CISCO Island--CISCO© CEO and Chairman, John Chambers, announced in Second Life yesterday that CISCO© has made significant commitments to reduce the company’s green house gas (GHG) emissions 25% by 2012 and to work collaboratively with both its employees and customers to use new technology to deliver services and education. Though not directly stated, presumably meetings in virtual worlds are part of the plan.
Speaking from the CISCO© Live conference in Orlando, FL, Chambers appeared in avatar form in SL to make the announcement via a press conference at CISCO© Island. Taking questions from the audience, Chambers spoke about the integration of networks as key to reaching the announced goals, specifically with interfacing with customers and in the development of "communities of interest" to deliver goods and services.

 CISCO© is on the leading edge of technology with its virtual data centers and unique customer service delivery systems already. Utilizing "virtualization" (making multiple physical resources seem like a single resource) and live video support, CISCO© already delivers some of this to its customers.

The announcement today was significant both because it occurred in two places at once and allowed CEO accessibility in a public global platform like SL, but also because it recognized the alternatives to the traditional ways business is conducted in the world. It was the first time John Chambers had appeared before a live audience in Second Life. The press conference was delivered via media stream into SL with audience questions answered directly as they were asked.

"The company will deploy a unique multi-prong approach focused on the power of technology to meet its objectives and to demonstrate how customers can do the same," according to CISCO©'s press release. "In his keynote speech, Chambers discussed the transformative effect that IT can have on the world's environmental challenges and demonstrated Cisco's commitment to sustainability in its operations, culture, products and customer solutions"

Chambers answered a question about the barriers to vast networking and virtualization especially  regarding broadband limitations and governmental support of infrastructure. He said he saw that especially rural communities were being left behind by lack of infrastructure for broadband, and thought that Wymac and WIFI could be the solution to the problem.