Cisco Systems Inc.'s push into the cloud and collaboration will force the networking professional of the future to tackle convergence and an ever-increasing domain. Convergence is the move of various applications, including communications like voice and video and even Software as a Service, to an all-IP infrastructure. The integration of these technologies with IP has happened at a dizzying rate, with networking leader Cisco's strategy not always making sense to those outside -- or even inside -- the company. "From the outside looking in, I didn't always understand why Cisco was looking at all the adjacencies they were looking at," said Cisco's newest senior vice president, Judy Lin, of the company's Ethernet switching technology group. "But after two months I really believe this strategy is all about accelerating productivity in an increasingly global economy. … It's all about helping people work together."