Agenda Setters: Where are they now... John Chambers

As the countdown begins to silicon.com's ninth annual Agenda Setters poll of tech's 50 most influential individuals, it is time to look back at those who held top 5 positions in 2007. Today we catch up with last year's number four, John Chambers.

John Chambers continues his tenure as CEO of networking infrastructure company Cisco - a role he has held since 1995, and a powerful position at the heart of internet development which has helped make him a regular on the silicon.com Agenda Setters list.

This is the age of internet addiction, after all; no one is about to kick that habit.

Chambers was ranked fourth in last year's list, with the panel lauding the company's focus on web 2.0 developments. The CEO has described web 2.0 and collaboration as "the biggest drivers" for Cisco over the next five to 10 years. Meanwhile the rise of cloud computing is another development that plays into its hands.

Giving a keynote at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona earlier this year, Chambers predicted: "Everything will be viewed as a service. Not just software as a service… service as a service, bandwidth as a service, compute power as a service, storage as a service - changing business models at a speed we've not seen before."

The network really is becoming more important than ever for enterprise - which is good news for Cisco.

Society at large is also increasingly plugged in, with its love of social networking, penchant for on-demand rich internet content and desire for more flexible and mobile working. Throw in eco pressure to reduce travel by deploying high-end comms tech such as telepresence videoconferencing and Cisco's vision of a web-enabled, always-on, near virtual world is practically upon us.

Last year Chambers suggested he'd like to remain in Cisco's top seat for some five more years. So, in the near term at least, he is something of an immoveable feast at Cisco. And probably therefore on the Agenda Setters list too.

silicon.com readers judged Chambers' 2007 rank one place too high, voting him down to fifth but still keeping him well within the top 10. And while 2008 has not been a particularly stand-out year for Cisco or Chambers, it has been a year where the world got a little closer to the company's vision.

silicon.com's Agenda Setters panel, made up again of CIOs, analysts, VCs, consultants, lawyers, academics and other experts, convenes in September. Stay tuned for the results - to be revealed at the beginning of October.