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It’s amazing to think about the way a traditional classroom operated only a few years ago.  As Renee Patton recently pointed out in her blog post, there were rules, there were barriers, and they were all kept within the confines of an educational institution.  As technology has advanced, those rules have been challenged, barriers overcome, and an entirely new era of learning has emerged.

The collaborative nature of education, educators and learners has allowed new technologies to thrive and innovation to accelerate.  We’re flipping classrooms, implementing mobile learning programs and developing entirely new ways for students to connect and engage.  And we’re looking with excitement toward a future that will continually change the way we teach and learn. Continue reading “Educause: Bringing Together Technology and Education to Invest in Our Future”



Authors

Patrick Finn

No Longer at Cisco

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One of the most visible forms of the Internet of Everything (IoE), at least from a consumer’s perspective, is the advent of wearables, a term for wearable computing devices. The full range of this new form factor for mobile devices is very wide and I would like to define wearables as electronic systems located on the body that mediate their user and their environment. From activity trackers like FitBit and Up by JawBone and other quantified self applications, to more advanced information devices like Google Glass and Samsung Smartgear, these first generation devices are always on and always connected. Next generation devices will also be contextual and intelligent thanks to the Internet of Everything’s convergence of people, devices, data and the web.

Computing devices have moved from our desktop to our lap, to our pocket and now onto our body. Technology has never been this personal, however, we are far from the wearables endgame. For wearables to truly become a useful addition to our already technology-filled lives, we need to get back to the basics. Here’s a brief look at three ways we can evolve wearables by thinking about the technology itself, our interaction with these devices and the value they should offer.

Continue reading “The Internet of Everything and the Future of Wearable Technology: Three Ways to Get it Right”



Authors

Thomas Van Manen

Technology Analyst

VINT the Sogeti Trendlab

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While the shutdown challenges in the federal government over the past week have been top-of-mind, a recent Cisco survey has discovered that when operations resume, overall budget constraints are seen as the greatest challenge to government IT infrastructure, even ranking ahead of cyber attacks. This information was gathered through a third-party survey, the Cisco Connected Government Study, which was conducted last month by Clarus Research.

400 government IT decision makers (federal, state and local) were included, and the results show that reducing costs and increasing security continue to be top priorities for government IT decision makers. In the face of budget challenges, a majority (59%) of government IT decision makers said they are still likely to increase investment in cyber security over the next year, followed by cloud computing (45%) and networking (42%), according to a new Cisco Connected Government survey.

Continue reading “Despite budget constraints, spending on cyber security set to increase according to Cisco study of government IT decisio …”



Authors

Patrick Finn

No Longer at Cisco

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The network at my workplace is getting really fast these days. I cannot believe that as soon as I hit “Download” to pull a 50 MB

Get to know the new Cisco Catalyst 3650 Switch
Get to know the new Cisco Catalyst 3650 Switch

video file from a server to my laptop, the browser immediately says “Download is complete.” Wait, isn’t that supposed to take a few minutes, or at least a few seconds? Wireless is also getting dramatically better. Not too long ago, wireless was “nice to have” and only as a secondary means of network support. Today everyone’s expectation is that “wireless has to work”. Whether I plug in to my wired docking station, or move to a conference room with wireless, everything just works equally well. Is that your experience, too? If not, the newly announced Catalyst 3650 switch will make that happen for you very soon. There’s much more to it, but supporting gigabit desktop and 802.11ac is just a simple example of how the Catalyst 3650 can dramatically enable high quality user experience.

Several years ago, Cisco anticipated rapid growth of high demand on the network and mobile device surge in the workplace that are taking place today. That is why Cisco designed and executed on a Unified Access strategy to bring wired and wireless networks together with superior performance and consistency. At the heart of the technology is the Cisco Unified Access Data Plane (UADP) ASIC that enables wired-wireless convergence right on the network edge, with the enforcement of necessary security and management policies.

Why is wired-wireless convergence so critical, you ask?

Continue reading “Catalyst 3650 Delivers High Quality User Experience with Simplicity”



Authors

Steven Song

Business Manager

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I have been getting a lot of questions about advocacy so I want to take a few minutes to share my thoughts. I often hear people use the terms “influencers” and “advocates” interchangeably. While there are similarities between these two groups, in my opinion they’re not necessarily one and the same. You may have a different viewpoint on this, and that’s fine. What I’ve discovered is people define these terms differently which results in mixing these 2 groups. Taking some liberties with Ant’s Eye View’s (AEV) definitions of advocates and influencers, this is how I would like to describe them:

An influencer is someone who actively shares their opinions and expertise through their (large) personal and professional networks. An influencer is someone that can cause an effect without apparent exertion or force. Most common examples include analysts and media.

An advocate is someone who proactively defends, promotes and participates in the public conversation for a particular brand, product, service or cause. An advocate is someone that has positive affinity toward and stands behind a brand, product or cause. Most common examples include your most passionate customers and general brand aficionados.

In my mind, advocacy implies Continue reading “What Advocacy and My Yoga Pants Have in Common”



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Ever step into a small-town “mom and pop” store? The owners seem to know everyone in the community, along with their individual needs, likes, dislikes, and current life situations.

It’s not easy to scale that kind of old-fashioned customer intimacy to a larger retail setting, online or off. But in the Internet of Everything (IoE) era, the same technology that is leading us headlong into the future may also help us take a step back. In the process, it may go far to improve customer experience and cement brand loyalty.

While IoE can’t conjure a kindly couple to help with a purchase, someday soon you may enter a store, bank branch, or car dealership and be guided through the steps of the process via your smart device. You’ll be greeted at the door with a personalized message. And while you’re browsing, talking to a salesperson, or engaging with an expert, you will receive content automatically to support your customer journey and your eventual buying decision. All of these suggestions will be rooted in your past purchases and browsing history, and reflect your individual needs, likes, dislikes, and current life situation (sound familiar?).

CustomerExperience

Continue reading “Using Cutting-Edge IoE Technologies To Deliver Old-Fashioned Customer Experiences”



Authors

Rachael McBrearty

Chief Creative and Group Leader

Cisco Consulting Services

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The following blog was originally posted on the Grameen Foundation Insights Blog

Today, Cisco asked us all to share our vision of how the Internet of Everything can improve our world, by “connecting the unconnected.”

Like Cisco, we believe that human networks and technology can play a significant role in transforming people’s lives. At Grameen Foundation, our mission is to connect the world’s poor to their potential. Poor people are already resourceful, clever, and hard working. They have to be in order to survive. So imagine if we could connect their ingenuity to tools and information designed specifically with their needs in mind. In fact, we do that every day.

Here are four examples of the amazing things that happen when you connect the unconnected.

Connecting Poor People to Savings Accounts

Most banks don’t reach the rural poor to offer them a safe, convenient way to manage their savings. Grameen Foundation works with microfinance banks in India and the Philippines to offer mobile phone accessible microsavings products for the poor, reaching more than 800,000 households since 2010.

Continue reading “How Grameen Foundation Connects the Unconnected”



Authors

Alexis Raymond

Manager

Cisco Corporate Affairs

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It’s hard to believe but it’s ten months since I first blogged on  Cisco Domain TenSM,  which is Cisco Service’s framework to guide you on your path to data center and cloud transformation. I’ve now covered all ten domains of this concise and powerful model.  I’ll now collect all articles – including my most Cisco Domain Ten article around the breadth of SDN adoption challenges – into this one article as a useful summary.  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 and watched our VoDs, please do let me know what you thought of the series – oh, and thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZVO8meEOCo

Going back, now, I started in December 2012, with our launch of Cisco Domain Ten, where I set the focus for my series of articles as cloud transformation.  Let me summarize each article with (and for those that know me you’ll know this is a struggle 🙂 ) just one sentence with the key message from each blog/domain.

Continue reading “Cisco Domain Ten: The Compendium”



Authors

Stephen Speirs

SP Product Management

Cisco Customer Experience (CX)

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The Internet of Everything is a big thing, and it’s going to get bigger. As more devices, sensors, gadgets, and people get interconnected, you’ll hear more and more about it. But there’s one aspect of the Internet of Everything that I don’t hear a lot about.

That aspect is security, both in the form of actual security and the sense of security.

Let’s go back to the mid-1980s, when I got my start with computers. You could finally buy one and make it useful at home without being a programmer or a soldering wiz. Pre-packaged software was available to do all sorts of useful things, but the thing that stood out for me was financial software. You know, Sylvia Porter, Multiplan, or whatever worked with your brand of computer. (I was a weird kid; I even did mock tax returns in middle school civics class for extra credit.)

But there were a lot of people who would not think of doing their finances on their home computer, for fear of being hacked or having their identity and their money stolen electronically.

Now anyone who’s had a credit card replaced because their account information was compromised will know this is a valid concern, at times. But some of these folks using Quicken on their monochrome Macintosh 512 without any connection to the outside world were convinced that hackers would get in, perhaps through the power line (way before powerline Ethernet adapters).

It took the personal financial software industry (and the PC industry as a whole) a while to overcome the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding their products, to the point where people were comfortable storing their personal/sensitive information on a personal computer, connected or not. Fast forward to today when, according to Pew Research, over half of us bank online and about a third bank on our mobile phones.

mobile phone

As more people start to see what the Internet of Everything is about, they’re going to be excited, and eager to get involved. But they’re also going to have concerns and fears about all of this interconnectedness, and what it means for their privacy and security.

You’re not going to want hackers to make your fridge shut down, for example. But we shouldn’t cry over spoilt milk that isn’t necessarily going to happen.

There will be some genuine security issues, at least as long as humans are writing the code (and the documentation), but I expect there will be more fears of issues than actual issues. It’s like wars and rumors of wars. They can both be dangerous, but we can each take an active role in dealing with the latter.

As for me, I’m watching for where interconnectedness is growing fastest, and getting an elevator pitch ready to calm the nerves of my less-technical friends, coworkers, neighbors, the woman behind the counter at Five Guys, my landlord, etc.

Now I’m off to recharge my Pebble and Fitbit for the week, and make sure my unconnected fridge hasn’t turned itself off yet. But before I go…

What are you doing to prepare for the Internet of Everything? And where do you think the most FUD will come from? I’d love to hear your thoughts and predictions in the comments below



Authors

Robert Novak

Product Manager

UCS Networking