In a few weeks Spring season will set in, and it'll be a Ripper Down Under. For the IT technology geeks there is plenty of action in store to celebrate the onset of Aussie spring. I am talking about F5 Agility 2016, that is about to rock Melbourne (Aug 16) and Sydney (Aug 18).

After making a big splash in Vienna and Chicago in recent months, F5's premier event is ready to rock and roll in Australia and herald the spring. Just last week, I was at F5 Agility, Chicago. It was an electrifying experience meeting customers and partners of Cisco and F5 and culminating in a powerful guest keynote by Mike Ditka, the legendary football coach and TV commentator. Mike's passion to help individuals attain their personal and professional goals is totally extra-ordinary and most of us attendees were privileged to listen to him that day. That speech has super charged me to last for a long time, and in that mindset, let me switch context to F5 Agility, Melbourne Aug 16, and Sydney Aug 18.

The agenda for both these events are identical. We have a packed set of activities from early morning till late evening. We are going tohear F5's leaders, customers, and partners share how the latest solutions from F5 are transforming what's possible for today's organizations. In about two year's time CiscoACIand F5 partnership has demonstrated significant success in our joint solution momentum and customer adoption. I am pleased to invite you all to attend this premier industry event in Australia and get insights on howF5 and Cisco are bringing the power of cloud, security, data centers, converged systems, and as-a-Service together to enable fast, efficient, and secure application delivery in today's challenging hybrid environments.

F5 Exec and EVP of Worldwide Sales John DiLullo will deliver the keynote, articulating the Cloud story, in particular highlighting how an app-centric strategy helps companies maintain control over applications in the cloud by extending the same availability, performance, and security services across environments. Joining the keynotes from Platinum sponsors Cisco and Intel is Hugh Ujhazy, IDC's  Associate Vice President of Australia Research who will present findings from local research on attitudes to Cloud adoption etc. We then have an F5 customer presenting on how they have transformed their strategy, infrastructure and ultimately their organization to take advantage of the Cloud.

Following the keynote, Cisco Exec Daniel McGinniss will be hosting the Plenary, Platinum Sponsor session titled "Deliver Application Agility with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)", 11.00 am local time. What's unique about this Breakout Session?  Daniel will discuss the challenges companies face to achieve successful digital transformation, and how the ability to develop, deploy, and fine-tune applications is critical in that journey. Daniel will then introduce Cisco ACI, an open, scalable, programmable SDN solution that helps address these infrastructure challenges. Then he will illustrate how Cisco ACI enables rapid application deployment, reduces cost and complexity via a unified policy approach, delivers compliance, and accelerates customers along their cloud journey. Daniel's session at Chicago on this topic was a sell-out one and was rated as one of the top sessions at the event. So, do not miss his session.

For the technically oriented among you, we also have a number of technical breakout sessions hosted by F5 and its Partners. These sessions cover Security, Cloud in detail along-with other emerging Data center topics.

That is not all. Cisco ACI brings you additional customer engagement opportunity in the solutions expo hall. We are featuring cool demos showcasing our joint solutions namely, ACI -F5 BIG-IP and ACI -iWorkflow on both Aug 16 and 18, during the expo hours. Stop by the Cisco booth where product experts are available to engage in white-board illustrations to give you a deep-dive. Should you desire, we are happy to meet you in 1-1 meetings, so let us know how we can enrich your experience at the event

For all the hard work we all do at the event, there is plenty F5 offers to let us relax and enjoy. Rounding off the event, will be a networking reception in the solutions expo featuring live music and a sample of the best of local Australian produce! As for me, I am planning a visit to the Opera House, Bondi beach, Eureka Skydeck to name a few.

I am eager to see you all in Australia next week. There are some useful links for you to check out before your visit on how Cisco ACI and F5 work together on the innovation front.

For more information, Visit www.cisco.com/go/acif5

https://interact.f5.com/Agility2016ANZ-KeySpeakers.html