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Our Common Platform Architecture (CPA) for Big Data has been gaining momentum as a viable platform for enterprise big data deployments. The newest addition to the portfolio is EMC’s new Pivotal HD™ that natively integrates Greenplum MPP database technology with Apache Hadoop enabling SQL applications and traditional business intelligence tools directly on Hadoop framework. Extending support for Pivotal HD on Cisco UCS, Satinder Sethi, Vice President at Cisco’s Datacenter Group said “Hadoop is becoming a critical part of enterprise data management portfolio that must co-exist and complement enterprise applications, EMC’s Pivotal HD is an important step towards that by enabling native SQL processing for Hadoop”.

Built up on our 3+ years of partnership with Greenplum database distribution and Hadoop distributions, the joint solution offers all the architectural benefits of the CPA including: Unified Fabric – fully redundant active-active fabric for server clustering, Fabric Extender technology – highly scalable and cost-effective connectivity, Unified Management – holistic management of infrastructure through a single pane of glass using UCS manager, and High performance – high speed fabric along with Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Servers powered by Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 series processors.  Unique to this solution is the management integration and data integration capabilities between Pivotal HD based Big Data applications running on CPA and enterprise application running on Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers connected to enterprise SAN storage from EMC or enterprise application running on integrated solutions like Vblock.

The Cisco solution for Pivatol HD is offered as reference architecture and as Cisco UCS SmartPlay solution bundles that can be purchased by ordering a single part number: UCS-EZ-BD-HC – rack level solution optimized for for low cost per terabyte and  UCS-EZ-BD-HP – rack level solution offers balance of compute power with IO bandwidth optimized for price/performance.

soultion bundles

For more information see:  Cisco Big Data SmartPlay Solution Bundles and Common Platform Architecture (CPA) for Big Data.

Cisco UCS Common Platform Architecture Version 2 (CPA v2) for Big Data with Pivotal HD and HAWQ

 



Authors

Raghunath Nambiar

No Longer with Cisco

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Over the past 2 months  or so, I’ve been blogging on Cisco Domain TenSM, Cisco Service’s framework to guide you on your path to data center and cloud transformation. We are just over half way through the discussion on Cisco Domain Ten, so I thought it worthwhile, especially for anyone reading about this concept for the first time, to write a quick refresher and summary of the articles I’ve written so far.  So forgive the brevity and please do dive into the links/URLs for more information if indeed you missed these articles first time. And if you’ve read every article – thanks!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnLFReBBV7c

 

Continue reading “Cisco Domain Ten – The Story So Far”



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Stephen Speirs

SP Product Management

Cisco Customer Experience (CX)

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AM71346This six-part series focuses on transformation of the traditional higher education system in the United States.  This part focuses on the fact that universities are more similar than they are different.  Universities in the U.S. share common challenges: inadequate access, dated teaching methodologies, and perceived irrelevance of our current programs.

First, we have a problem of access: We simply do not have enough capacity to meet demand. In the U.S., there were 3.2 million graduating seniors in the class of 2012, 73 percent of whom believed they needed still more education to obtain higher-paying jobs. Since 2007 the number of international students has also increased by more than 20 percent. And, competition is increasingly stiff for places in top academic universities: Harvard accepted only 5.9 percent of applicants, and Yale accepted 6.8 percent. With only 4,000 higher education institutions in the U.S., it’s easy to see that we lack the capacity to continue delivering against the increase in demand.  (U.S. Department of Education and the New York Times)

Continue reading “Shared Challenges – Part Two of Six on Transforming Higher Education”



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Renee Patton

Former Global Director of Education and Healthcare

Global Industry Solutions Group

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In the first few posts in this series, we have hopefully shown that not all cores are created equal and that not all GHz are created equal. This generates challenges when comparing two CPUs within a processor family and even greater challenges when comparing CPUs from different processor families. If you read a blog or a study that showed 175 desktops on a blade with dual E7-2870 processor, how many desktops can you expect from the E7-2803 processor? Or an E5 processor? Our assertion is that SPECint is a reasonable metric for predicting VDI density, and in this blog I intend to show you how much SPECint is enough [for the workload we tested].

You are here. As a quick recap, this is a series of blogs covering the topic of VDI, and here are the posts in this series:

Addition and subtraction versus multiplication and division. Shawn already explained the concept of SPEC in question 2, so I won’t repeat it. You’ve probably noticed that Shawn talked about “blended” SPEC whereas I’m covering SPECint (integer). As it turns out, the majority of task workers really exercise the integer portion of a processor rather than the floating point portion of a processor. Therefore, I’ll focus on SPECint in this post. If you know more about your users’ workload, you can skew your emphasis more or less towards SPECint or SPECfp and create your own blend.

The method to the madness. Let me take you on a short mathematical journey using the figure below. Starting at the top, we know each E5-2665 processor has a SPECint of 305. It doesn’t matter how many cores it has or how fast those cores are clocked. It has a SPECint score of 305 (as compared to 187.5 for the E5-2643 processor). Continuing down the figure below, each blade we tested had two processors, so the E5-2665 based blade has a SPECint of 2 x 305… or 610. The E5-2665 blade has a much higher SPECint of 610 than the E5-2643 blade with just 375. And it produced many more desktops as you can see from the graph embedded in the figure (the graph should look familiar to you from the first “question” in this series).

And now comes the simple math to get the SPECint requirement for each virtual desktop in each test system:

Continue reading “VDI “The Missing Questions” #4: How much SPECint is enough”



Authors

Doron Chosnek

Consulting Systems Engineer

Data Center Solutions Architecture Team

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In case you missed it, Network World’s Ellen Messmer published a rather surprising article on how Dell was going to “trump” Cisco in the information security market as a result of some recent acquisitions. Now certainly Dell is entitled to their beliefs. They’re in a difficult position right now, as Michael Dell and Silver Lake maneuver the company through a very complex set of buy-out related transactions. They need to give their customers assurance that they won’t be distracted through this process. And if you want to set a big impression with your customers, you might as well go after the market leader in security.  Be it as it may, we can’t just sit back and let these blatant statements go unchecked. So, in the spirit of “fair and balanced” reporting, we thought we’d issue our own little fact check and let you conclude for yourself.

  • “Cisco is a great competitor but they don’t have our holistic view” – Acquiring assets and bundling them together doesn’t constitute a “holistic” approach.  Those assets must be closely integrated, which is the approach Cisco is delivering with its next generation security architecture. This architecture will be built on top of a multi-function security platform with deep network integration. There are many proof points today that demonstrate we are delivering against this strategy and architecture. Today our customers are deploying Cloud Web Security with their Cisco ISR G2 and ASA Next Generation Firewall through connectors built from Cloud Web Security. In addition we’ve brought market leading application, visibility and control to ASA, embedded deep in the firewall.  But it doesn’t stop here.
  • Now what about Dell’s comment that Cisco “doesn’t have an identity business“?  Cisco’s Identity Services Engine provides the backbone of Cisco’s secure Unified Access solution. The real network security action is in delivering access privileges based on more than just user identity and group which is all Dell can do today with Quest. In the BYOD world customers also require action based on the type of device, posture of the device, and location. Cisco’s Identity Services Engine is the industry leading platform to deliver context based policy controls and then leveraging the network for distributed enforcement consistently across wired, wireless, and VPN access. This is a game-changer for the enterprise and our next generation end-to-end security architecture. Enterprises can now implement context-based policy from the access layer through the data center switching fabric without using brittle and costly network segmentation methods tied to VLANs and ACLs. This is real synergy, and it is delivering a holistic solution as opposed to a holistic press sound bite.  But don’t just take our word for it; check out Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for NAC.  Cisco’s ISE combines identity, device, and network with a market leading platform deployed in over 3000 customers.
  • Just weeks ago we announced another key milestone with the introduction of ISE 1.2.  With this latest release we also became the first vendor in the industry to offer automated profiling feeds making us better and faster at identifying new devices and operating systems.  We’ve increased the speed and scalability of ISE to address the increasing demands brought on by the “Internet of Everything”.  And we’ve added a new set of partner APIs enabling integration into key MDM partners – SAP, AirWatch, Citrix, Mobile Iron and Good.  This expands the reach of ISE and enables customers to drive common context and identity management from the network all the way to the end point.  Dell talk’s about their direction to advance the “concept” of embedded security to virtually any type of device.  We’re not just talking about it, we’re doing it. Continue reading “Judge for yourself: Taking Dell to task on “holistic” security claims”


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Mobile carriers face no shortage of pain points as new data streams create unprecedented and staggering amounts of information. But it is important to remember that pain points often arrive in tandem with new opportunities.

From my perspective, observing the driving forces shaping the mobile industry, five key trends stand out. All are laced with challenges and opportunities. And each represents a core element in an interconnected system that is pushing the entire marketplace forward, while demanding innovative breakthroughs in monetizing and optimizing data.

On February 25-28, I will be attending Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona. This year’s event is expected to be the largest ever, with 1,500 exhibitors. I expect these five trends will be major sources of discussion:

  1. Video. We are already seeing the true inflection point in video where it becomes mainstream on multiple devices. The mobile and nomadic consumption of video—whether served by mobile carriers or localized Wi-Fi—is popular, commonplace, and growing rapidly. But video will completely reshape the demand side of the industry, creating enormous amounts of data. It threatens to load and clog networks, and it will demand new models for monetization.
  2. Accelerating connections. As the Continue reading “For Mobile Carriers, Five Key Trends Promise Pain and Prospects”


Authors

Chris Osika

Senior Director, Global Lead

Service Provider Practice Internet Business Solutions Group

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School, college and university systems are facing unprecedented challenges. Education leaders are capitalizing on new technology trends to face these challenges, drive innovation and transform education. These themes, and more, will be explored during the Cisco Virtual Forum for Education Leaders, 2013. We invite you to join us on March 19th (Americas and EMEA) and March 20th (Asia-Pacific), to hear from education futurists and innovative educators, and learn about leading-edge strategies and practical solutions that are improving the quality of education, everywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3LkywwwXEY

The Virtual Forum will open with a keynote discussion on Amazing Trends that are Shaping the Future of Education, featuring Dr. Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium and founder of the Horizon Project. He is an acknowledged expert on emerging technology and its impacts on education.  Larry will be joined by Dr. Ellen Junn, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at San Jose State University. San Jose State is at the forefront of developing new education delivery models. Larry and Ellen will explore new and emerging technologies that are shaping the future of teaching and learning. They will offer insightful assessments of the impact of these trends and offer practical guidance on how schools, colleges and universities can capitalize on these trends to improve education outcomes.

Continue reading “Trends Shaping the Future of Education”



Authors

Gary Serda

Senior Strategic Partner Marketing Manager

Global Partner Marketing

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There’s been a lot of buzz around our recent Cisco Unified Access Solution announcement. We understand there is also some confusion around what’s what, what’s required for Unified Access, and what the impact will be on IT.

In true Mythbuster fashion, let’s all discover why no myth is safe. Let’s review what we’ve covered in this blog series so far:

Now for our final myth to wrap up to series:

Myth 5: Efforts should focus on enabling and securing wireless, wired is dead.

PARTIALLY TRUE. It is true that wireless is being adopted at a rapid pace and IT must be conscious of this growth. However, there are many organizations that still rely on their wired infrastructure to support day-to-day activities. As pointed out in the recent Cisco Work Your Way Global Study 79% of end user respondents said they use a wired connection at work. In addition, organizations are also finding new ways to leverage the wired infrastructure to support devices such as security cameras, access systems and other non-traditional end devices. The increase in devices, both wired and wireless, are driving IT to find ways to unify and simplify how operations and the infrastructure support all devices. Cisco Unified Access does just that. It allows IT to meet this challenge by delivering common functionality across the wired and wireless network, including:

Continue reading “Mythbusters: Unified Access Edition: Part 5”



Authors

Brian Robertson

Product Marketing Manager

CMO EMM Mobility Solutions

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In my previous blog, I walked you through the Cisco Remote Expert Smart Solution for Retail demo that I presented at NRF. This solution helps retailers catch, keep, and entice customers to buy and buy more.

This solution was explored in greater depth at NRF during our Big Ideas Session: Deliver Compelling Shopping and GREAT Customer Service with Interactive Technologies. This session focused on how delivering a compelling shopping experience and exceptional customer service with interactive technologies can help drive sales.  Attendees heard how interactive touch screens, digital signage, and video collaboration can help retailers delight and engage consumers, cost-effectively address shopper questions by using local and remote experts, and quickly convert in-store browsers into buyers.

Watch the video below to hear our session speakers provide a summary of this compelling Cisco Big Ideas Session:

For more information about Cisco Remote Expert Smart Solution for Retail please visit:   www.cisco.com/go/retail-remoteexpert

Read more about the solution in our Cisco Remote Expert Smart Solution for Retail Brochure.



Authors

Andrew Lach

MARKETING MANAGER

Marketing Management, Manufacturing Industry