In a CSO-level exclusive discussion forum, Cisco in association with Dataquest, carried forward the Thought Leadership series for Security titled 'CSO Perspectives' on August 6, 2008, at Le Meridien, New Delhi.

The context was a three-city series on security, which had kicked off in January 2008 at Bangalore on the theme 'Creating an Effective Security Culture', where participants at the conference included Cisco prime customers from the ITeS vertical.

With high interest levels generated around the event (41 delegates had registered, though only 12 finally attended due to the suddenly inclement weather), the Delhi event drew CEOs, CSOs and CISOs from various customer organisations, who were invited after a rigorous analysis exercise.

The Delhi event focused on the theme 'Security and Business Resiliency' and featured Cisco speakers like Susheela Venkataraman (director, Internet Business Solutions Group,) who is responsible for strategy consulting for key clients of Cisco.

Hosted by Sandeep Raina, senior vice president, Cisco India North, the event featured noteworthy presentations, which focused on the linkages between business sustainability and security, such as 'CEOs' expectations from CSOs on Security & Business Resiliency from the Services' Exporters’ Perspectives' by Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGate Corporation and 'Industry Perspective and the road ahead for Information Security in India' by Dr Kamlesh Bajaj, CEO, Data Security Council of India.

The discussion on 'Security and Business Resiliency', which was moderated by Prasanto K Roy, President and chief editor at Cybermedia, and a highly-respected thought leader in the IT industry in his own right, offered a unique opportunity to identify and address some of the key priorities and challenges in the security space, specifically with reference to preparation for disaster management. It also highlighted how inextricable a well-thought out security plan was, for any enterprise to sustain business resiliency today.

In addition, the discussion was an excellent platform for decision-makers and those responsible for leading implementation.

This half-hour discussion brought together highly skilled and experienced practitioners along with thought leaders.

At the end of the discussion, a highly attractive offer for complimentary information security and assessment was opened to the attendees by Cisco and event knowledge partner, Ernst & Young. 75 percent of the delegates expressed an interest in the offer, which will continue to engage them with Cisco over the next several months.

Stay tuned for the VOD, which will be circulated in the near future!