The drummers weren't really needed. A Chambers keynote never fails to cover a blistering range of future technologies, shaking up the assemblage with visions of possible business futures.

"The network will converge, and will also become the platform," said Chambers, "and that's how we will deliver applications and services to our customers."

"Change makes a CEO uncomfortable but [IT] is an industry where you must change," he declared, "It's like a chess game: how do you protect your major pieces?"

"The way we generated profits two years ago will not generate them two years from now," said the Cisco chief. "You have to move 3-5 years in the future." Chambers also said that because Moore's Law dictated that price-performance doubles every 18 months, he feels that puts the onus on IT firms to sell twice as much equipment just to stay in place.

Chambers said that his firm plans to move into unified communications, leveraging both the converged networks that are a Cisco strength and the recent acquisition of set-top box manufacturer Scientific-Atlanta. He described unified communication as "allowing your customer base to communicate in means they're most comfortable with," meaning video, voice or text.