I have a good friend named Jeff, whom I've known for several years. Since I met him, he has been the lead singer in a band, playing at various local venues and doing opening acts for medium sized groups.

Last week, Jeff and I had dinner at a spot in San Francisco. We talked about family, friends and our lives in general. When I asked him the question of, "Did you ever wish you or your band became famous?" Jeff chuckled and paused before saying, "Oren -no, I built a startup tech company, sold it and now do consulting for startups. The band is comprised of the founders of my original startup".

This anecdote highlights the fact that we are constantly learning. While we sometimes consider ourselves experts in a specific area, brand or topic, pleasant surprises like my conversation with Jeff can happen.

Speaking with our customers, partners and distributors it's clear to see they all are aware of our solutions in the Security space. However, many of them are not fully aware of our integrated portfolio and our deep capabilities in securing the business before, during, and after the attack.

Why is this of any value?

Because Cisco Security is winning awards. It was named Security Value Map Leader by NSS, highlighting the Breach Detection, Intrusion System and Next-Gen Firewall. In addition, Gartner placed the Intrusion Prevention System, Secure Email Gateways and Secure Web Gateways in its Magic Quadrants.

Following in suit, Cisco Security leadership has shown commitment to their strategy and direction -and industry experts agree. The SC Magazine gave Cisco its Best Security 2016 award and Best NAC Solution for ISE. The Piper Jaffrey 2016 CIO survey declared Cisco as the#1 Preferred Security Vendor.

Cisco has a high-powered Security arm. It's the most preferred Security vendor in the industry today that you never knew about. These awards should help change your opinion on Cisco Security.

The time to tap into this business is now. Your partners and customers understand the value Cisco provides in many areas, but Security will be a revenue driver for years to come.

So now we know Cisco Security is valuable, what makes it so important and what are customers concerned with?

It's called disruption. Networks are less secure than ever because of digitization, the Internet of Everything, the move to the cloud, and users bringing their own devices. Protection is top of mind and customers need it to stay protected.

The market is dynamic, and relying solely on top of the line products is just not enough. There needs to be an integrated architecture too, and that's what we have. Cisco is taking an architectural approach to security with best of breed products, architected to provide protection across all the attack vectors whether that's web, cloud, email, data center, mobile.

For Distributors:Learn more about Cisco's security strategy. Check out our new two page Security Overview, featured on Distribution Central and in the latest Distribution Reveal. Encourage your partners to share the Security Overview.

For Partners:Understand how our security solutions stop threats before, during and after attacks. And simplify the toughest security challenges and increase your security sales.

For Customers:We've got solutions for customers of all sizes. Get in the game and win with Cisco today.

Be sure to also check out the many security incentive programs and promotions we have to offer partners depending on their situation, and remind your partners to do the same.

Let's keep the conversation going. Connect with me on Twitter: @OrenCisco. And, feel free to leave any questions or feedback in the comments below.