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It’s been a long time coming, it’s true. It was long the #1 request I have gotten when it comes to Cisco’s deployment for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE): when is UCS going to have “FCoE Northbound?”

Now, at long last, I can confirm that the answer is right now.

I saw the announcement over the weekend, and before I had a chance to even sneeze out a tweet of my own, I was beat to the punch by a few other intrepid UCS fiends. The reaction was one of unadulterated joy and pure, rapturous bliss.

Or something close to that.

In all seriousness, from a storage perspective the one thing that has driven people crazy is the fact that the UCS Fabric Interconnects (FIs) could not continue with convergence upstream. It’s been the #1 question I’ve gotten as a storage Product Manager, and while I’ve long said that FCoE is not the panacea for the Data Center, I believe this goes a long way in making converged network even more realistic in today’s environments. Continue reading “UCS Multihop FCoE In Under an Hour”



Authors

J Metz

Sr. Product Manager

Data Center Group

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The Summer of 2007 brought big changes to my life. Not only did I move back to my home country after having a three year stint abroad in an Asia Pacific product sales specialist role, but over a course of a few months, I watched my United Premier status go from 1K down three levels to Silver, the bottom rung. While I appreciated not being on the road all of the time, the thought of standing in line at the airport again without the elite check-in line, fast pass through security, or time to relax in the United Club lounge made me dread my next trip.

Fortunately, there are airports out there who are striving to make the traveling experience efficient for their patrons, regardless of passenger status. Copenhagen Airport is working with Cisco and SITA to do just that – using the Wi-Fi network to gain analytics they can use to properly staff security, check-in, customs, and stores.

Check out the Connected Mobile Experiences page and this new video to learn more.



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Now that we covered how LISP Routing works in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, let dig into some of the things you can do with it. I would suggest you go back and read the first two posts if you are new to LISP since I am not going to cover that material again. So, lets look at three of the most popular use cases: 1) VM mobility, 2) IPv6 migration, and 3) smarter multi-homing.  I am going to cover the generic use cases, then wrap with some real-world customer use cases.

VM Mobility

Since it seems to be the hottest topic, let start with the mobility solution. From a networking perspective, there are a couple of things that are important with a live migration (ex. VMotion): we want to try and preserve TCP sessions (note: this does not mean “packets don’t get dropped”) and we want to maintain optimal routing (note to server folks: you too care about these things).  We would also like global mobility—basically the server admin should be able to move her VM wherever she want and not be constrained by IP addressing considerations.

Let’s build on the scenario we have been using in the prior posts, where we have a host 192.168.1.12 is chatting with a VM 172.16.4.7.  Assume that we have gone through the whole map-request/map-reply process, so we have something that looks like this:

Continue reading “Why You’ll Want LISP Routing – Part 3”



Authors

Omar Sultan

Senior Manager

Cloud Platform Solutions

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SAP announces support for Virtualized SAP HANA for non-productive platforms at SAP Sapphire/TechEd Madrid

On the final day of TechEd in Madrid, SAP announced that they will be supporting virtualization for Non-Productive SAP HANA systems. No other details were given surrounding this announcement, but this is a significant departure from their previous position as it related to SAP HANA. This should be good news for Cisco given that the Cisco UCS server platform was built from the ground up to host applications in a virtualized manner. As we work with VCE, EMC, and NetApp this will only enhance our position in the SAP HANA space

Cisco had an excellent presence at the event. There were almost 700 visitors to our booth as we had on display, FlexPod from NetApp, VBlock from VCE and IT Process Automation. In addition we had as many visitors to the SAP HANA Test Drive area where Cisco had the C460 SAP HANA certified platform.

One area that got quite a bit of attention was the SAP Precision Retail mobility application on the Cisco platform. I attended two sessions that were well attended by attendees at the conference. There were at least 40 to 50 attendees at each session. In addition, the application was on display in the SAP Mobility area. Cisco is the only hardware vendor that SAP has worked with on this particular application and will be actively selling this application as part of their portfolio.

Michael Missbach, who manages Cisco’s SAP competency center in Walldorf Germany, was the leader in two Microforums on Tuesday and third speaking session on Wednesday. The first was SAP on the Cloud and the second was a Microforum with TUI Travel’s (HotelBeds) CIO Mr. Garcia. Mr. Garcia was able to discuss his installation of SAP on Cisco UCS as well as his use of SAP HANA on the Certified Cisco UCS server platform and how this architecture design has saved him approximately 150,000 Euros a year.

Continue reading “SAP TechEd Madrid Wrap-Up”



Authors

Rick Speyer

No Longer with Cisco

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Cisco is dedicated to innovation as the path to growth as well as the key to sustaining our market leadership position. Our build, buy, partner strategy has always been driven by customer need and on capturing market transitions.

Today, we are excited to announce an important acquisition that addresses the rapidly occurring shift to cloud networking as a key part of Cisco’s overall strategy. San Francisco-based Meraki, a leader in cloud networking, offers customers on-premise networking solutions that are centrally managed from the cloud.

When compared to other opportunities, Meraki built a unique cloud-based business from the ground up that addresses the broader networking shift towards cloud, not just within wireless. Meraki created a massively scalable architecture that offers easy to deploy, secure, and manage networks. They didn’t obsess about the number of features, but instead focused on those that could be simplified or removed entirely.  Customers liked what they saw, and today they are supporting 20,000 customers and hundreds of thousands of network devices on their cloud platform. This has resulted in a business that is growing exponentially with great margins.

Talent is one of the most important components of every Cisco acquisition. Meraki’s co-founders, Sanjit, John and Hans, are true visionaries and leaders. The founders began with the technology, and then experimented with different markets – pivoting from a research project at MIT to a municipal Wi-Fi company to a leading cloud networking company focused on the midmarket. Along the way, they recruited experts and created a culture in San Francisco that attracted great talent. They have focused this team around a business model that combines a rapid development methodology tightly linked to a go to market engine.

During the course of our interactions, we quickly realized that Cisco and Meraki’s shared a vision of accelerating the adoption of cloud within networking as a means to simplify operations and enable new network applications. Sequoia Capital, an early investor in Cisco, also recognized the strength of the people at Meraki, and it’s great to see the technology ecosystem come full circle.

The Meraki acquisition is another example of Cisco’s focus on accelerating our adoption of software based business models. In fact, Cisco’s last seven acquisitions (Cloupia, vCider, ThinkSmart, Virtuata, Truviso, ClearAccess and NDS) have all been software companies. Cisco’s strategy is to take Meraki’s cloud platform and business model and scale this within Cisco as our new Cloud Networking Group, led by Sanjit, John, and Hans.

I am delighted to welcome the Meraki team to the Cisco family, and look forward to a prosperous and industry-transforming future together.



Authors

Hilton Romanski

No Longer with Cisco

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Last week, as part of vForum Australia, Cisco in collaboration with partners NetApp and VMware were pleased to host a media roundtable with Sydney Opera House and ME Bank in attendance to share their journeys as they roll out a Cisco, NetApp and VMware data centre platform.

The roll out of FlexPod is the latest initiative for ME Bank on a quest to improve efficiencies, increase customer numbers and provide better value to its customers over the next three years. Importantly, the data centre platform will allow ME Bank to quickly test new service applications in development environments in a matter of minutes. Previously, it would take weeks to create test and development environments. With the rise of social media, and smart banking applications this upgrade could not be more timely.

Continue reading “Cisco, Net App and VMware team up to transform ME Bank’s and the Sydney Opera House’s data centres”



Authors

Linda Horiuchi

Senior Manager, Australia and New Zealand PR

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” We do not see things as they are, we see things as WE are” – Anais Nin

A bias is a simplification that our brain goes through when we are in front of a situation we’ve been before. In that instance we rush decision and even behave inappropriately based on different elements like sex, age, abilities, workplace environment and so on.

Biasing people and situations is HUMAN, it’s a part of your brain that activates and respond to danger.

We just need to be aware of it so we can adjust our behavior accordingly: it’s very easy to fall into “fortune telling”  – e.g. I know what’s going to happen- and “mind reading” behavior , e.g I know he doesn’t like me .

How many times we’ve been introduced to new people and instantly categorized people in pre-built boxes.

What’s the impact in a working environment?

Well funny enough the first impression is the wrong one, most of the time.

It might have happened to you too, you might have underestimated somebody that later on revealed himself like a bless for the team, the ideal candidate for a job or somebody who became your best friend.

 

Today I want to tell you 2 stories. These are stories of people that have been impacted by the bias more than anybody else and have been shining for what they’ve done and the persons they are.

The first one is about a young lady, who achieved a senior marketing position very early in her career, got 3 degrees in business and suffers from cerebral palsy, a diseases that cause physical disability in human development. I’ll call her A.

A. has got a well structured career now at Cisco, but it has not always been like that.

She got several awards for her outstanding performance, but back in time she hardly imagined it could be so, as some individuals would have misjudged her capabilities on the workplace due to her physical condition.

Sometimes, movements for her are difficult and even a simple one like walking to the restroom from her desk, could be a challenge.

Flexibility to work from home and technology like video, did the trick. And the beauty of it is that she didn’t receive even a special treatment: she has exactly the same possibility as just everybody else.

Cisco employees are empowered to work from anywhere and from any device, while home or travelling on the train as if they were at their desk.

A. allowed Cisco Marketing to shine and Cisco trusted her and allowed her to make this possible.

The second story is about an engineer, his name is Sean.

He’s another successful Cisco employee working everyday on troubleshooting and configuring Cisco equipment. Sean is blind.

He has done several different jobs from developing camera films, to being a manager in a satellite networking company and now he is a multi-recognized engineer in cisco TAC.

Sean delivered a presentation to his team about what would have worked for him and what wouldn’t have worked and in short time he’s been able to successfully build strong relationship with them.

Of course technology plays an important role in Sean’s everyday job, but seen the result, does it matter?

Getting around the bias is about establishing a human contact, finding commonalities, reframing the situation, it’s all about people trying to understand other people.

At the moment, 1 out of 5 people is visually impaired and 70% of them are unemployed and among them only few have professional careers, like Sean.

Did you know that Louis Braille, Galileo Galilei, Claude Monet and even St Paul were all visually impaired?

Lesson learned is that when you are in front of a bias, you just need to be aware of it.

Sean and A. have had the guts to push themselves to their limits, working harder than anybody else and achieved success, nevertheless their physical condition.

They have taken the risk and have proven many people wrong, the very same people that didn’t trust them.

Meeting Sean and A. has been an enriching experience, they are special people with different perspective on the world, they certainly deserve all the success they are having and to shine as the brightest starts in the sky.

Hopefully their story is a confirmation for many and a discovery for few others.

My question to you is: how do you get yourself more aware of your bias behavior? And if you haven’t before, how are you going to control it?



Authors

Cristina Lasagni

Sales Collaboration Specialist

EBG EMEA Collaboration - Sales & Sales Engineer - UK Other

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Thanks to everyone who came by the Cisco booth at Educause 2012 in Denver. We appreciated the opportunity discuss how the Cisco Connected Learning Experience, enables colleges and universities to provide next generation learning environments and deliver education services more securely, reliably, and economically.

If you were not able you visit with us in Denver, take a look at the following videos and resources for more information on the demos we featured in the Cisco booth.

Mobile Collaboration with WebEx Web Conferencing

Teach, learn and collaborate from anywhere with WebEx on your iPhone, iPad or Android device. Meet face-to-face with new 2-way group video. Listen as Nancy Crouch, Deputy CIO, details how Wake Forest University extended collaboration with a campus-wide WebEx license.

Continue reading “Mobility, Collaboration and Cloud, Front and Center at Educause 2012”



Authors

Gary Serda

Senior Strategic Partner Marketing Manager

Global Partner Marketing

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All the players in the U.S. retail ecosystem today—mall developers, retailers, vending operators, and consumer product manufacturers—are facing key demographic, economic, and technological changes. The “new normal” world of retailing is challenging retail players to reverse vacancy rates and sales declines, create enhanced customer experiences, reduce labor and construction costs, deepen brand differentiation, optimize small urban formats, and justify investment in innovation.

In the midst of these challenges, three emerging, technology-enabled, self-service retail trends offer the glimmer of a new opportunity.

Continue reading “Digital Malls: The Next Generation of Self-Service Shopping”



Authors

Joanne Rachel Bethlahmy

Director, Retail and Consumer Goods Practice

Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)