For anyone interested in the future of computing, a chance to hear Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers talk about where he thinks the Internet is, and where it’s going, provides lots of grist for the mill.

That's why his keynote at the Cisco Live developer conference is the main event at the annual meeting. (So far, the product announcements at Cisco Live have been light. The big news on Monday was a slew of new conferencing devices and a cloud video conferencing service that seems squarely aimed at competing with Blue Jeans Network).

This is the 25th year that the world's biggest supplier of networking equipment has done Cisco Live, and if Chambers' retirement rumors are true, it might be the last time he gives this keynote. So it’s sort of understandable that Chambers’ address was a meditative affair, with the chief executive waxing a little nostalgic about the past.

As he walked through the crowd speaking on a wireless mic and techies around him snapped photos on their iPhones, Chambers put the current challenging market in perspective, noting the times that people prematurely foretold the demise of his San Jose-based company at the hands of newer entrants into the market.

"A few years ago, there was talk of Huawei and Avaya and Juniper eating our lunch," Chambers said. "Nobody eats our lunch. We can win together."

Yet make no mistake: This is a tough time for the networking industry. Chambers wasn’t shy about talking about the scale of change the company is seeing from things like cloud and software defined networking. Chambers said he expects the coming wave of consolidation as the lesser players are shaken out will be “brutal,” noting that he thinks that maybe only two of the top five companies will be relevant in five years.

Jon Xavier is the technology reporter at the Silicon Valley Business Journal.