individuals turned to the nostalgic video-calling site. About 40 million people were making Skype calls daily – a 70% jump from the month before. But Microsoft's own Teams, as well as Zoom, soon overtook Skype's popularity for video calls, especially in the workplace. In February, Microsoft announced it would shutter Skype on May 5, and advised users to transfer over their data. Originally published as Skype shuts down for good - here are the best alternatives and how you can save your data
