This week, the Irish Prime Minister, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, will meet with John Chambers, CEO and Chairman of Cisco, at our global headquarters in San Jose, California. Central to their conversation will be the topic of change, and the huge number of benefits all sectors of society, not just the IT space, will realise as we embrace the next phase of the Internet, the Internet of Everything (IoE).

One key area identified as seeing the biggest benefits first will be healthcare, a topic particularly relevant in Ireland with the digitalisation of public sector services central to the Irish Public Sector Reform Agenda. One country already laying the foundations to experience these benefits first hand is Israel, which in cooperation with Cisco has embarked on a radical digitalisation agenda to drive innovation and ultra-high speed broadband throughout the country through the adoption of Fibre to the Home (FTTH). The conversation between Kenny and Chambers will no doubt draw on the clear parallels between this immensely successful project and the recent Irish Government announcement of a joint venture between Vodafone and the Electricity Supply Board (ESB), a key semi-state organisation.

Central to a discussion on the changing nature of voice and video communications and the ambition of the Irish Government to make Ireland a leader in Cloud Computing will be the existing Cisco investment at the Research and Development Centre in Oranmore, Co. Galway. The continued support of over twenty Cisco Networking Academies in educational institutions across the country underpins Cisco’s commitment to developing the skills needed by the next generation workforce to capitalise on the IoE. Consistent with other global companies, Cisco acknowledges the qualities graduates can bring to our workforce, our extensive connections with the academic community and the ease with which it is able to do business in Ireland - enabled by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA), the Irish Government agency responsible for foreign direct investment.

Chambers will also look to acknowledge the importance of Ireland becoming a key instigator in the Internet of Everything. Capitalising on innovations already coming out of Ireland, new developments from the IDA and a strong indigenous and multinational software sector, Ireland has a real opportunity to lead the way in a revolution which brings together people, process, data and things to make network connections more relevant and valuable than ever before.