Avatar

The Big Data revolution continues to make inroads into the healthcare space, where it’s helping reduce hospital readmissions, improve point-of-care decisions and advance research, among other benefits. Take a look at this sampling of topics on offer at the 2013 Annual HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans, La. last month: “Using Data Analytics to Improve Patient Care and Safety,” “Data Warehousing for Healthcare,” “Extracting Value from Healthcare Big Data with Predictive Analytics,” “Leveraging Data as an Asset.”

Clearly, Big Data is making its mark in the healthcare world, as it is in just about every other aspect of our world—a reality that’s compellingly illustrated in the recent Cisco-sponsored project, The Human Face of Big Data (HFOBD). Consisting of a book and an iPad app, the project is designed to illustrate how data transforms the way we perceive ourselves and our world.

The project’s premise? That real-time visualization of data streaming in from billions of sensors, RFID tags and GPS-enabled cameras and smart phones is beginning to allow us, as individuals and collectively as a society, to sense, measure and understand aspects of our existence in ways never before possible through data in motion or at rest. This is a big deal. In fact, many data experts believe this global ebb and flow of data—a planetary nervous system, if you will—will soon have a greater impact on our lives than the Internet.

Back in the world of healthcare, consider this example from HFOBD of how one doctor used the power of data to gain insight into hospital and emergency room visits. Troubled by the soaring costs of healthcare in America, Dr. Jeffrey Brenner of Camden, NJ, used the records of 600,000 hospital visits to build a map linking hospital claims to patients’ addresses. Analyzing the data, he made a startling discovery—that just 1 percent of patients accounted for 30 percent of hospital bills due to repeated emergency room visits.

 

©Michael Bryant 2012 / from The Human Face of Big Data

 

To help address the issue, Brenner founded the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, which can dispatch caseworkers to care for the patients with the most problems. Once caseworkers began making proactive home visits and encouraging high-risk patients to stay on their medications, the target group’s hospital bills fell dramatically. In one instance, a single patient who had run up over US$700,000 in hospital bills in 12 months didn’t need another visit after the coalition’s intervention[1].

Continue reading “Data in Motion: An Opportunity for Healthcare Providers”



Avatar

Do you want to increase sales by providing shoppers with the information they need when and where they need it – in your store?

Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences solution can help you do just that. Connected Mobile Experiences is a new solution that helps enable retail organizations to use Wi-Fi location services to deliver engaging store experiences and generate valuable shopper insights.

View this 45-minute on-demand video webcast to learn how to captivate your shoppers with new mobile apps supported by Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences. Discover how real-time location intelligence from your wireless network can enhance customer loyalty, improve store operations, and help you:



Avatar

We recently discussed the perfect IT storm that is currently brewing in business. BYOD, Unified Access, Video, the Many Clouds, SDN… all happening at once, on current infrastructure, and yet demanding more.

Some of the comments you made further emphasized the need to have an architectural approach.

VXI/VDI deployments are no exception.

Discussing VDI deployments with our customers in EMEAR, two things really are at the centre of our discussions from an infrastructure standpoint.

–         Security, which I’ll  discuss in today’s post.

–         Latency and user experience.  Two recent posts, here and here, provide great insight on how to tackle this challenge.

I have therefore asked Steinthor Bjarnason (sbjarnas@cisco.com), Senior EMEAR Security Consultant, based out of Norway, to give me his perspective.  He has 15 year experience in the security space and his perspectives are drawn from numerous customer projects, both in the Enterprise and the Service Provider space. Continue reading “Using TrustSec to simplify Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployment”



Authors

Eric Marin

CTO

Borderless Network Architecture, EMEAR

Avatar

In 2012, the Global Social Media Team worked closely with Gerry McGovern from Customer Carewords to run a top tasks study to understand what tasks visitors want to accomplish on social channels.  This methodology leverages a unique scoring technique enabling visitors to tell you in precise, statistical terms their top tasks when they arrive at your social channel. Continue reading “Social Top Tasks”



Authors

Avatar

We’re down to the Final Four. And although the only team left in my bracket is Michigan, Louisville, Syracuse, Michigan and Wichita State are going to deliver incredible basketball on-court this weekend.  For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been glued to my TV, NCAA March Madness App and my iPad to stay on top of the latest action. This weekend I plan to do the same, but I only wish I was going there in person, because the live experience, today, is like no other.

georgia2_dome_1
Georgia Dome (courtesy PBS)

Fans from around the country that will be at the Georgia Dome will forever remember the experience of being there, and the beauty, this time around, is that they will be able to connect with family, friends, and people around the world live as they share their experience with photos, video, and interactions through any social media channel. With Cisco’s innovative Connected Stadium Wi-Fi, which was designed carefully for this venue, and implemented by our partner CDW, we are making the next-generation fan experience possible during this year’s Final Four.

Fan expectations are greater than ever, mandating a mobile, immersive, personalized and social experience that is fueled by being connected in new ways, to more content, to more people, and to more things or devices.

Cisco’s mission is to continue to “Connect the Unconnected.”  Fans across the sports and entertainment world are now able to experience this in a stadium near them, not just at the Final Four. Our technology powers the NBA and MLB data centers, allowing fans to consume video instantaneously, whether they are at home or on-the-go. Around the world in venues such as Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (home of Real Madrid) fans can tap into the high-density Wi-Fi network, and at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, fans can use the latest mobile video solution ­Cisco StadiumVision Mobile, which shows different camera angles of the action on and off the court.  Many other creative apps are being discussed around the world with our team of experts.

And this is just the beginning. It’s all part of the Internet of Things.  As as we look ahead to a not too distant future, the possibilities that the Internet of Everything will bring for sports teams, leagues, venues and fans are endless. We are now working on the convergence of data ­- wearable clothing that informs coaches about a player’s fitness level during the game.  Another development in the industry we’ve been asked to look into is when ­players take a pill that allows for immediate analysis of injuries by team doctors.  And lastly, we are looking into connecting ‘things’, such as balls, bats, pucks, and more to deliver real-time stats to fans about how far a ball was hit, how hard a puck was shot, or how fast a player ran. All of these possibilities will continually drive the transformation of sport and Cisco is leading the way in the market.

Cisco will be at the center of these opportunities, because our intelligent networks will continue to connect the unconnected elements in sports and live events, and in turn, create more real-time experiences. We are doing it today, and we will be doing it in the future. Tomorrow Starts Here.

 

 



Authors

John Chambers

No Longer with Cisco

Avatar

Last week, we sat down with Bart McGlothin and Christian Janoff from Cisco’s security team to discuss PCI Security for Retail to better understand “What is PCI Compliance?” and “How does that affect Retailers?”

As a quick re-cap: PCI Compliance is a 12-step process to secure credit cards. Any retailer that accepts credit card payments must be “PCI Compliant” (i.e., follow those 12 steps). Compliance is enforced by the Retailer’s acquiring bank (the financial institution that processes the credit card payments for the Retailer).

Q. So, we know that Retailers need to be PCI Compliant. How can Cisco help?

A. Cisco has a PCI design and implementation guide for merchants to use.  It really stands alone in the industry because it provides holistic guidance in three key ways:

Continue reading “Question: Are you PCI Compliant? Are you Secure? Part 2 of 2”



Avatar

There are so many things that make me proud of Cisco and its employees, but one of the most gratifying is the work we do to support our nation’s heroes – our warfighters and veterans. This week, nearly 400 of those heroes will take to the slopes, ride snowmobiles, try scuba diving, and enjoy rock climbing and other activities at the 27th annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass, Colo. from March 31-April 5.

Snowmobiling at the 2012 Winter Sports Clinic
Snowmobiling at the 2012 Winter Sports Clinic

The Clinic provides adaptive winter sports instruction for U.S. military veterans and active duty service men and women with disabilities. It is co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and supported by other sponsors, including Cisco.

I look forward to this event every year. It is truly inspiring to share these experiences with such great men and women, hear their stories and see them take on new challenges. Personally, my favorite activity is snowmobiling, although I enjoy skiing as well. But by far the best thing about the Clinic is the opportunity to give something back to, and show our appreciation for, our nation’s finest. Continue reading “National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic 2013”



Authors

Patrick Finn

No Longer at Cisco

Avatar

You’ve probably heard by now that mobile phones have a 40th birthday this week.  As they’ve gone from bricks to sleek and smart; from simple texts to immersive experiences; from occasional use to human sensors. It’s been an interesting trip.  In addition to the typical things you might see on a timeline about mobile (1983 – the first commercially available mobile phone released. 1990 to 2011 – mobile phone subscriptions grow from 12 million to 6 billion … actually, Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive page that you don’t need me to repeat here.) our mighty BYOD solutions team created a timeline graphic with some other interesting events: Continue reading “Infographic: Moments in the First 40 Years of Mobile”



Authors

Lauren Friedman

Marketing Manager

Enterprise Networks

Avatar

Cisco has won the prestigious 2013 Uptime Institute 2013 Green Enterprise IT AwardTM (GEIT) in the Green Digital Infrastructure Strategy category. Uptime Institute grants GEIT Awards each year to companies that significantly improve energy productivity and resource use in IT.

A cross-functional team at Cisco that included lab management, engineering, IT, and workplace resources won for our LabEnergy Management program—an internal, worldwide, energy-conservation program that is reducing electricity consumption in our labs. Although representing only 10 percent of our real estate footprint, our labs consume more than 60 percent of our electricity and are critical to the success of our engineering, service, and sales organizations.

Photos2

Cisco’s LabEnergy Management program addresses three improvement opportunities:

Continue reading “Cisco Recognized by Uptime Institute for Lab Energy Management”



Authors

Andy Smith

Global Sustainability Manager

Cisco Workplace Resources (WPR)