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I am excited to announce that Cisco has completed the acquisition of Sourcefire. With this acquisition, we take a significant and exciting step in our journey to define the future of security. As one company, we offer an unbeatable combination that will greatly accelerate our mission of delivering a new, threat-centric security model. Through the addition of Sourcefire’s competitive talent and technologies, I see vast opportunities to expand Cisco’s global security footprint in both new and emerging markets, broaden our solution sets and deepen our customer relationships.

Security is now a boardroom discussion. Breaches mean lost IP, compromised customer information, lack of confidence and valuation impact. In tomorrow’s world of the Internet of Everything, the number and type of attack vectors will continue to increase, creating a daunting challenge for companies and those responsible to defend the infrastructure.

The single network perimeter has been replaced by a constantly morphing set of users, locations, access methods and devices creating the dual challenge of defending a dynamic perimeter and creating a near infinite number of points of vulnerability.  

Continue reading “Cisco Closes Sourcefire Acquisition; Delivers Threat-Centric Security Model”



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The sweeping changes driven by cloud and the Internet of Everything (IoE) are upending traditional models of IT consumption in dramatic ways.

In order to shed new light on these trends and their impact on IT, Cisco® Consulting Services (CCS), in partnership with Intel®, conducted a wide-ranging study. We explored the powerful changes affecting IT consumption at all stages — how businesses plan, procure, deploy, operate, and govern IT services. We also focused on the ways in which lines of business (LOB) — human resources, sales, and other areas that are end users of IT — are altering overall IT consumption.

Some of our most striking findings related to the differences in perception between developed and emerging markets. The “Impact of Cloud on IT Consumption Models” study surveyed 4,226 IT leaders in 18 industries across nine key economies during March and April 2013. For our purposes, “emerging markets” included Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Russia,; developed markets were represented by Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States.

In all markets, cloud is overwhelmingly seen as a good thing. Despite the challenges and added complexity that cloud brings to IT organizations,
a strong majority feels that the business upsides outweigh the negatives. For example, 83 percent of respondents believe that cloud will positively impact IT planning. In addition, 81 percent see a positive impact from cloud on “IT funding and procurement.” Similar percentages apply across all other IT consumption lifecycle stages.

Continue reading “Emerging Markets Are Upbeat on Cloud”



Authors

Manjula Talreja

Vice President, Global Cloud Practice

Cisco Consulting Services

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The We’re Listening blog series has tracked some of the new programs and capabilities Cisco is introducing to make it easier to do business with us. The corporate Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Program drives many of these improvements, so I’ve invited EoDB executive lead (and Cisco EVP of Operations) Randy Pond to discuss some of the accomplishments and upcoming plans that will make it easier for our customers and partners to do business with Cisco.  Among those are:

  • Improvements to software licensing, including big changes to the product license registration page that allow customers to complete more self-service licensing transactions, and the roll out of the new Cisco Software Central portal, a one-stop shop for all your software licensing needs
  • Creating a more consistent negotiation and deal approval process globally
  • A renewed focus on our partners’ experience
  • Stronger focus on the role of User Experience design and philosophy in every Cisco product, policy, and process.

pond_crop By Guest Contributor Randy Pond

We’ve made it no secret that Cisco aims to become the #1 IT company. And while our development teams are hard at work to bring you exciting new technological offerings in software, cloud and security, there’s another critical piece of the equation – delivering an exceptional customer experience. This is a huge priority for John Chambers and the entire leadership team, and it boils down to consistency and simplicity. Over and over again, I’ve heard customers say that doing business with Cisco can be a mind-warp of changing policies, too many steps and new obstacles to deal with. This has to change. Today, we have teams across every function at Cisco concentrated on finding and making the changes that will have the biggest impact on your customer experience. Continue reading “How We’re Making It Easier to Do Business With Cisco”



Authors

Curt Hill

Senior Vice President

Customer Assurance

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Cisco Champions ask Challenging Questions.  This is the first in a blog series presented by Carlos Dominguez and Jimmy Ray Purser.

I recently had an opportunity to sit down with our Cisco Champions to discuss a range of topics about the future of technology.  Here’s a question of particular interest from Robert Novak:

“How can we use modern technology to serve the less tech-fortunate?  I’m pretty happy with 70+ mbit of Internet coming into my home. But there’s still a lot of the country and the world wishing for 1mbit. Can mesh technologies provide a greater Internet safety net for people outside tech hubs? Can we combine this with device connectivity and give people a transparent Internet connection that’s as easy to manage as the refrigerator that connects to it, or something like that?”

We live in amazing times. The world is being “rebooted” and changed exponentially through technology – with the most disruption occurring through the power of connectivity. The speed of change in connecting people, data, processes, and things continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Consider that only 10 years ago, there was no social media… and 10 years before that, we didn’t have the Internet…and web programming and mobile technologies didn’t even exist 20+ years ago!

Continue reading “Connectivity Transforming the World”



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The Cisco Government Blog and the Cisco Internet of Everything (IoE) Blog were both named to StateTech Magazine’s “Top 50 Must-Read State and Local Government IT Blogs.” This is a crowd-sourced list, where blogs were submitted and voted on, with the most useful and insightful blog sites for state and local government IT leaders making the top 50. So for those of you who voted for our blogs, thank you!

Continue reading “Two Cisco Blogs Named to StateTech Magazine’s “Top 50 Must-Read State and Local Government IT Blogs!””



Authors

Brenda Germundson

Global Public Sector Marketing Lead

Global Industries Marketing

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The buzz in retail these days is “omnichannel” – we see slogans such as “Engage with Today’s Omnichannel Consumers,” “Develop Your Omnichannel Business” frequently. Cisco itself uses this word often. But in all honesty, I don’t think many people fully grasp the concept and its potential. And I don’t know of any retailer that has a complete approach to it. That’s right: None. 

Omnichannel retailing is about opening the store, its products, and services to shoppers in an immersive way that drives customer interaction across any point of access, at any time. “Omnichannel” is not just about connecting existing systems, it’s a transformational way to look at how you conduct business.

Becoming an omnichannel retailer is a broad undertaking, and many retailers are creating new executive positions to lead this strategy. However, I think these companies may be missing the boat. When thinking about omnichannel strategies, consider three key points:

First, a customer-centric strategy cuts across all organizations in the business – it can’t be sidelined into one business function such as IT. I often consult with retailers who experiment with different capabilities in a disconnected way; essentially, they throw technologies at the wall and wait to see what sticks. Instead, why not start by asking, “What does my customer want? How can I build a loyal relationship with them?” It’s all too easy to assume that showrooming is the enemy. But, really, why, for example, is Amazon successful? It’s not because they are available on a mobile phone. It’s because they are easy to do business with, offer good pricing, and deliver quickly. It’s about the way they address customer needs.

Next, I think stores often try to do too much at once (see wall-sticking, above). Instead, I recommend a phased approach that starts with the low-hanging fruit – projects that have the highest probability of effectiveness and can be measured against business targets as a whole. Every store has its niche, and one size does not fit all. By achieving rapid successes up front, retailers gain funding for the next piece of the strategy, building from success to success.

Finally, accept the fact that an omnichannel business will change how people work. Are you avoiding Internet access because you think associates will waste time surfing the web? Some may – but your good salespeople will be able to leverage online information to help them serve shoppers. Concerned that showrooming on the floor will drive customers away as they find lower prices online? Build your own identity, brand, and incentives into the online environment to drive sales. Worried that an online storefront or call center will undercut in-store sales? Run the numbers on losses over time as consumers find your store is the only one without convenient mobile customer support.

Omnichannel is not about the technology. Rather, it’s about finding the best outcome for you and your shoppers. To achieve success, IT and business must work together to solve customer problems for the store as a whole – there’s no other way to do it with complete success. Check out this great blog by Cara Waters, Five Lessons in Retail Trends.

I love retail trivia! Comment below if you know the answer to this question: What is the oldest US retail company?



Authors

Rose Depoe

Executive Director

Consumer Products & Services

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You probably encounter broken links on the web.

We are working hard to minimize broken link experiences on Cisco.com. Over a year ago we started using a new tool that helps us shield Cisco.com users from broken link errors. This process has resulted in a steep reduction in the number of broken links reported.

We track what you encounter as avoided broken link experiences. Last month we were able to resolve and direct 215,750 attempts to access broken links and old articles and send you to the right place. The highest resolved broken links for a single month was over 354,300 links.

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Our progress so far is encouraging even though we have more to do.

Can you help?

When you find a new URL, change your bookmark so future access to the page will be faster. And if you do hit a broken link drop us a note in the feedback tool found on every page of Cisco.com



Authors

Bill Skeet

manager User-Centered Design

Smart Web Technology Group

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During World War I, British artist and navy officer Norman Wilkinson proposed the use of “Dazzle Camouflage” on ships. The concept behind Dazzle Camouflage, as Wilkinson explained, was to “paint a ship with large patches of strong colour in a carefully thought out pattern and colour scheme …, which will so distort the form of the vessel that the chances of successful aim by attacking submarines will be greatly decreased.” The Dazzle Camouflage was not intended to hide the presence of the ships themselves, but instead was created to hide the ships size, shape, direction, and speed from would-be attackers.

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Razzle Dazzle Camouflage applied to a ship

Continue reading “Razzle Dazzle v2.0”



Authors

Jaeson Schultz

Technical Leader

Cisco Talos Security Intelligence & Research

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Cisco is proud to be a Platinum sponsor and exhibitor at PASS Summit this year. If you aren’t familiar with PASS Summit, it “is the world’s largest, most-focused, and most-intensive conference for Microsoft SQL Server and BI professionals.”

Gary Serda has done an excellent job in detailing what the Cisco UCS team will be sharing with attendees in his blog post Guide to Cisco at the PASS Summit, so I wanted to highlight our 3D, interactive vRack of our Unified Computing System which is always a highlight at trade shows and will be on display at PASS Summit.

  https://youtu.be/j4zjh-PURRg

Stop by booth #300 Continue reading “Cisco UCS vRack on Full Display at PASS Summit”



Authors

Bill Shields

Senior Marketing Manager

Product and Solutions Marketing Team