The Great American Eclipse and how tech has evolved over the years

The stretches of time between each total solar eclipse can be years, even decades. The last total solar eclipse that occurred in the contiguous United States happened in 1979, and finally the celestial alignment will be coming back in full on August 21, 2017. On this day, the moon will eclipse the sun, and people across the country will be able to witness the phenomenon.

This total eclipse is special because the moon will block out the sun more completely than a usual annular eclipse. This incredible event of the moon and Sun's orbits lining up just right happens only two times a year .

Oregon Live reports that if you're unable to catch the eclipse on August 21, the United States will see another total solar eclipse in 2024, passing from Texas through New England.

The next bicoastal eclipse that will pass from California to Miami will occur in August of 2045.

Time and tech

Total solar eclipses can be a great marker of time and a check-in to see how our world has evolved since the previous one. How might people in 1979 have dressed, how might they have heard about the eclipse, and what kind of technology were they using?

For example, Cisco didn't even exist in 1979.

But Cisco's heritage archive is a room within the company's San Jose campus that holds landmarks of Cisco technology, from its early days as a brand new start-up in 1984 until now. Original AGS routers, gold-plated IP phones, and Catalyst router t-shirts outfit the room, physically representing the huge innovation of the time as well as the evolution in technology.

Cisco continues to disrupt technology for the future as well—retail stores in particular can be digitally transformed through signage, risk management, and business intelligence. Click here to see how Cisco Digital Network Architecture is fully changing the store experience for businesses and customers for the future.

Another future-focused technology that Cisco is working on is Infinite Video, which uses the Cisco Infinite Video Platform to give viewers the best video experiences over IP. Along with broadcast video quality, Infinite Video also gives users personalized experiences as well as reducing the cost of delivery per subscriber.

So what might the world look like during the next total solar eclipse in 2024, or even in 2045? With the way technology is changing exponentially, we can only wonder.

Check out how Cisco is innovating, our future predictions for Internet usage, and what experts believe is next in tech.（From CISCO）