SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - October 30, 2007) -
Highlights / Key Facts:
Earlier this year, Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) invited consumers to share their
ideas for future telecom services and entertainment options through the
Connected Life
Contest. The most innovative and compelling entry would receive a
$10,000 grand prize, and 10 runner-up winners would earn $1,000 each.
From June 12, 2007 through September 14, 2007, contestants submitted more
than 600 entries describing how they would like technology and networking
innovations to improve their Connected Life capabilities. The entries were
judged by a panel of industry experts and winners were announced on October
30, 2007 in the virtual world of
Second
Life.
The
grand prize winning entry was submitted by Amir from Chapel
Hill, North Carolina. His vision of a Connected Life featured a "personal
digital butler" that would allow him to intelligently connect and control
all of his appliances and electronic devices via a central command console.
A simulated demonstration of Amir's idea was highlighted during the virtual
Second Life event. The following runner-up winners were also announced:
Rhonda (California, USA) -
Hide & Seek application;
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wDOMsjuYrEQ
Grant (Texas, USA) -
E-Medical card;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMcUXoB1aoA
Dean (New York, USA) -
E-music discovery & purchase
Erik (Ontario, Canada) -
My connected smart catalogue;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20w8FmH4sc0
John (Ontario, Canada) -
Affordable home monitoring system;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CgPcVfzVhA
Omari (Virginia, USA) -
Personal presence-based identity
Larry (Ontario, Canada) -
Home entertainment hub
John (California, USA) -
TelePresence for music production/events
Lincoln (Ohio, USA) -
"Cloud computer" service
Mike (Ontario, Canada) -
Proximity detector for kids
Some common themes were articulated across the hundreds of submitted
contest entries. At home, consumers wanted to converge and consolidate
control of their various home entertainment devices (e.g., TV, set top box,
stereo, DVR/PVR, etc.). At work, contestants wanted better real-time
communication and sharing of business-critical data. On the move, wireless
aficionados expressed the desire to access, share and personalize
entertainment and business services and content with their mobile devices.
Links / URLs:
-- Contest Page: www.cisco.com/go/connectedlifecontest
-- YouTube Community: http://www.youtube.com/group/connectedlife
-- Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16263451@N07/
-- Second Life Kiosk:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cisco%20Systems%201/87/133/30
-- Del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/tag/cisco%2Bcontest
-- Digg: http://digg.com/tech_news/Connected_Life_Contest
-- SP360 Blog: http://blogs.cisco.com/sp
Quotes:
Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group (Connected Life contest
judge)
"The future visions submitted by the winning contestants in Cisco's
Connected Life contest showcase a growing awareness in the need for easy
solutions to what are increasingly complex technology offerings," said Rob
Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "For too long consumers
have had to retrain to learn new technology and the experienced finalists
are generally expressing a need for the technology to better serve us
rather than what often seems to be the exact opposite. They dream for a
future where technology is intelligent, responsive, and even life saving
and we all likely share that dream and the hope that this future is on the
horizon. The companies that step up to these needs will define the world
of tomorrow."
Jeff Spagnola, VP of
Cisco service provider marketing (Connected Life
Contest judge)
"The creative Connected Life Contest entries we received confirm that
consumers around the world share our passion to create and experience the
next big things that technology has to offer," said Jeff Spagnola. "Our
global industry's drive for continuous innovation will bring many new
capabilities to market in the near future. At Cisco, we firmly believe that
the network will be the platform to help enrich our lives, secure our
communications and preserve our environment. We're excited to be part of
bringing people's Connected Life visions to reality."
Geography: The Cisco "Connected Life" Contest ("Contest" or "Promotion")
was Sponsored by Cisco Systems, Inc. ("Sponsor" or "Cisco") and was open
and offered only to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and
Washington D.C. ("U.S."), Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan
who were physically located in and currently residing in these countries,
and are thirteen (13) years old or older at time of entry (eligible
"Entrant").
Trackback URL:
www.cisco.com/go/connectedlifecontest
About Cisco Systems
Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
can be found at
http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks
of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other
trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective
owners.
For direct RSS Feeds of all Cisco news, please visit "News@Cisco" at the
following link:
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html
Contact Information: Contact Information:
Wilson Craig
Cisco Systems, Inc.
408-425-2524
wicraig@cisco.com