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Today, Belkin announced its intent to acquire Cisco’s Home Networking Business Unit and its leading brand, Linksys.  With this agreement, we are pleased to preserve the strong Linksys brand and create a win-win relationship in the market.

Linksys is a strong and enduring brand with a talented team that has helped revolutionize the way we experience the world from our homes through a wide range of home routing and networking solutions with innovative software features that  enable anytime, anywhere access and control of the home network and its connected devices.

Combined, Belkin and Linksys will create a world-class consumer networking technology provider with complementary innovation and engineering strategies. Linksys will enhance Belkin’s capabilities to meet the needs of OEMs, as well as provide access to a large user base. Belkin and Cisco intend to pursue a strategic relationship focused on a variety of initiatives including retail distribution, strategic marketing and products for the service provider market.

Linksys has long been an important member of the Cisco family and we are confident that we have found the best buyer in Belkin. We look forward to witnessing Belkin’s growth as they bring Linksys into their family.

 



Authors

Hilton Romanski

No Longer with Cisco

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This post is included  as part of a series of posts related to social media training efforts underway at Cisco.  I sat down with our corporate Cisco Social Media Listening team members team members members (Charlie TreadwellBernadette KoscielniakGeorge MetrikNancy RivasMichael HoppsDavythe Dicochea, and Jennifer Robertsto ask a few specific questions around social listening. This is  the second part of the interview.  Read the first part of this series. 

What tools are available to enhance the social listening effort?

Various listening platforms are available, with varying focus areas in metrics and data streams.  In a June 2012 report, eMarketer profiles the strengths of industry leading platforms as followed:

Profile of Select SM Monitoring Services 2012

Continue reading “Social Media Business Strategy: Listen and Learn from Your Customers – Part 2”



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There’s no doubt Cisco’s Unified Computing System has achieved significant momentum since its introduction just over three years ago.  One of the key contributing factors to our growth has been the strength of our open partner ecosystem strategy.  While many of our data center competitors have chosen to build rigid vertical stacks, Cisco has embraced a broad ecosystem of partners—and as a result provided unparalleled flexibility for customers to choose from best-of-breed storage, hypervisor and application vendors.

Today, we’re further expanding our unified data center ecosystem by deepening our winning partnership with NetApp.   Cisco and NetApp have been partners for more than a decade and over the past two years our alliance has flourished with the introduction of the FlexPod converged infrastructure solution.  In fact, Cisco and NetApp now boast more than 2,100 FlexPod customers, with deployments in 35 countries and supported by more than 700 joint channel partners.

Building on that vote of confidence from our customers and partners, we are expanding our partnership to deliver deeper integrated solutions for a range of use cases ranging from data center to branch to service providers.  Specifically we’ll collaborate in the following four areas:

  • Deeper technology integration across the FlexPod architecture
  • A new FlexPod solution for cloud-scale service providers
  • Extending ExpressPod into the branch office
  • Expanded FlexPod application validation

I invite you to learn more about today’s announcement and share your thoughts on our expanded partnership with NetApp.



Authors

Satinder Sethi

No Longer with Cisco

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brian shodaYesterday we reprinted the first part of Telecom Asia magazine’s interview with Brian Shoda, director of Cisco NGN architecture sales for Asia Pacific. Here is the second and final part of the story.

4. [Telecom Asia] How can telcos better optimize and simplify their network architectures?

[Brian Shoda] The traditional layered and hierarchical model of network architecture has served operators well for many years. Today, the demands on operator networks are vastly different to those of the past. Optimization and simplification of network architectures is a key focus for most operators. Long lead times for activating new capacity, idle link capacity, and 1:1 bandwidth reservation are all costly methodologies and are no longer feasible for the modern operator.

Cisco’s Elastic Core and nLight solutions address Continue reading “The Impact of Programmability on Networks Part 2”



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Cisco and EMC are partnering at Cisco Live next week in London to deliver the latest developments on VSPEX.   Register and plan on attending this informative breakout session.

EMC Global General Manager of VSPEX, Gil Shneorson, and MTI Technology detail how VSPEX powered by EMC, VMware and Cisco technology, transformed the business of a recent VSPEX customer – greatly simplifying management over their IT infrastructure, while delivering performance that drives business value – enabling them to move on to more strategic thinking within their IT environment.

VSPEX is a complete virtualization solution, proven by EMC and Cisco, delivered by partners. VSPEX gives you the power to choose the technology in your solution while removing the complexity and risk that typically comes with designing, integrating and deploying a best-of-breed solution – enabling fast deployment of powerful cloud infrastructure.

Date: Thursday January 31, 2013

Time: 11:30 am

Session Title: PCS-2003 – VSPEX Transforms IT: A Customer Case Study

Presenters: Gil Shnoerson, Senior Director Global Product Sales & EMC VSPEX GM; and EMC Richard Flanders, Director, MTI

Also, visit the Cisco and EMC exhibits to learn even more about how Cisco and EMC are partnering together on VSPEX.

 



Authors

Paul Teel

Business Development Manager - Citrix

Global Partner Organization

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The old saying that “time flies by” couldn’t be any more true when I reflect on our decade-long partnership with NetApp. Over the past ten years new technology trends, changing consumption models, and fast-evolving customer needs have altered the IT industry landscape. But the Cisco-NetApp partnership has stood the test of time. Why? Because it was built on a solid foundation: remarkably aligned visions of the future of IT, complimentary technology solutions, and similar corporate cultures.

Over the past two years our partnership momentum has accelerated with the success of the FlexPod architecture. Cisco and NetApp now have more than 2,100 FlexPod customers, deployments in 35 countries and more than 700 channel partners. In fact, our channel partners have proven to be the secret sauce driving FlexPod momentum.

Today, Cisco and NetApp are announcing an expansion of our winning partnership to make it easier for customers to deploy and access next-generation cloud infrastructure solutions. The partnership expansion is built around four key areas:  Continue reading “Time Flies! Expanding our Decade-Long Partnership with NetApp”



Authors

Rick Snyder

Senior Vice President

Americas Partner Organization

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FlexPod, by any measure, has been a great success.   2,100 customers worldwide have adopted the architecture and it stands today as one of the leading converged infrastructure solutions in the industry.   IT organizations want to modernize their operations, but they need to do it in a way that mitigates risk and lays down a solid foundation on which to scale.    To get there they need a solution that brings the best, most innovative technology in an integrated architecture that’s easy to consume.   FlexPod has delivered on that combination of innovation + integration + easy.

Innovation comes in abundance with FlexPod and it has allowed customers to land a wide spectrum of applications on a common infrastructure.   The key is that while infrastructure elements are abstracted and pooled (the basic food groups of compute, network and storage) the system supports both bare metal and virtualized workloads with aplomb; a crucial capability given the realities in the data center today.   Cisco and NetApp have each taken abstraction and API control deep into the server, network and storage infrastructure, below the OS/Hypervisor waterline, and this is what unlocks new agility for everything built on top.

So what comes next?  FlexPod solutions to date have been aimed squarely at the enterprise data center.     What Cisco and NetApp announced today expands the architecture on two key axis.   Both vectors support the growing challenge IT organizations face today: spanning from the data center core out to the branch office and also into the cloud (both to deliver services and to procure them.)   Location independence for applications across this continuum requires infrastructure that can be tuned to support a wide spectrum of workloads and operating models.  To do it efficiently requires uniformity in deployment and operating models.

One the axis of operating models, the FlexPod architecture will expand out from the solid base of solutions developed for the data center in two directions: into solutions for branch office and smaller use cases, and upward, with massively scalable designs for solution providers.

Sonoma 1

On axis of workload, the array of application solutions validated by the companies will continue to grow, allowing customers to expand the footprint of converged infrastructure across their IT services.

Sonoma 2

From a consumption perspective FlexPod has established an impressive, highly scaled presence, because it was designed by both companies to “meet in the channel.”   The solution is offered today by more that 700 partners in 35 countries.

While it’s possible to sometimes have too much of a good thing, it’s clear we’re a long way from that with FlexPod.

sonoma 4

Padmasree Warrior (Cisco’s chief technology and strategy officer) and Manish Goel (NetApp’s executive vice president, Product Operations) recently met up to discuss how the companies will expand their decade long partnership.

More blogs about the announcement

Time Flies ! Expanding our Decade-Long Partnership with NetApp   by Rick Snyder , Cisco Global & Strategic Partner Organization

Building on Success: Cisco and NetApp Expand Partnership  By Satinder Sethi, Cisco VP Technical Marketing Server Access and Virtualization  UCS 

Flexpod Success Drives Increased Investment by Cisco and NetApp    By Vaughn Stewart (@stewed) , NetApp Director Cloud Computing

 

 



Authors

Todd Brannon

Senior Director, Cloud Infrastructure Marketing

Cisco Cloud Infrastructure and Software Group

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On March 4, Cisco will sponsor the 6th Annual Community for Connected Health Summit during the HIMSS13 Annual Conference & Exhibition.  This year’s agenda promises to be the best one ever!

The Summit is open to all HIMSS13 attendees at no additional cost; however, registration is required as seating is limited. This is a one day program and all sessions are included in the registration. Complimentary boxed lunch is also included.

Monday, March 4, 2013Cisco Community for Connected Health
10 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (check-in at 9:30 a.m.)
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Room 393
New Orleans, LA

The agenda will feature engaging presentations from:

The Net Effect – A Cisco Perspective

Dave Evans, Cisco Dave Evans
 Chief Futurist
 Cisco

Equal parts prognosticator and pragmatist, Cisco’s chief futurist will share how innovation is driving dramatic change in all fields, including healthcare.

Transforming Patient Engagement

Dr. David Langer Dr. David Langer 
 Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
 North Shore, LIJ Health System 

Kevin Friel

 Kevin Friel   
 Vice President of Enterprise Network Services
 North Shore, LIJ Health System 

Learn how a unique partnership between clinical and IT leadership has led to the practical application of technology in the care process that has greatly increased patient engagement. 

Lake Nona: A Connected Health Community

Thad Seymour Thad Seymour
 Executive Director
 Lake Nona 

The first city in the US built with ubiquitous connectivity and interconnected building, transportation, utility, and civic systems– hear how Lake Nona’s innovative design provides for unified approach to lifelong health care delivery, learning and education.
 

A Collaborative Discharge Process 

Dr. Mark Blatt Dr. Mark Blatt
 Chief Medical Director
 Intel 

A classic “moment of truth” impacting quality, the patient experience, and even the bottom-line – attend this session to learn about a technology-enabled, collaborative approach to the discharge process.

Following Dr. Blatt’s session, there will be a giveaway, sponsored by Intel, of three Ultrabook™ systems.  Must be present to win.

Ultrabook is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. 

Register now

 Co-sponsored by Intel®: 

Intel

  

 

This program is approved for up to 3.25 continuing education (CE) hours for use in fulfilling the continuing education requirements of the Certified Professional in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CPHIMS).

 



Authors

Mike Haymaker

Healthcare Industry Marketing

No Longer with Cisco

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I spend a lot of time behind curtains.  That’s not really out of choice as it’s the nature of where they stick you when you’re running the network at a large tradeshow.  We call it the Network Operations Center – NOC if you want to sound cool – but most people just know it as the guys to complain to when your computer doesn’t work at a show.  It’s often a thankless gig and it can be extremely stressful at times, but setting up a temporary network that might live for less than a week to deliver fast wired and wireless access to thousands of people in a completely foreign environment is an exciting challenge.  Here’s how it happens. Continue reading “Life Behind the Black Curtain: What it takes to setup a large tradeshow network.”



Authors

Matt Bolick

ENGINEER.TECHNICAL MARKETING

SRTG Marketing - US