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Increase Profits by Making it Easy to Follow the Money

Hundreds of cloud service providers around the world are seeing businesses connect into their clouds in increasing numbers. You might think this goes into the category of a “good problem to have.” So growth that should be great news for the bottom line, isn’t yet because many service providers are simply unable to capitalize on this growth — their financial systems aren’t designed to support or scale for the cloud business model effectively.

The Need for Cloud-Enabled Financial Management
Cloud service providers are transitioning from a traditional datacenter hosting model, but their existing financial systems are built for more static IT environments, fixed pricing, and monthly billing cycles. Today’s cloud environment is 180o shift from that. Resources are now deployed on-demand, scale up and down dynamically, turn on and off at a moment’s notice, and span various platforms. And while this provides greater agility and flexibility to the customer, it also means they no longer have predictable costs. As a result, customers want real-time, self-service access to their bills and controls to keep their spending from skyrocketing.
Bottom line: traditional billing systems don’t hold up to the demands of today’s cloud.

Service providers need to let themselves and their customers follow the money in an efficient, quick way. Luckily, that’s now possible.

Help Customers Navigate their Financial Relationship with Your Business—No Matter How Complex or Dynamic their Needs Are
Cisco solves the unique financial needs of our cloud service providers by providing an integrated cost management solution for Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud (IAC) from partner, Cloud Cruiser. Cloud Cruiser for Cisco IAC is a financial management solution that contains a robust set of capabilities specifically designed for service providers implementing cloud solutions based on Cisco IAC.

Automated Multi-Tenant Invoicing
One of the benefits of Cisco IAC for service providers is the ability for customers to order and manage their cloud-based services from a self-service portal. Cloud Cruiser taps into Cisco IAC to capture granular usage data and apply the appropriate business rules and rates for each customer. Costs are rolled up accordingly by company, business unit, department, and user so that reports and invoices can be automatically created and distributed, providing powerful business analytics and drill-down capabilities to the people that need them.

Holistic Bill of IT
In addition to Cisco IAC, Cloud Cruiser’s cost management platform is extensible to Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) and most industry-standard public and private cloud platforms, databases, and applications. For service providers that want to bill for multiple services, such as help desk, software licenses, or other public, or private cloud services, Cloud Cruiser gives services providers a single reporting and billing solution to meet their needs. No more spreadsheets or manual consolidation of bills –service providers can now put their billing on auto-pilot and focus on their cloud business.

Profit Management
To optimize profitability, service providers need to be able to manage both the revenue they are receiving from their services and the costs associated with providing those services. This is where Cloud Cruiser provides unique value in the industry with its Cloud P&L. With granular insight into the profitability of individual services and individual customers, service providers can make informed decisions that impact their bottom line. If changes to pricing are required, Cloud Cruiser offers a wide array of pricing models that can be used to attract new customers or shape user behavior to influence profitability, such as promotional pricing, tiered pricing, SLAs, or discounts, to name a few.

Controlling Costs in a Dynamic Cloud Environment
For customers moving from static pricing models to dynamic, pay-per-usage models, how do service providers offer assurances to their customers that they won’t have unexpected cost overages? Cloud Cruiser offers customer-enabled budgets, alerts, reporting, and BI so that customers can manage their own spending at any level in their organization. If an unexpected alert is generated, there is a full suite of reporting tools to help identify problems and take corrective action. Putting cost control and reporting in the hands of the customers enables service providers to grown their customer base, taking advantage of Cisco IAC’s industry-leading scalability, without incurring massive administrative overhead.

The cloud market is competitive and service providers need the right capabilities to differentiate their solution to attract and retain customers. Cisco IAC and Cloud Cruiser provide a tightly integrated, full-service solution to drive greater value to your customers and maximum profitability to your business. It helps everyone follow the money all the way to the bottom line.



Authors

Joann Starke

No Longer with Cisco

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GregSmith Bio Photo3By Greg Smith, Service Provider Marketing Manager, Cisco

OK, so the title of this article isn’t totally accurate. Cisco’s 100G DWDM solution won’t work over barbed wire, or Cat-5 cable, or cotton string, but it will work on over 95% of the existing fiber in the ground, including systems that were designed to operate at 10 Gbps. Why is this important? Because 100G services aren’t just for large cities and international carriers. Even rural locations are starting to see Internet growth rates fast enough to justify the leap to 100G.

For example, to prepare for anticipated growth of IP network traffic, two independent communications providers in Wyoming recently completed a successful trial of a 100 Gbps optical connection. Silver Star Communications, based in Thayne WY, and Advanced Communications Technology (ACT), from Sheridan WY, completed this trial across 420 miles of existing fiber, over multiple networks in conjunction with Cisco in early April 2013.

While some Continue reading “Cisco 100G DWDM– Works Anywhere Over Anything”



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I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural signing of National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnership agreements yesterday. Key stakeholders in attendance included National Security Agency Director, General Keith Alexander, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Dr. Pat Gallagher of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and several members of the Cisco team.

Established in 2012 through a partnership between NIST, the State of Maryland, and Montgomery County, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) was conceived to advance innovation through the rapid identification, integration, and adoption of practical cybersecurity solutions. NCCoE collaborates with industry leaders through its National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnership (NCEP) initiative to develop real-world cybersecurity capabilities.

As a NCEP member and key collaborator, Cisco is dedicated to furthering the mission of securing cyberspace for all. As part of this ongoing commitment, Cisco has launched the Threat Response, Intelligence and Development organization, focusing key resources around cyber security, threat mitigation and network defense for our customers. Read a blog from our CSO John Stewart about this new organization and its charter here. Continue reading “Accelerating Real World Cybersecurity Solutions Through Private-Public Partnerships”



Authors

Gregory Neal Akers

No Longer with Cisco

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The Johnson City School District transformed its students’ learning experiences, teachers’ teaching experiences, and parents’ academic insights with BYOD applications, allowing them the freedom to learn and connect anywhere, anytime and on any device.

With wired Internet access readily available in each of the 11 schools, the district took its first steps into wireless Internet access in its elementary schools. The city teamed up with Cisco to implement its BYOD Solutions for K12 Education to advance the schools’ wireless networks. The flexible network access allowed teachers to use laptops in their classrooms, stream online video, and adopt testing applications that used iPods, tablets, and other mobile devices. The schools’ networks also addressed the previous network limitations such as security measures preventing access for students and guests. Continue reading “BYOD Solutions at Johnson City Schools: Improving Communications and Enhancing Information Access”



Authors

Kerry Best

Marketing Manager

Public Sector Marketing

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We first talked about the Mapping of Address and Port (MAP) method to handle IPv4 exhaust and the transition to IPv6 last week. MAP is based on two IETF drafts currently in the process of standardization in draft-ietf-softwire-map (MAP-E) and draft-ietf-softwire-map-t (MAP-T). The real advantage with MAP is that it’s stateless and doesn’t require additional hardware as traffic grows.   Continue reading “Cisco Fellow Mark Townsley: A Better Way to Deploy IPv6”



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Security is a tough nut that can’t be cracked by one alone—neither technology nor research, neither corporations nor start-ups, and neither products nor processes. None of these alone can crack the security nut. The most important part of the problem and solution is people! Nothing beats the efforts of few passionate people collaborating for a cause.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”― Margaret Mead

Users groups began appearing in the mainframe days as a way to share hard earned knowledge and began to proliferate with the microcomputer revolution of the 1970’s and 1980’s. During this time, hobbyists sought to help each other with their homespun wisdom on programming-, configuration-, hardware- and software-related issues. Prior to the penetration of the Internet, these groups gladly provided free technical support and helped users discover the personal computer and aided in the adoption of the PC in a major way.

The emergence and participation of the general public in the use of the Internet and coincidental rise of operating systems like GNU/Linux as well as the open source movement was further intensified by user groups. Such groups found a new place online to discuss these tools via mailing lists, bulletin boards and more. Once run only by researchers and computer geeks, hardware and software was being made popular among the general public through user groups. Continue reading “Embracing Security Related User Groups”



Authors

Sashank Dara

Engineer Technical Lead

Security Technology Group

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Until recently, the global media industry had been relatively stable, with a robust value chain and well-defined business models.

Today, multiple factors are tearing at the fabric of those finely tuned business models: new players such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Apple offer consumers new ways of accessing professional video content; technology standards are in flux; and regulatory and macroeconomic factors undermine consumer and investor confidence.

Last week, more than 90,000 media and entertainment officials from 150 countries descended on Las Vegas for NAB Show, the annual National Association of Broadcasters conference. I attended to share some of predictions for the industry that we have developed in the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). In particular, I spoke at a breakfast briefing for CxO-level executives about the impactful yet uncertain effects of four key drivers—consumer behavior, regulatory changes, technology, and macroeconomics—in an effort to better define their media-industry disruptions: Continue reading “The Future of Media: Four Key Drivers Altering an Industry”



Authors

Leszek Izdebski

Director, New Media and Web Services

Internet Business Solutions Group

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As mobile devices are increasingly part of our lives, whether or not airports provide wireless is increasingly becoming an expectation of connected mobile consumers. With all these passengers roaming through airports on their mobile devices, having an airport Wi-Fi network presents countless opportunities for airport business leaders to tap into location intelligence and analytics to optimize for planning layout, operations, and user-experience. One example could be using location analytics to differentiate the cost of advertising spaces in the terminal depending on how crowded a place is the billboard. And the shops and cafes are located in the terminal can not only track the number of visitors, but also to analyze the effectiveness of advertising. There are countless applications for the use of location analytics in the air travel industry, and Cisco along with our partner SITA are pioneering the way with Connected Mobile Experiences and Airport iFlow.

Having been at the Air Passenger Expo with SITA last week and following a series of customer discussions since then and in the weeks prior to the expo the awareness of location capabilities is ramping up very rapidly within the Airport/Airline industry.

  • Airports are looking to deliver value added services and customer experiences to their travelers, while getting enhanced insight and information that can deliver both operational and marketing benefits
  • Airlines are looking to also provide enhanced experiences to their passengers – enabling ease of movement, navigation, notification and alerts for gate changes etc..

Connected Mobile Experiences Continue reading “Location Services & Air Travel”



Authors

Brendan O'Brien

Director Global Product Marketing

Connected Mobile Experiences

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We’ve seen Cisco TelePresence making a difference in health care. Most recently, it helped connect Children’s Hospitals with the North Pole for the holidays, and now its uses have extended to saving lives.

There are few things in life that are more important than your health and the health of your loved ones. Lack of time has become a major factor in people not seeking out the medical care they need. Therefore, health care providers have had to keep up with this ongoing issue and find ways to ensure patients receive the care they need.

Oklahoma’s largest health care system, INTEGRIS was one of those providers. Faced with the challenge of delivering the quality they desired, INTEGRIS was looking for an effective way to connect hospitals throughout the area to increase employee collaboration and improve patient care. With the help of Cisco collaboration technology, Cisco TelePresence and Cisco Jabber, INTEGRIS has established a life-saving program that has decreased stroke mortality rates and increased access to health specialists.

Read more on how INTEGRIS is leveraging Cisco to drive innovation in health care: “Cisco Collaboration Comes to the Rescue for INTEGRIS Health.”



Authors

Julie McPherson

Marketing Manager

Enterprise Networks and Mobility