Year: 2014

July 23, 2014 1 Comment
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Securing What’s At Stake with the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) has made a profound impact on our lives.  However, it also means that more personal information and business data will be passed back and forth in the cloud, and with that comes new security risks, new attack surfaces, and new kinds of attacks. And with an unprecedented number of companies staking the future of their businesses on the pervasive connectedness that the IoT world promises, business leaders need to empower their technical teams to create secure IoT networks.

Most organizations deploy disparate technologies and processes to protect key elements of their businesses, including the information technology (IT) that is typically focused on information protection and operational technology (OT) charged with managing control networks that support critical infrastructure, as well as physical spaces.  I recently encountered a company that implements more than 80 security products for different tasks.  Many of these systems don’t work together, which in turn limits the level of security this company can achieve.

In an IoT environment, we need to accommodate the priorities of both IT and OT networks, balance physical safety and security requirements, and also begin to implement cybersecurity solutions to equally protect all networks from attack.  Solutions must be put into place to protect the device, control levels of the network, and the data contained and shared. We need to shift our mindset from considering each object in isolation, to looking at the whole. Attackers are taking a holistic view of the IoT and defenders must do the same.

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Chris Young

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#IWANWed: Harness the Power of Web Within the Enterprise Branch

Cloud Web Security AAG ImageIn the ever-changing world of enterprise branch environments, a high number of businesses are planning to migrate their WAN to the Internet. To be exact, Nemertes Research (Benchmark 2012–13 Emerging WAN Trends) estimates that number to be close to 50%.  That’s 50% of businesses migrating to Internet for WAN.

And why is that happening? Enterprises are trying to optimize their WAN to increase ROI. Internet has become a much more stable platform, offering significant price-to-performance gains. Thus, the growth of new cloud traffic, high bandwidth applications, and video can be easily load balanced across multiple WAN lines, one of which or both can be Internet links. Some of the enterprises go even further and enable local Internet breakout from the branch. Not only does it eliminate the need to unnecessarily backhaul the traffic to the corporate HQ or data center, but also helps to free up the precious WAN bandwidth for critical business related applications. This enables enterprises to provide guest Internet access within the branch and then slowly offer the same services to corporate users, both for trusted public clouds applications and general Internet access. Continue reading “#IWANWed: Harness the Power of Web Within the Enterprise Branch”



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Nikolay Poturnak

Product Manager - Security Services

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Leading Analyst Firm, EMA, Validates Cisco’s Big Data Warehouse Expansion Solution

Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst firm that provides deep insight across the full spectrum of IT and data management technologies. EMA analysts, including Shawn Rogers who guides EMA’s Business Intelligent Research group, leverage a unique combination of practical experience, insight into industry best practices, and in-depth knowledge of current and planned vendor solutions to help their clients achieve their goals.

Shawn recently published an EMA Impact Brief on Cisco Big Data Warehouse Expansion.   In it he examines the impact this solution brings to traditional data warehouse environments by better managing data, system growth and extending the analytic value delivered from a data warehouse investment.

Cisco Big Data Warehouse Expansion is a new offering that combines hardware, software and services to help customers control the costs of their ever-expanding data warehouses by offloading infrequently used data to low-cost big data stores.  Analytics are enriched as more data is retained and all data remains accessible.

BDWE

In his Impact Brief, Shawn makes three important observations about how enterprises can benefit:

Cost Control: A common cost to traditional data warehouse environments is planning for the exponential growth of data. The Cisco solution analyzes the system, identifies data not in use (cold data) and provides a workflow and tools to offload the data onto Hadoop avoiding upgrade costs and extending the life of the data warehouse.

Improved Performance: By implementing an ongoing strategy to offload data from the primary system to Hadoop, the Cisco Big Data Warehouse Expansion solution frees up resources providing for better overall system performance. Additionally, Cisco deploys data virtualization technology that adds a layer of optimization for fast queries and simplified access spanning the original warehouse and the new Hadoop data store. Further, Cisco UCS servers are optimized for Hadoop workloads.

Added Analytic Value: Many companies are forced by the economics of data management to implement aggressive Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) policies removing data from critical systems to avoid costs. The Cisco solution helps customers keep more data online and available for deeper and more insightful analytics, therefore, adding value to the overall environment.”

The report ends with the following conclusion:

“EMA recommends that organizations that manage mature data warehouses investigate offloading as a strategy to expand and extend their data warehouse investment.”

If Shawn’s counsel makes as much sense to you as it does to me, then let’s get started.

Click here to download and read the entire report.

Learn More

To learn more about Cisco Data Virtualization, check out our page.

To learn more about EMA research, analysis, and consulting services for enterprise line of business users, IT professionals and IT vendors at www.enterprisemanagement.com.



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Bob Eve

No Longer with Cisco

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So many workloads and so many clouds ….

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to join a discussion regarding the #FutureOfCloud in the #InnovateThink  Tweet Chat. One of the questions that came up revolved around the process typically used to associate a workload with a specific cloud deployment model. That is an important question and top of mind whenever we speak with customers.

One of the most appealing qualities of the cloud is the variety of ways in which it can be delivered and consumed. A successful cloud strategy will let you take advantage of a full range of consumption models for cloud services to meet your specific business needs. In reality, when we think about it, the process is very similar to what any company in virtually any industry goes through when shaping its business strategy. For each area of the business, inevitably the question arises: Build, Buy or Partner?

Build versus Buy

When formulating their sourcing strategies, IT organizations repeatedly face very similar service-by-service, “build-versus-buy” decisions. The predisposition of IT organizations is to create and build IT services on their own. That is what many IT professionals want to do … create new services, invent ‘new things’. And that may very well be the best option. However, many customers also realize that it is often beneficial to adopt best-in-class capabilities to remain competitive even if this requires outsourcing select portions of the IT value chain. Hence the emerging role of IT as a broker of IT services that we discussed in the past (for more information please visit our web site.) And this requires a paradigm shift for many IT organizations.

Solving the ‘Equation’

To solve the “build versus buy” equation when sourcing their IT services, IT needs to evaluate cost, risk, and agility requirements to determine the best strategy for their business. IT needs a plan and a set of governance principles to evaluate each service based on its strategic profile. A collaborative approach between business and IT is also required. For example: Is the service core to the business? What is the business value associated with it (e.g., strategic importance, sustainable differentiation it can provide, time to market requirements etc..)? What are the cost implications (CapEx vs OpEx), risk profile, security, SLAs, data privacy and regulatory compliance requirements?  And … do you have the expertise to plan, build and manage the new IT service while meeting the expectations of your business counterparts?

Hybrid Cloud Rapidly Emerging as the New ‘Normal’

Not surprisingly, my experience when talking to customers that operate in regulated industries or that are concerned about security – and the privacy of their data more specifically – is that they tend to favor private cloud deployments. For example, I was talking to a compliance manager part of a global financial institution and as soon as I uttered ‘public cloud’ his reaction was quite predictable …. He shook his head, got serious and quipped “Public cloud … I do not think so …” Real or perceived, security concerns remain top of mind and a major barrier to cloud adoption, and this is validated by market research data.

Hybrid Cloud

The predictability of the application with respect to resource consumption is also a factor. Applications that have high elasticity requirements are well positioned to benefit from the economics, agility and scale that public clouds can offer. Infrastructure capacity planning and optimization is a big task for most IT organizations. Having the ability to burst into the public cloud represents an appealing option. This is also why ultimately hybrid cloud is becoming the new normal, and results of the 2014 North Bridge Future of Cloud Computing Survey supports that view.

2014 Future of Cloud Annual Survey Results - Source Gigaom
2014 Future of Cloud Computing – Annual Survey Results

The Power of Choice

Arguably the most important thing your IT organization can do is to diversify its choice of cloud providers ….. Simply because without choice you really do not have a strategy …. And no contingency plans to go along with it ….

What do you think?

Additional Resources:

 

 



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Enrico Fuiano

Senior Solutions Marketing Manager

Cisco Cloud Marketing Team

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The Earth Isn’t Flat and Your Network Shouldn’t Be Either

Information is arguably one of any organization’s most valuable and business critical assets. Despite this, many information networks are, for all intents and purposes, flat networks. That is, networks with few flow controls over data which are then allowed to flow freely. This means that the most sensitive corporate or customer data moves through the same network devices as all other company information. This could include things like employee emails and Internet downloads, credit card information, research, sensitive financial information, electronic doctor/patient communications, and any other information that company employees create, receive, download, share, and store.

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Catherine Pitt

Customer Solutions Director

Security

July 22, 2014 Leave a Comment
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#CiscoChampion Radio S1|Ep19 Cisco Learning Network

#CiscoChampion Radio is a podcast series by Cisco Champions as technologists hosted by Amy Lewis (@CommsNinja). This week we’re talking about the Cisco Learning Network (CLN).

Listen to the Podcastcisco_champions BADGE_200x200

Learn about the Cisco Champions Program HERE.
See a list of all #CiscoChampion Radio podcasts HERE.

Cisco SMEs
Brett Lovins @brettlovins, Community Manager for the Cisco Learning Network (CLN)
Matt Saunders, @citylifematt, Community Manager for the Cisco Learning Network (CLN)

Cisco Champions
Colin Lynch @UCSguru, Principal Consultant
Brad Haynes @GK_bradhaynes, Client Solutions Specialist Continue reading “#CiscoChampion Radio S1|Ep19 Cisco Learning Network”



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Rachel Bakker

Social Media Advocacy Manager

Digital and Social

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Your Network: Well-Kept Secret for Your Protection?

In my discussions with security executives who gathered at the recent Gartner Security Summit they recognized that unsecured access to the network is a critical threat vector.   However, when leveraged properly, the network itself also provides a significant platform that offers comprehensive protection to close those gaps. What does this mean?

Continue reading “Your Network: Well-Kept Secret for Your Protection?”



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Kathy Trahan

Senior Security Solutions Marketing Manager

Global Marketing Corporate Communications

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Launching Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence in Europe

I recently wrote about how we are extending Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR)  and our open innovation strategy beyond Silicon Valley through local incubation partners in Chicago, San Diego and Berkeley.  Our presence in these innovation hubs will enable us to discover, influence and learn from new ideas and talent at early-stage startups with potential to disrupt our industry.

Today, I am pleased to announce the launch of Cisco EIR Europe, extending our program to a non-U.S. innovation hub for the first time.  Cisco EIR will be located initially in Vienna, where we plan to launch a small cohort of early-stage European startups by January 2015 – to be supported & incubated by Cisco – drawn from across EMEAR.  As with Cisco EIR in Silicon Valley, we will look for game-changing entrepreneurs in IoE, security, Big Data/analytics, Smart Cities & other transformational opportunities that are in Cisco’s strategic line of sight.  Also as in our Silicon Valley program, the startups will be supported by Cisco engineering & product teams as well as our EMEAR partner ecosystem.  The Vienna-based program is intended to serve as the beachhead – our “Phase 1” – for a broader EU-wide footprint for Cisco EIR.

Key to our success is how we leverage the startup ecosystem that already exists in Europe.  To this end, starting in Vienna, we have partnered with Pioneers, a leading startup community organization in Europe.  More partnerships are in the works.

I know all of you will agree innovation knows no national boundaries.  Europe, with its deep entrepreneurial talent, large market and history of innovation, presents a unique opportunity for us.  Europe is also one of the key regions for our Smart Cities – as you saw from our recent announcement of a new Smart Cities initiative in Copenhagen, following similar projects in Barcelona, Amsterdam Chicago and Hamburg.

We are thrilled to forge relationships in the European startup community – and support entrepreneurs as partners in open innovation.



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Mala Anand

No Longer with Cisco