Abstract: The session is intended cover some of the latest enterprise market trends in the field of networking and how some problems create real market opportunities. Specifically, a Cisco product called Wide Area Application Services (WAAS), part of the Advanced Technology division, will be discussed. This portion will cover what WAAS is about, why customers find it useful, how we had to overcome nimble startups and other competition. Discussion around product feature prioritization, quantifying return on investment, product life cycle, and questions around competition will be encouraged. The lecture is intended to cover topics in breadth rather than depth. It is intended to be an interactive session and participation is encouraged.

Short Bio: Vijay Iyer works as a Product Manager at Cisco Systems, San Jose. He is part of a product marketing team that built Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) - one of the fastest ramping products from Cisco's Advanced Technology division. It also won '2007 Cisco Pioneer' award, after competing with multiple products within Cisco - it was selected by Cisco senior management across multiple business units. Prior to Cisco, he worked at Opnet Technologies as a Sales Engineer selling their application and network management products, and before that, Ipsum Networks as an engineer developing routing management products. He graduated with a Masters' degree in Computer Networking from NCSU in 2002.