2013 - Page 166 of 232

April 8, 2013 1 Comment

OpenDaylight: The Start of Something Big for SDN

So, after weeks of biting my tongue through what seemed like a constant drip of leaks and rumors, we can finally take the covers off OpenDaylight. So, lets cover some of the basics:

What?

OpenDaylight is an open source project formed under the Linux Foundation with the mutual goal of furthering the adoption and innovation of Software Defined Networking (SDN) through the creation of a common industry-supported framework–essentially we are building a open source SDN stack.

Who?

This is the cool part–the Project has drawn members from across the industry. Its actually been pretty interesting working with all these companies towards a common goal over the last few weeks–kinda like an all-star team. This is an open project, so any company can join the project at any time and any developer can get involved.

When?

Continue reading “OpenDaylight: The Start of Something Big for SDN”

Omar Sultan

Senior Manager

Cloud Platform Solutions

April 7, 2013 1 Comment

Cisco UCS Management and the Microsoft Management Summit 2013: Where Imagination Rules the World

Rex Backman

It’s late Sunday night in Las Vegas as I write this from my hotel room – Cisco’s day one MMS 2013 blog post. It has been a long day already here at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center getting set up for the show… Our Cisco booth is complete; UCS, Nexus 1000V, FlexPod, and VSPEX Engineers have their demos loaded and ready to go; the always popular Cisco t-shirts are stocked and ready to be handed out; the Event team is here and primed.

Over dinner tonight I was mulling over with my core event team what to write about in this blog. For some reason, and I forget why, we had been discussing Napoleon at the table. So, I started searching for some famous Napoleon quotes that might apply to technology, I.T. management, and Cisco’s activities at MMS 2013.

I found this quote from Napoleon Bonaparte: “Imagination rules the world”. Those four simple words are so very true when it comes to the power inherent in Cisco’s Nexus 1000V and UCS management capabilities. We’ve all learned about the powerful hardware architecture of UCS – with its modular approach to helping you deliver a modern datacenter for compute, networking, virtualization, and storage. I think at MMS 2013 though people will see the imagination, and innovation if I can add to that, of what Cisco UCS Manager and Nexus 1000V Engineers have delivered for Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1.

Cisco’s management portfolio is focused on doing what we know best – managing the compute, network, and virtualization infrastructure layers. We partner in the most complementary way with Microsoft’s System Center management portfolio. Together we offer a true ‘better together’ model affording end to end management ranging from the hardware chassis to the business transaction.

So, if you are at MMS 2013 this week, check us out in booth #501. We’ve got a set of demos anchored by Nexus 1000V and its integration into the Hyper-V Extensible Switch as well as a strong set of Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco PowerTool for PowerShell demos. Completing our demos is kiosk’s devoted to our private cloud solutions with our strategic partners NetApp and EMC respectively FlexPod, VSPEX.

If you are not at MMS 2013, we encourage you to check out our Microsoft capabilities at www.cisco.com/go/microsoft.

Rex Backman

Senior Marketing Manager, Big Data Solutions

Data Center and Cloud

April 5, 2013 2 Comments

EG: Inspiring Speakers Who Will Make You Rethink Learning

Victoria Ryan

The deadline for the upcoming EG Conference, Learning is Everything—and Everything is Learning, is around the corner on April 11. Check out the amazing and inspiring speakers – scientists, explorers, inventors and artists – who will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about learning. Click here to learn more.

Victoria Ryan

1 Comment

Learn About the Power of Integration at Hannover Messe 2013

Kevin Davenport

This Monday is the beginning of Hannover Messe Faire noted by companies and organizations as the world’s premier industrial technology showcase. This years Faire has a clear focus on core technologies and services that enable industrial production, innovation and efficiency.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Cisco will feature our industry leading technology and product solutions that empower “The Integrated Industry” in Hall 8, Stand D14. In addition, there will be many Cisco Subject Matter Experts in attendance to discuss topics that are specific to your business and technology imperatives.

Integration and convergence is the core value proposition that Cisco brings to the market. The theme of our booth is “Cisco Is Making the ‘Integrated Industry’ Real Today.” We will showcase how our customers are deploying:

Integrated and validated architectures supported by a broad portfolio that works seamlessly and securely
Integrated industrial networks and information technology networks (OT/IT)
Integrating machines on the factory floor, datacenters in the core, and applications in the cloud
Integrating the entire manufacturing value chain from R&D, to supply chain, to operations and logistics

If you aren’t one of the 250,000+ attending Hannover Messe Faire from April 8th – 12th….. not to worry. We will be providing live updates from the show floor. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, “Like” us on Facebook, check out our videos on YouTube and join our LinkedIn group

Cisco is uniquely positioned to help customers develop a robust, resilient, secure, future-ready and cost effective converged network infrastructure for their factory and business applications. Our displays will demonstrate our differentiation, and Cisco’s ability to integrate the functions and applications throughout the entire manufacturing value chain.

See you at the show!

Kevin Davenport

Cisco’s Global Solutions Manager

Industrial Intelligence

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Getting the Insiders’ View of Social Media

Elizabeth Houston

Did you happen to catch the Let’s Chat! #ciscosmt Social Media Training Series executive panel USTREAM broadcast on Wednesday April 3^rd? It was the first installment of an ongoing series we will provide through regular Twitter chats and occasional video chats.

Side Note: In between Wednesday’s executive panel broadcast and our next Twitter chat, taking place in June, we have a robust Social Media for Savvy Marketers Conference coming up on April 18^th and 19^th. It’s free and available both in-person and online. Join us, registration is still open! And follow #ciscosmt and #socialsavvy for more details.

From behind the scenes, we had a feeling this chat session would be eye-opening and would really open the door to having more transparent social media conversations in the future. It was enlightening to see the level of candid insights, personal experiences, and fresh perspectives shared by @JeanetteG @ChandlerCisco @CiscoSheila and @lanceperrycisco.

For those that viewed the broadcast and/or participated in the social conversation, what did you think of it? And were there any “ah ha” moments you walked away with afterwards?

After voraciously taking notes and tweeting during the broadcast, here are some of my key takeaways. (These are in addition to the great Top 10 Tips for Executive Social Media @CiscoSheila shared with us.)

Social media gives executives a new way of conducting business, building reputations, and developing stronger relationships by accessing real-time feedback, receiving validation, and uncovering new ideas.
It’s important to keep in mind the value of internal and external social media channels and opportunities; creating internal opportunities to build communities and collaborate in new ways may take time to adopt, but will enable companies to move forward more efficiently and effectively.
Learning about social media and the ways to leverage it, help executives to not only keep up with trends, but to stay relevant with different generations.
Setting goals upfront and really understanding the purpose around using social media, specifically for an executive and for the company, will go a long way at being successful in leveraging it.
Social media can be a powerful channel for direct access, both by executives/companies and also by customers and other audience members.
It’s important for executives to show their personalities, projecting something about themselves and being authentic.
Embracing internal social media tools is a journey across the organization; understand that it’s dependent on changing behaviors–some will gravitate quickly, while others may take longer to adopt.

Here are some quotes I especially liked from the panelists:

From @lanceperrycisco: “The world is flat thanks to social media (not really of course), but it is an equalizer where we see contributions from everyone.”
From @CiscoSheila: “Mobile first! The combination of mobile and social is what helps us stay connected and provides executives with quick and immediate responses.”
From @ChandlerCisco: “Basic [social media policy] rules: courtesy, honesty, and respect.”
From @lanceperrycisco: “leaders don’t give the message, they are the message. Use the capabilities and the team will too. Those that don’t use them, do not have a strong social media presence.”
From @CiscoSheila: “Thought leadership comes from all levels of the company. With the rate of change in business, everyone is still figuring it out; use your whole network and help accelerate thinking.”
From @ChandlerCisco: “[Internal] social media becomes ‘the’ mode of communication, the only way to communicate. Get people involved, even using incentives at the beginning if needed.”

For those that could not make it, it’s definitely a must-see. Between all of the points of view, experiences, and roles, it really gave a good insiders’ view of what executives think about social media. We would love to hear your feedback regarding the session and potential topics you would like to hear more about and participate in as we move forward. I look forward to reading your comments!

If you have any questions or are interested in other types of social media training, check out our new complimentary Cisco Social Media Training Program and follow the #ciscosmt hashtag. To request customized one-on-one team training sessions, email ciscosmtraining@external.cisco.com.

Elizabeth Houston

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When Oracle User Groups “collaborate”, Great Things Happen

Chip Lawson

While some may be wary of the number 13, for 3 Oracle user groups (IOUG, OAUG, Quest Intl.) 13 is a measure of success for their joint (collaborative?) conference “Collaborate”, next week in Denver. Now in its 13th year, the 6000 attendee strong Collaborate is the world’s largest independent Oracle user group gathering. And Cisco, along with our storage partners NetApp and EMC will be there demonstrating a breadth of Oracle infrastructure solutions (check Cisco activities and major speaking sessions here)

In addition, Cisco is the sponsor of both the Women in Technology reception and Women in Technology panel discussion. Cisco CEO John Chambers has made news recently with his women’s initiatives at Cisco, so extending that support at Collaborate 13 is a natural.

Cisco will have a large presence in the Collaborate 13 exhibit hall and will also have multiple conference sessions highlighting how Cisco Unified Computing System has been winning the hearts and minds of Oracle users around the world. Whether the Oracle user wants to “build their own” custom system or buy a preconfigured and fully tested “converged infrastructure” solution, or anything in between, Cisco and its Oracle eco-system partners have an answer.

Here are some examples of customers who deployed Oracle solutions with Cisco Data Center architecture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYTIwm63pSs

Continue reading “When Oracle User Groups “collaborate”, Great Things Happen”

Chip Lawson

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Broadband for Development: Taking it to the Next Level

Robert Pepper

The United Nation’s (UN) Broadband Commission for Digital Development has clearly demonstrated the link between broadband and achieving the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The UN set out these important goals for global development in 2000 with a target for 2015. With one thousand days left, it is time to focus on what is next.

Today the UN Broadband Commission outlined the importance of broadband and urged the UN’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons in an open letter to include broadband as they develop the UN’s post-2015 development agenda.

The Broadband Commission is led by chairs and co-chairs, Hamadoun Toure (Secretary-General of the ITU), Irina Bokova (Director-General of UNESCO), Paul Kagame (President of Rwanda) and Carlos Slim (CEO of Grupo Carso).

This is a major step in the right direction to increase the awareness and importance of broadband to global development, especially for the billions of people in the developing world.

Broadband and the MDGs (from the “State of Broadband 2012” report)

Robert Pepper

No Longer with Cisco

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Cross-Site Request Forgery Attacks and Mitigations

Panos Kampanakis

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks: there are already enough articles out there that can explain what a CSRF attack is and provide potential examples. There are also plenty of security alerts that have been released by various vendors whose products are affected by CSRF-related vulnerabilities.

CSRF attacks usually target web applications and attempt to make unwanted changes on server data or extract sensitive information from a web application. Attackers do this by luring an authenticated user into making a specially crafted web request. It’s important, regardless of role, for everyone to have a basic understanding of CSRF attacks and the available options to protect against them.

For more information about basic CSRF concepts and potential mitigations, see our new Applied Mitigation Bulletin Understanding Cross-Site Request Forgery Threat Vectors. Although this document does not attempt to provide all the technical details associated with CSRF, it does aim to summarize the CSRF technique and provide methods that can be potentially used by developers, network administrators and users to protect against CSRF attacks.

For all things related to Security don’t forget to visit the Cisco Security Intelligence Operations (SIO) Portal—the primary outlet for Cisco’s security intelligence and the public home to all of our security-related content. Just go to cisco.com/security.

Panos Kampanakis

Product Manager

Security & Trust Organization

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Tapping in Women Tech Talent: Our Opportunity!

Monique Morrow

On March 27 2013 I had the opportunity to participate at Cisco’s Women in Technology Forum with the theme, “Think Big, Play Big!”

The event was particularly poignant as it was held under the publicity from Sheryl Sandberg’s provocative book and movement “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead”

Our CEO John Chambers kicked the Forum off with a welcome video. There were 41 Cisco execs at this venue and what can I say, an excellent start! Moving forward, I am excited that Cisco will be active globally in the celebration of Girls in ICT Day on April 25 2013. Further, I will have an opportunity to represent Cisco at the afternoon session, European Parliamentary hearing on Women in ICT.

The topic that I will address is most relevant today , “Women in ICT Careers, How to Explore Female Talent?” Continue reading “Tapping in Women Tech Talent: Our Opportunity!”

Year: 2013

OpenDaylight: The Start of Something Big for SDN

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