A fun scenario was proposed in the MPI Forum today.  What do you think this code will do?

MPI_Comm comm, save;
MPI_Request req;
MPI_Init(NULL, NULL);
MPI_Comm_dup(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &comm);
MPI_Comm_rank(comm, &rank);
save = comm;
MPI_Isend(smsg, 4194304, MPI_CHAR, rank, 123, comm, &req);
MPI_Comm_free(&comm);
MPI_Recv(rmsg, 4194304, MPI_CHAR, rank, 123, save, MPI_STATUS_IGNORE);

Read More »

Tags: HPC, mpi

We were pleased to accept a Small Cell Industry Award last night for small cell design and technology innovation for the Cisco Management Heartbeat Server (CMHS). We were particularly pleased because the CMHS is an example of a solution our engineering team developed in response to some real world issues we were seeing in our customer’s small cell network – one of the largest small cell networks deployed today.

Above: Partho Mishra,VP/GM, Small Cell Technology Group, Cisco

When small cells are deployed in the hundreds of thousands, there’s a need to scale the monitoring of the access points so that operations are simplified while customers are kept happy.  The CMHS monitors connectivity and service status in real-time with ongoing heartbeats, and provides Read More »

Tags: award, CMHS, mobility, network, SCWS, Service Provider, small cell, small cells, small cells world summit, SP

Much has been written about the vast number and variety of things that will soon be connected to the Internet—from milk cartons and alarm clocks to sensors and trains. Already in 2008, that number exceeded the number of people on earth. By 2020, when the next incarnation of the Internet—aka the Internet of Things—is in full swing, the number is expected to reach 50 billion. And it’s not just things that will add value and relevance to networked connections, but also people, data and processes.

Think about it. Through their interactions with the Web, social networks and devices—especially mobile devices—people have a massive multiplier effect on the amount of IP traffic traversing the network. In 2012 alone, new, more powerful smartphone technologies combined with growth in both mobile bandwidth and apps produced annual mobile data traffic nearly 12 times greater than the total Internet traffic in 2000 (Cisco Mobile VNI 2013).  

Add to that a coming tsunami of constantly streaming data as sensors in just about everything become the norm—not just wearable sensors attached to our bodies, clothes and shoes, but also sensors, meters and actuators in our cars, machinery and infrastructure. And let’s not forget the critical role that processes will play in managing and automating this explosive growth in connections as well as in the collection, analysis and communication of data. People, data, processes and things. Together, they will make up the next phase of the Internet of Things—the Internet of Everything.

Data in Motion vs. Data at Rest

Zooming in on data in the age of the Internet of Everything, there’s another critical distinction that needs to be made. You see, not all data is created equal. Most of the new data being generated today is real-time data that fits into a broad category called Data in Motion. This refers to the constant stream of sensor-generated data that defies traditional processes for capture, storage and analysis, and requires a fundamentally different approach.

Let’s back up a minute. Historically, in order to find gems of actionable insight, enterprises have tended to focus their analytics or business intelligence applications on data captured and stored using traditional relational data warehouses or “enterprise historian” technologies.

However, the limits of this approach have been tested by the increase in volume of this so-called Data at Rest. The challenges inherent in collecting, searching, sharing, analyzing and visualizing insights from these ever-expanding data sets have led to the development of massively parallel computing software running on tens, hundreds, or even thousands of servers. As innovative and adaptive as these Big Data technologies are, they still rely on historical data to find the proverbial needle in the haystack.

This rising tide of Data in Motion is not going to slow down. In fact, as the Internet of Everything gathers momentum, the vast number of connections will trigger a zettaflood of data, at an even more accelerated pace. While this new Data in Motion has huge potential, it also has a very limited shelf life. As such, its primary value lies in its being captured soon after it is created—in many cases, immediately after it is created.

For instance, real-time traffic information from cameras, sensors and connected cars allows drivers to avoid traffic jams and use suggested alternate routes, potentially reducing hours of unproductive time spent behind the wheel. Similarly, manufacturers can connect their stock inventory with their suppliers’ production systems so that potential delays can be identified as early as possible and corrective actions taken on their respective shop floors to better prioritize people’s activities. In each of these cases, it’s easy to see the added value of connecting not just things, but also people, data and processes.

The real challenge for data-driven organizations is how to manage and extract value from this constant stream of information, and turn it to competitive advantage. Data in Motion represents a new type of data whose value can not always be extracted through traditional analytics. In a next post, we will look at examples of Data in Motion and how to extract value from it.

Tags: Cisco Mobile VNI, data in motion, Internet of Everything, internet of things, ip

The increasing diversity and complexity of traffic traversing the Internet of Everything­ today can be imagined as a three-dimensional collection of intersecting highways of different kinds (e.g., corporate WAN, Internet, mobile, Wi-Fi, cellular, cable, cloud), with a wide array of vehicles (e.g., PCs, tablets, smartphones) carrying various types of passengers (e.g., data, voice, video, email, SMS, Web).   Emerging traffic from the new category of machine-to-machine communications is scaling exponentially and introducing new policy triggers.

In this new environment network operators must become master traffic controllers to deal with all of the volume, diversity, and complexity. The most innovative and forward-looking experts are aggressively looking into providing more open programmatic access to their network functions and services. The goal is easier and faster control, in order to make them more agile, flexible and application interactive while at the same time optimally aligning costs with potential new revenues.

Cisco ONE Building Blocks: Controllers and Agents

Software Defined Networking (SDN) plays a key role within Read More »

Tags: advanced flow control, Cisco, Cisco ONE, Internet of Everything, Open Network Environment, Service Provider, virtualization

When entering a hospital today, you’ll find a familiar and reassuring sight: hospital staff dedicated to physically monitoring and comforting patients who are confused or agitated, at risk for falls, wandering, and so on. While absolutely necessary, having a patient under constant monitoring by hospital employees, or nonhospital “patient sitters,” can lead to skyrocketing costs. At times, hospitals are not reimbursed for these expenses, meaning patient’s families are asked to provide sitters at their own expense -- imposing a burden for working family members.

With this in mind, we asked a question: How can patient observation costs be reduced while still providing the necessary care and attention patients need?

Enter: Virtual Assistance

Using HD video and two-way communication, healthcare organizations can dramatically drop the cost of patient observation. With virtual observation, trained staff in a central location can monitor multiple patients, notifying hospital staff onsite just as quickly as if they were physically there. To sweeten the deal, a virtual deployment runs over the hospital’s existing network without high-cost infrastructure installations or updates.

Virtual Patient Observation

Providing Personal Attention

Park Nicollet Health Services, a nonprofit, integrated healthcare system located in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, deployed Cisco’s virtual patient observation solutions to solve several challenges they faced:

• Continuous observation of patients deemed at-risk in the hospital’s fall reduction program
• Management of staff for 1:1 observation of priority and less severe monitoring cases
• Coverage of multiple rooms with limited nursing staff, maximizing quality of care

With Cisco IP Cameras and Cisco Video Surveillance Manager, Park Nicollet has deployed video patient bedspace monitoring over their existing network, adding a “second set of eyes” to their team. The deployment has increased bedside care time for Registered Nurses and enhanced the environment for care, which has been reflected in Patient Care Scores.

Watch below as Eric Paine from Park Nicollet discusses the deployment during one of our recent roundtables:

Used as part of the hospital workflow, the Cisco Virtual Patient Observation solution can also:

• Reduce risk and exposure for patients and operations
• Improve communications between clinicians and staff providing specialized patient monitoring
• Enhance bedside response by providing the caregiver with more information

Learn more about how Cisco is moving healthcare forward and be sure to watch this webinar on Healthcare Security Force Management Best Practices.

• Video Surveillance for Hospitals
• Webinar: Healthcare Security Force Management Best Practices

Tags: healthcare, healthcare security, hospitals, video surveillance for hospitals, virtual assistance