Smooth!

Cisco celebrated its 20th anniversary yesterday with a Carlos Santana concert for its employees. And I got to go with my roommate. It was held at the HP Pavilion is San Jose. After parking rather comfortably and rushing to get away from the rather chilly and windy weather, I actually noticed how huge the Pavilion was! Inside was this humongous sea of humanity that is Cisco. People were milling around trying to get food before they entered the seating area. We finally managed to get outselves an excuse of a dinner and entered. For a second, it reminded me a little of Nehru indoor stadium in Chennai, only, of course a lot bigger. It has a capacity of about 20,000! It was very fancy, lights and all.

John Chambers delivered a speech. He said something to this effect: "Being on top is not about age or anything else, it is a state of mind". Cisco went from $70M (when Chambers joined) to $22B today. Amazing. And then Santana came on and let the music happen. It was awesome. Very foot-tapping music. Most people on the floor were on their feet. You could feel the drums throb inside you. And yes, he did perform some numbers from his Grammy-guzzling "Supernatural". What it is to play an instrument like he does! (sigh)

So I say Thank You for the Music.