In the classic movie and the remake of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner," a humorous story evolves based on preconceived notions about culture and character. The news of major IT firms Cisco and Hewlett-Packard (HP) sponsoring part of the BuilConn Europe event in Amsterdam reminds me of the likely reaction that may occur in our industry at the thought of these giants coming to our dinner table.
These IT folks are enterprise masters. What CIO can run an enterprise without the aid of these two giants? This cultural clash heralds the start of our true convergence with the enterprise. Most of the action and talk in the past has been about our industry becoming part of the enterprise. This is one of the first events where the enterprise giants have indicated acceptance and desirability of our industry and as an integration partner. To share my understanding, read through the portion of press releases that I have extracted from our October issue of AutomatedBuildings.com: