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In a previous blog series about interfacing with your ISP, I mentioned tools that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have, such as looking glasses and route servers, that can be used to verify their policies.  In this blog post, I want to examine some of those tools, but primarily I want to show how prefixes are propagating across the Internet. 

The question of prefix propagation comes up often when discussing how to develop an IPv6 address plan.  What happens if an organization gets Provider Independent (PI) space from a registry and then tries to advertise that prefix, or a smaller portion of that prefix, in a different region?  Will ISPs in that region filter the non-regional prefix?  Will they let the aggregate pass, but not the more specific prefixes? Continue reading “Where’s My IPv6 Prefix? Part One”



Authors

Jim Bailey

AS Technical Leader

Borderless Networks

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According to a Nielsen study, social media is no longer in its infancy.  No kidding.

During the November military confrontation between Israel and Hamas, social media played a very grown-up role.  What distinguished it from past politically-charged social media exchanges was the participation of state and pseudo-state spokespersons.  Official announcements were issued by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigade via Twitter and Facebook in near real-time.

  • The IDF announced the initiation of the military campaign via Twitter, and tweeted in caps that it had “ELIMINATED” Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari in an airstrike.
  • The Brigade responded with threats of retaliation; both sides posted minute-by-minute updates as the fighting unfolded.

The evolution of social media into an official communications venue should come as no surprise.  It follows a time-honored pattern of disruptive ideas and technologies gaining acceptability as they move into the mainstream.  The Nielsen Social Media 2012 study tells us that 30 percent of individuals’ mobile device time is spent accessing social media.  That qualifies as mainstream.

Continue reading “Bringing Up the Social Media Baby”



Authors

Jean Gordon Kocienda

Global Threat Analyst

Corporate Security Programs

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Last week I introduced our new Cisco Services framework to help guide your data center and cloud transformation – Cisco Domain Ten (SM). I also described the types of challenges you should be thinking about in the Facilities and Infrastructure layer, Domain 1.  Now let’s discuss the type of challenges that Domain 2, Virtualization and Abstraction, could present to you.  While Cisco Domain Ten can be applied to help you in any data center transformation, I’ll keep focused on showing you how Cisco Domain Ten helps illuminate your path to cloud transformation.

Domain 2 pic

 

Continue reading “Cisco Domain Ten: Domain 2: Virtualization and Abstraction”



Authors

Stephen Speirs

SP Product Management

Cisco Customer Experience (CX)

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I hear so much lately about innovation with virtually every company claiming that they are innovative. Is that really true, or is it yet another over used buzz word that has no substance?  I personally see little true innovation, just claims of being innovative (who would say otherwise, right?).  One way to determine if innovative is actually taking place is to ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Are you scared (just a bit)?
  2. Do you have more skeptics than advocates?
  3. If you fail, are there repercussions?
  4. How do you define failure?
  5. How much permission did you need to execute?

I especially like the skeptics vs. advocates question. It directly correlates to a safe zone that is easy to fall into. It’s where little innovation can take place – a black hole. Some of the best outcomes have occurred when there were few supporters (until it succeeded). Continue reading “Innovation Is a 10,000 Foot Free Fall”



Authors

Deborah Strickland

Former Social Media and Digital Marketing Manager

No Longer with Cisco

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In this episode of Engineers Unplugged, Cisco’s Josh Atwell (@Josh_Atwell) talks to WWT’s Jon Duren (@jduren) about his home lab, including Jon’s plan for expansion and wish list. Let’s watch:

Every home lab needs a spy gnome. With Josh Atwell and Jon Duren.
Every home lab needs a spy gnome. With Josh Atwell and Jon Duren.

Welcome to Engineers Unplugged, where technologists talk to each other the way they know best, with a whiteboard. The rules are simple:

  1. Episodes will publish weekly (or as close to it as we can manage)
  2. Subscribe to the podcast here: engineersunplugged.com
  3. Follow the #engineersunplugged conversation on Twitter
  4. Submit ideas for episodes or volunteer to appear by Tweeting to @CommsNinja
  5. Practice drawing unicorns

What’s on your home lab wish list this season? How does it impact education and training for you and your team? Join the conversation here or by following along on Twitter with @ciscoDC. Thanks to all–next week’s episode is the last of the season!



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A common refrain in the wireless world is “everything, everywhere”, but up until now there’s been one place wireless communications has not reached: underground.

When Virgin Media came to us with the opportunity to work together to design and build a Wi-Fi network that would bring mobile broadband to passengers of the London Underground subway system, we jumped at the chance.

Working together with Transport for London, the transportation authority for all London mass transit systems, Cisco and Virgin designed and built a Wi-Fi network that would not only bring a reliable broadband signal to London Underground’s stations, but would be robust and durable enough to withstand the less-than-ideal environment existing under the streets of London. Continue reading “The Mobile Internet Goes Underground”



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oVirt
oVirt

The oVirt Project continues it’s momentum in the coming year with a new workshop being hosted in Sunnyvale, CA, at the NetApp campus January 22-24. The workshop is a great chance to learn more about the oVirt project. There will be presentations on both using and operating oVirt, as well as design discussion sessions around the code which makes up the oVirt project. This workshop is a great way to get involved with oVirt and learn from the core developers who are building the oVirt platform.

oVirt is a datacenter virtualization platform powered by libvirt and KVM. The latest release of oVirt is 3.1, which came out this past summer. Cisco is a board member of the oVirt project, and has been involved with the project since it’s launch at a workshop hosted by Cisco in the fall of 2011.

If you’re interested in virtualization, please register for the workshop. And after learning about oVirt at the workshop, become involved with the project and the oVirt community.



Authors

Kyle Mestery

TECHNICAL LEADER.ENGINEERING

Office of the Cloud CTO

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Today, Cisco announced the 2012 findings from the annual Cisco Connected World Technology Report (CCWTR). Last year, CCWTR has found that, for about one third of Generation Y, staying connected to the Internet is just as important as air, food and water and two thirds would choose the Internet over a car! This year the CCWTR revealed that at the center of it all is the smartphone, which was identified as the single-most desired device for 18-30-year-olds globally.

We all have 206 bones in our bodies, but it could be argued that for Generation Y, the smartphone has become the 207th. In fact, 60 percent of respondents said they find themselves sub-consciously or compulsively checking their smartphones for emails, texts or social media updates. More than 40 percent would “feel anxious, like part of me was missing,” if they couldn’t check their smartphones constantly.

The smartphone is just about everywhere, it seems. Three out of four global CCWTR respondents said they use their smartphone in bed and more than a third use their smartphones in the bathroom. Enough said.

The need for these 18-30-year-olds to stay connected is stronger than ever and made me wonder just how far someone might go to keep that connection. I took to the streets of San Francisco with a cameraman by my side to find out and asked a few people just how important that mobile connection is for their lives. I asked some “Would you rather…?” type questions to see just how far some people will go stay connected.

How important is it for you to stay connected?

Join the conversation by following the #DataInMotion hashtag and follow Cisco on Twitter and Facebook for more “Would you rather…?” questions. Stay tuned for more video results from around the globe.



Authors

Jessica Williamsen

PR Specialist

Public Relations

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The holiday season is upon us, and if you’re like me, you can’t forget it with the traffic pick up as more folks are heading to stores to shop for friends and family after work.

This season, retailers are trying harder than ever to reach their customers, and given mobile device usage is going through the roof (with an estimated 16B devices by 2016), mobility is a communications vehicle  that venues are trying to leverage.

Cisco recently released a solution – Connected Mobile Experiences  – that helps organizations, such as retailers, engage customers through mobility with relevant content, based on where they are within the store. The solution uses real-time indoor location gathered from the  Cisco wi-fi network as well as key pieces provided by our partners.

You won’t want to miss seeing Connected Mobile Experiences in action at National Retail Federation 2013 in New York, January 14-15, booth #252. For more information, visit www.cisco.com/go/nrf.