2013 - Page 77 of 232

August 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

Under the Cloud, a Climate Change for IT

Cloud has had a deep impact on the fundamental ways in which IT services are consumed. Yet we are only on the cusp of the transformation. Cisco estimates that connections among people, processes, data, and things will surge from “only” 10 billion today to 50 billion by 2020. Cloud’s value as a key delivery system will extend to this emerging Internet of Everything (IoE) economy, connecting people, processes, data, and things. And the cloud readiness of each organization will determine its ability to reap value in an era of sweeping change.

But what is the current state of IT cloud consumption? And how do IT decision makers view the future impact of cloud?

Figure 1. Drivers of IT Change.

Source: Cisco/Intel Cloud Study, 2013

In a wide-ranging study, Cisco® Consulting Services (CCS), in partnership with Intel®, sought to pinpoint just how these powerful trends are impacting IT. The “Impact of Cloud on IT Consumption Models” study surveyed 4,226 IT leaders in 18 industries across nine key economies, developed as well as emerging: Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States. In each country enterprise and midsized companies were represented. The survey was conducted during March and April 2013.

Continue reading “Under the Cloud, a Climate Change for IT”

Manjula Talreja

Vice President, Global Cloud Practice

Cisco Consulting Services

2 Comments

Ask the Futurist: “How Will the Internet of Everything Help Us Manage Our Own Health?”

Dave Evans

In our last “Ask the Futurist” blog post, I discussed how the Internet of Everything (IoE) is working to connect doctors with their patients through electronic medical records. The subject of IoE’s role in the health care industry is a topic I am asked about often. After all, the Internet of Everything has the potential to change almost every aspect of how we live. And perhaps, how long we live.

Today’s question comes from Teren Bryson, director of IT at Zetec. Teren is a cancer survivor, and still in his 30s. He is interested in how technology is impacting health — specifically user-enabled health monitoring through portable biometric devices. Here’s his two-part question:

Question: “How will the Internet of Everything help us manage our own health? For example, when will a wearable device be able to monitor my blood glucose levels or other biometrics in a real-time way?

Continue reading “Ask the Futurist: “How Will the Internet of Everything Help Us Manage Our Own Health?””

Dave Evans

1 Comment

Join @SecDatacenter and Top Industry Experts for #SecureDC Chat on SDN Security, 8/27 at 11am PT

Evelyn de Souza

Many network administrators over the years have viewed information security technologies as somewhat of a necessary evil, as opposed to a necessity. Security costs like the purchase and maintenance of firewalls, web filtering, anti-malware scanning, and encryption are seen as an additional burden as well as and excuse to spike spending plans. However, while security has not been a large part of the discussion up until now, as the threat landscape expands, it is becoming more of an imperative.

As organizations struggle to figure out how to secure their environments in the most efficient way possible, certain technologies are emerging to help. SDN (software defined networking), which is still in its early stages, has the potential to streamline security processes and even overcome large-scale cloud-based threats. Through harnessing the network footprint for dynamic threat response, SDN can be utilized to improve efficiency and reduce network downtime.

Join us, Tuesday 8/27 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time, as we examine technologies and solutions related to SDN and it’s impact on data center security. Led by Ken Beck, from the Cisco Office of the CTO, and Evelyn de Souza, the discussion will also include participants from key partners, analysts and industry luminaries.

The chat will address various security-related topics, including:

How to secure SDN environments
How to secure the controller
Leveraging SDN to streamline security processes
Leveraging SDN to overcome cloud-based threats

This is a great opportunity for those interested in, or responsible for business-data security to learn from top industry experts and a panel of distinguished engineers about the future of data center security through SDN.

Logistics: How do I participate in this Twitter chat?

1. Find

– Search for the #SecureDC hashtag (via Twubs, TweetDeck, or another Twitter client) and watch the real-time stream.

2. Follow

– @e_desouza and @SecDatacenter will get the conversation rolling by posing a few questions to participants.

3. Engage!

– Tweet your reactions, questions and @reply’s to the chat, making sure to use the #SecureDC hashtag.

– The #SecureDC chat should last about an hour.

Evelyn de Souza

Cloud Data Governance Leader

Chief Technology and Architecture Office

usNIC released!

Cesare Cantù

I’m excited to announce that Cisco has just released usNIC as a feature of the UCS C-Series Rack Servers product line.

usNIC is available since the release 1.5(2) of the Cisco UCS C-Series Integrated Management Controller.

Continue reading “usNIC released!”

Cesare Cantù

Manager of Software Development

UCS Platform

August 16, 2013 7 Comments

CISCO UCS BLADES DEPLOY 77% FASTER THAN HP BLADES

Thomas Cloyd

Deploying new servers is a routine task in data centers. Whether it is tied to server refreshes, net new compute initiatives or to an expansion of existing compute capacity, adding new servers can be a time consuming activity for IT personnel. This server deployment process has historically been very manual, with many solutions requiring:

Multiple tools or scripts
Repeated human interaction by the server team throughout the deployment process
Coordination of activities across server, networking and storage administrators for every server deployed.

All of these add to complexity, increase time to production, increase costs, and unavoidably increase the potential of human error.

What is needed is a dependable, repeatable process that automates and streamlines server deployment activities. This lets IT staff to devote their time to more value added activities which improves operations and productivity, yielding a much better TCO picture. Automated, fast, efficient, scalable management and infrastructure – this is where Cisco UCS and UCS Manager excel.

The efficiency of Cisco UCS server deployment is tied to UCS Manager. Cisco took a unique approach to computing and focused on the common point of interaction, the fabric. Servers don’t operate in isolation. They are part of a total environment that at the minimum encompasses servers, networking, management and storage – a Fabric Based Infrastructure . Cisco’s comprehensive and efficient architecture is the key to why customers worldwide are rapidly adopting UCS.

This detailed paper (below) does a side by side “time to deploy” evaluation of the Cisco UCS B200 M3 and the HP BL460c Gen8. The strength of UCS and UCS Manager for automation is clear in the ease of use and lack of complexity.
Below is a new time lapse side-by-side video – B200 M3 is 77% Faster Blade Deployment vs. HP BL460c Gen8.This new video (July 2013) illustrates the Business Advantage of the Cisco UCS Unified Compute, Unified Fabric and Unified Management – Cisco’s Unified Data Center. Comparing this video to the one we did for the B200 M2 is 47% Faster Blade Deployment vs. HP BL460c G7 (May 2011), Cisco UCS Manager has shaved a full minute off the deployment time for two blade servers and still only takes 14 steps to set up the automated process. HP’s time to deploy increased dramatically and is still very serial nature with lots of manual inputs.

https://youtu.be/bSSQfNt7SFk

For information on how UCS and UCS Manager integrates with other major systems management tools follow this link UCS Manager Ecosystem Partners and for interoperability see the UCS Interoperability page.

Thomas Cloyd

5 Comments

Will The Internet of Everything Change the Way Students Learn?

Kerry Best

Think back to your favorite class in school. How would that class be different if it took place today? My favorite was a 7th grade art class. While it’s hard to imagine Mrs. Vincent in a modern classroom with a tablet or smartphone, I know she would be on the cutting edge of art education.

The dynamics of what a traditional classroom looks like have evolved from the old chalkboard and teacher-centered classrooms into connected technology hubs, with online lesson plans, virtual fieldtrips, flipped classrooms and MOOCs. As technology advances, it is changing the way students learn and access education.

In his recent blog post, Dave Evans examines what the future of education looks like through the lens of of the Internet of Everything (IoE). Students will experience a rich virtual classroom—attending lectures, asking questions, participating in real-time discussions with instructors anywhere in the world. Continue reading “Will The Internet of Everything Change the Way Students Learn?”

Kerry Best

Marketing Manager

Public Sector Marketing

Cisco Partner Weekly Rewind – August 16, 2013

Anna Sui

Every Friday, we’ll highlight the most important Cisco partner news and stories of the week, as well as point you to important, Cisco-related partner content you may have missed along the way. Here’s what you might have missed this week:

Off the Top

Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) solutions have to be less about flashy technology and more about a productive user experience, according to evidence in the latest entry in our series from Dimension Data and Cisco Channels.

Gavin Hill, Technology Director for Unified Communications and Networking at Dimension Data spoke with us about the research findings and what they mean for current and future implementations. Don’t miss the chance to catch up on the latest insight from this study that features responses from more than 2700 participants and 18 countries across 20 vertical industries. Continue reading “Cisco Partner Weekly Rewind – August 16, 2013”

Anna Sui

Social Media Strategist

Global Partner Marketing, Cisco

Three Cisco Employee Volunteers Recognized as “Citizen Teachers of the Year” by Citizen Schools

Alexis Raymond

Three Cisco employees were recently named “Cisco Citizen Teachers of the Year” by Citizen Schools, one of Cisco’s longtime nonprofit education partners.

More than 125 volunteers from Cisco have stepped out of their jobs as engineers, sales executives, and technology professionals to become mentors and “Citizen Teachers,” leading groups of students in 10-week “apprenticeship” classes. Thanks to their commitment to the program, over 700 students have had access to caring mentors and developed an interest in pursuing future careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

Continue reading “Three Cisco Employee Volunteers Recognized as “Citizen Teachers of the Year” by Citizen Schools”

Alexis Raymond

Senior Manager

Chief Sustainability Office

2 Comments

Celebrating 5 Year Anniversary of Cisco Nexus 1000V Launch

Balaji Sivasubramanian

Today marks an important milestone for one of our most strategic data center products and the foundation of virtual networking portfolio. Five years ago, the Nexus 1000V virtual switch was the pioneer in the virtual networking market with its launch at VMworld in 2008. Since then it has been adopted by over 8000 customers and continues to grow on other platforms, such as Microsoft Hyper-V, and soon Linux/KVM. Today, Nexus 1000V represents the largest software controller-based networking solution (aka, Software Defined Networking or SDN) in the industry.

We continue to add hundreds of paying customers every quarter, in spite of offering a fully featured no-cost essential edition. The interest in the virtual networking space also continues to increase ever since the SDN trend started. There are also plenty of FUD or rumors being spread about the Cisco’s virtual networking solution. On this 5^th year anniversary, let’s do some myth busting focused on Nexus 1000V based solutions. Continue reading “Celebrating 5 Year Anniversary of Cisco Nexus 1000V Launch”

Year: 2013