At Cisco Partner Summit 2014, the networking giant is trying to flex some mobility muscle, especially when it comes to enterprise mobile app development for channel partners. Key to the strategy: Cisco’s new Enterprise Mobility Services Platform (EMSP) (available on premises or in Cisco’s cloud) plus an intense 802.11ac WiFi push.

“It’s no longer an IT conversation. This is all about empowering the business,” Prashanth Shenoy, director of marketing, enterprise mobility group.

Among the pirmary pieces of news, Cisco expanded its product portfolio to include:

The mobile push is part of Cisco’s broader Internet of Everything strategy — which aims to link and manage all IP-enabled devices while unlocking more business value for customers.

“Cisco has never really been in the application development space but we’re taking the conversation to a whole new level,” said Shenoy.

Partner Challenges, Opportunities

Hmmm… The big question: Will enterprise ISVs and corporate developers embrace Cisco’s SDKs (software development tools), especially when a long list of software savvy companies (Microsoft, VMware, Apple, Google, and the list goes on) is chasing the ISV market as well?

Cisco says partners will be key to EMSP’s success. Resellers will have access to new customers; integrators will expand their professionals ervices portfolio to buuld Mobile App solutions; and service providers will deliver mobile backend as a service (MBaaS).

It all sounds promising. But keep in mind: Every few years Cisco starts to talk (again) about an aggressive push into software. And so far, Cisco has yet to really establish a strong reputation in the software market…