Under the tagline "in it to win it", Cisco kicked off the 2012 edition of its global Partner Summit in San Diego this morning, where John Chambers, the company's chairman and CEO, made a number of announcements, including the consolidation of the vendor's 47 services partner programmes worldwide into a single one, the Cisco Services Partner Programme.

Chambers says "Cisco will be easier to do business with". "If you move to this new programme, you will make more money. That's our commitment."

He says that, a year ago, the company "got fat, added too many layers" and that led to frustration over not being able to move fast enough. So Cisco says it has reinvented itself and become leaner. "The minute you give up on thinking you have to be the best, you are already in trouble. We're in it to win it," says the CEO.

He also says he does not believe competition from vendors such as HP and Juniper is tougher than it was last year.

"We accepted competition, competition took advantage of that. Never again," says Chambers. "I wish I was a better person but I'm not. When they come after your profitability, we're going after them," he adds.