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At Cisco, we have identified the Internet of Everything (IoE) as the next wave of the Internet, an explosion of connectivity among people, process, data, and things. We have estimated that these connections in the IoE offer a staggering $19 trillion in Value at Stake over the next decade for both private and public sectors. And now that IoE is here, it’s important to talk about how both enterprises and public-sector organizations can take full advantage of this market transition. To help, Cisco is offering two comprehensive pieces of thought leadership to illustrate a roadmap for IoE. A Fast IT strategy helps enterprises capture their share of the IoE Value at Stake. The Internet of Everything in the Public Sector research explores how IoE is transforming government to demonstrate how public-sector organizations can capture their share of the IoE Value at Stake.

By Joseph Bradley

What comes to mind when I say “government efficiency”? The public sector often gets a bad rap when it comes to technology; however, a closer look into government organizations reveals a much different picture.

Building on its’ groundbreaking public sector research, which showed the IoE value of stake over 10 years to be $4.6 trillion, Cisco and Cicero Group just completed an in-depth study of more than 40 leading government organizations worldwide.  The research examined real-world projects that are operational today and represent the cutting edge of IoE readiness and maturity.

Analyzing this research, Cisco Consulting Services gleaned the 10 key insights for how government organizations are capturing IoE value today. These insights are powerful for any company or organization wanting to thrive in a world where change and disruption caused by the convergence of cloud, mobile, social, and information, is the norm.

To whet your appetite, here are three of the Top 10 insights.

1. Public sector organizations are leading IoE innovators. The public sector is an excellent proving ground for IoE because of the size of many government institutions, the number of people they serve, and the difficult problems they must solve. The 40 jurisdictions we studied rival the best private-sector firms. The vision, scope, and execution of their IoE initiatives provide a model for both private and public sector organizations to follow.

My take is that in today’s increasingly connected world, public sector leaders know that change isn’t constant, it’s instant. And they are acting appropriately – they are leading the way.

2. Cities use comprehensive strategies to generate IoE value. Cities are well positioned to improve the quality of citizens’ lives through IoE because they provide (or source) many of the services upon which citizens rely, including transportation, law enforcement, education, water, and (sometimes) Internet connectivity.

The City of Amsterdam’s Smart City strategy typifies this approach. It includes 47 IoE projects, such as smart energy grid systems, street lighting, parking application, building management, and public Wi-Fi. Many of these projects span multiple city departments, and involve private sector stakeholders. At the center of Amsterdam’s IoE strategy is an open IT infrastructure that will provide a platform for IoE-based innovations for years to come.

My perspective is that Moore’s Law is alive and well in the public sector. Government leaders know that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. But, they also know to do it over the course of dinner, not a year.

3. IoE solutions must address people and process, not just data and things. Successful IoE initiatives are characterized by a focus on the process improvements that accompany technology innovations, and the many “people” issues that are critical to success. These issues include getting employees to embrace new roles and responsibilities, using training and recruiting to obtain needed skills, and, critically, getting the users of IoE systems to adopt them.

The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) is in charge of paving the way for the efficient, resource-friendly, and sustainable implementation of infrastructure projects in the Port of Hamburg. The HPA is the contact point for all kinds of questions concerning waterside and landside infrastructure, the navigational safety of vessel traffic, port railway facilities, port property management, and economic conditions within the port area..

Facing growing transportation volume, the HPA developed a strategy to extend its IT architecture, revamp its business processes, and scale its operations. Now, when a ship comes into the harbor, HPA’s systems indicate that it is approaching. This allows HPA to get real-time information to those who need it, including ship pilots, cargo handlers, environmental monitors, and so forth. People receive data at the right time so they can invoke the proper processes when needed.

As Dr. Sebastian Saxe, chief information officer, Hamburg Port Authority, describes it, “The Internet of Everything incorporates the technology, tries to build a control process, and includes people in this process in order to build more intelligent systems…If you try to approach this type of model and you leave out processes and people, you are going to be left with half-truths, or an incomplete solution.”

My view is that people are at the center of IoE. If people aren’t an integral part of the solution, whether it’s for the public or private sector, what’s the point?

To learn about the other insights and government initiatives go here. Also feel free to contact or follow me on Twitter at @JosephMBradley.



Authors

Joseph M. Bradley

Global Vice President

Digital & IoT Advanced Services

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At Cisco, we have identified the Internet of Everything (IoE) as the next wave of the Internet, an explosion of connectivity among people, process, data, and things. We have estimated that these connections in the IoE offer a staggering $19 trillion in Value at Stake over the next decade for both private and public sectors. And now that IoE is here, it’s important to talk about how both enterprises and public-sector organizations can take full advantage of this market transition. To help, Cisco is offering two comprehensive pieces of thought leadership to illustrate a roadmap for IoE. A Fast IT strategy helps enterprises capture their share of the IoE Value at Stake. The Internet of Everything in the Public Sector research explores how IoE is transforming government to demonstrate how public-sector organizations can capture their share of the IoE Value at Stake.

By Pat Finn

When we look at the concept of the Internet of Everything (IoE), we talk about how people, processes, data and things can help generate real business value and assist with better decision making.

But how is IoE properly embraced and executed within the U.S. public sector?

In January 2014, Cisco released an IoE public sector value at stake study that stated IoE could generate $4.6 Trillion in value for public sector organizations over the next decade. This week, Cisco unveiled a “second wave” public sector value at stake study that profiles more than 40 individual public sector jurisdictions around the world and how they’ve embraced IoE.

Furthermore, Cisco unveiled a Top Ten Tips List to teach organizations about practical approaches to IoE.

In this new study, we see that many U.S. jurisdictions have successfully deployed initiatives around IoE and therefore have become models for other jurisdictions.

Below are three stand-out use cases profiled in the study.

Chicago Plows Forward with Data

It’s no surprise that the Windy City often experiences severe weather conditions. But as many local residents know, snowfall can be unpredictable and hit different areas of the city more than others. So to more efficiently dispatch plows to areas that need snow removal, the city of Chicago utilizes existing traffic cameras to monitor the streets for snowfall.  The city also placed GPS tracking devices on the plows themselves so that they could monitor what streets had already been plowed.

When cities capture data in this way, they not only create more efficiencies in day-to-day operations, they also make roads safer for residents.

Snow monitoring is just one example of how Chicago is thinking creatively about how to leverage data to produce smarter processes within government. Through bus and train tracker applications, the Chicago Transit Authority gathers, analyzes, and disseminating bus and train location information to more efficiently monitor performance for these modes of transportation.

But leveraging data internally isn’t the extent of Chicago’s innovation efforts. As a proponent of open data, the city has made roughly 500 city data sets available through an open, online platform that developers can access for creating their own apps. Civic hacking is just one more way to provide city data more directly to the residents.

To say that Chicago is a leader of IoE would be an understatement. And as the host location of this year’s Internet of Things World Forum this coming October, I look forward to watching Chicago expand and develop innovation as they prepare for this influential event.

UVA Telehealth Connects With Patients Remotely

Access to quality healthcare can often be a challenge for individuals who live in rural areas or in countries that have limited healthcare services.

To address these challenges, the University of Virginia (UVA) Telehealth program was developed so doctors and clinicians can connect virtually with patients using solutions like immersive telepresence and unified communications. Using these solutions, doctors can provide basic medical examinations and services in nearly 40 specialties for patients.

Not only are these doctors able to connect with patients located in the distant corners of Virginia, but the UVA Center for Telehealth program has been expanded so doctors can virtually connect with other doctors in areas of developing countries that are medically underserved. Having that capability to share medical knowledge and best practices will help doctors make better medical decisions and improve communication among doctors who work with each other within a single hospital.

Beyond patient-to-physician and physician-to-physician interaction, using these innovative technologies will open up opportunities for remote mentorship in the medical field all while saving money, time and travel.

San Antonio, Texas, Thinks IoE for the Municipal Court and the Streets

For some jurisdictions, embracing IoE could mean a long road ahead. But San Antonio, Texas, has proactively invested in IoE technology as a way to empower its agencies now and in the future to do more, better by connecting people processes data and things. According to the new value at stake study, a host of agencies in San Antonio have innovated on top of the city’s pervasive wired and wireless mesh network infrastructure – in many cases, in ways that were not thought of when fiber optic was laid.

San Antonio deployed a city-wide traffic control system that synchronizes and manages more than 1,200 traffic lights at the city’s intersections. By deploying a system that automates the timing of traffic lights, the city can expect smoother traffic flow, which may seem like a small matter of just a few minutes per vehicle. But according to city officials they estimate that city residents and business were spending an extra $2 billion prior to the project starting, based on the value of time and gas no longer spent while waiting at traffic lights.  To take it to the next level, the system also provides control over some traffic cameras, which can provide better visibility of traffic activity to the city’s traffic managers.

Off the streets, the city piloted a remote video system so Municipal Court judges and citizens can complete court hearings through video conferencing technology available through kiosks and link centers in the city. As an extension of this service, constituents may also complete other court related matters such as paying traffic tickets through an online payment mechanism.

Capturing IoE

San Antonio, like other leading jurisdictions, has identified not only practical, but cost-saving approaches that will allow for smoother, more efficient operations in the long term all while embracing IoE. These three profiles, and others in the research, are paramount examples of how jurisdictions large and small have successfully leveraged their existing technology resources, drafted long-term plans and goals for tangible benefits, and found the right partners to execute on projects which improve citizen experience and financial health of the organization – all with IoE technology.

Let these profiles be your guide when planning your own IoE strategy. If jurisdictions learn from one another and teach each other best practices, they can truly capture the benefits of IoE.



Authors

Patrick Finn

No Longer at Cisco

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Written By Ram Haridasa, Senior Marketing Manager, Ciscoramharidasa

We talked about Elastic Access last week – how we’ve introduced new Carrier Ethernet innovations that will extend Cisco’s Evolved Programmable Network capabilities to the access with specific focus on automating the provisioning process and reducing operational costs for our carrier customers.

It’s one thing to read about it – quite another to see it. Join us this week at Cisco Live San Francisco and you can see Continue reading “Have You Checked Out Elastic Access at Cisco Live San Francisco Yet?”



Authors

Greg Smith

Sr. Manager, Marketing

Cisco Solutions Marketing

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Mobility trend in Hospitality

A recent TripAdvisor survey found that over 40% of travelers use their smart phones to plan a trip and over 46% use their smart phones to enhance their trip while traveling.

hospitality1

No longer is it just an idea or an aspiration for the hospitality industry to use innovative methods to engage with their guests, for example Marriott Hotels, just this year, announced the addition of mobile checkout to its industry-leading Marriott Mobile app for smartphones. Clearly mobile check-out is just the latest innovation from the brand as a new service designed for today’s connected travelers. Continue reading “How the Shift to Mobility & Location-Based Services is Changing Hospitality & Guest Services.”



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Brendan O'Brien

Director Global Product Marketing

Connected Mobile Experiences

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Organizations are quickly discovering that a “one size fits all” approach to security across the network falls short of addressing the unique trends in the Data Center. So what’s really that unique about the Data Center (DC)? This is a multi-part blog to highlight various trends related to securing the DC, with Part One focusing on traffic trends.

Continue reading “Trends in Data Center Security: Part 1 – Traffic Trends”



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Munawar Hossain

Director of Product Management

Security Business Group

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For cyber attackers, and those who defend against them, the stakes could not be higher than they are right now.  There’s no question that security is a top priority for organizations and the threat landscape is more dynamic than ever. Given the explosion in the amount of information being created and exchanged, driven by mobility, cloud computing, and the Internet of Everything (IoE), the number of cyber attacks will continue to increase—and with greater speed and complexity. Companies need threat-centric security solutions to address the full attack continuum – before, during, and after an attack.

Today, I am pleased to announce Cisco’s intent to acquire ThreatGRID, headquartered in New York, NY. ThreatGRID offers dynamic malware analysis and threat intelligence technology, both on-premise and in the cloud. This helps organizations and security teams defend proactively against and quickly respond to advanced cyber attacks and malware outbreaks.

The acquisition of ThreatGRID and its team of security innovators strengthen Cisco’s security strategy to deliver intelligent and comprehensive cybersecurity for the real world. ThreatGRID’s technology enhances Cisco’s Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) portfolio, originally developed by Sourcefire, acquired in 2013. ThreatGRID’s on-premise products also expand our ability to help protect customers with in-house data retention requirements. AMP addresses our customers’ security needs from network to endpoint and delivers comprehensive malware-defeating capabilities, including detection and blocking, continuous analysis and retrospective remediation of advanced threats. The combination of Cisco and ThreatGRID will enhance our already strong capabilities to aggregate and correlate data to identify advanced and evasive cyber threats and provide intelligent cybersecurity solutions for the real world.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and investments are a key part of our innovation strategy that includes build, buy, partner, and integrate. This acquisition further supports Cisco’s priority to deliver innovative security offerings and to be the number one IT company, and security partner, to our customers. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014. We are very excited to welcome ThreatGRID’s outstanding team and technology to Cisco.



Authors

Hilton Romanski

No Longer with Cisco

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The RDK – the Reference Design Kit – already catapulting into the cable landscape, by way of cloud-capable set-tops and gateways – is a hefty source of industry discussion as we head into ANGA COM, in Cologne.

As an active RDK Community member, we are already deeply involved with RDK launches, worldwide. We’re also poised to contribute an open source framework for broadband-oriented RDK equipment. So with that as a baseline, we’ll start the volley of “RDK at ANGA COM” with a quick update on some of our observations about the RDK marketplace, so far.

1) It really does make the launching of cool video services and rich, web-like navigation (much) faster. Allow me to tell you the tale of our colleagues at Hrvatski Telekom, in Croatia. Last year, the customer threw down the gauntlet with a request to flex its brand-new IPv6 network with IP video services, based on RDK — with a start-to-completion timeframe of 50 days.

Other design parameters: The user interface needed to be bi-lingual, and we needed Continue reading “RDK in Action: ANGA COM and Beyond”



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David Yates

as Director of Service Provider Video Marketing at Cisco

SP360

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Wow! It’s been a whirlwind beginning to Cisco Live 2014. I’ve already met many partners and customers and we’re only about halfway through the week! Folks are excited to be part of such a huge event here in San Francisco.  In fact, check out this shot of folks streaming into the room for John Chambers’ keynote address yesterday.

Crowd ShotBefore John even took the stage, we’d already spent a lot of time talking with customers and partners about the new Solution Partner Program. This key piece of the Cisco Partner Ecosystem used to be known as the Cisco Developer Network (CDN). Arjun Lahiri, Senior Manager, Cloud and Ecosystem Strategy and Programs Group, took some time to really explain how CDN evolved into the Solution Partner Program and why those changes have occurred and how they affect partners. Be sure to read Arjun’s blog and get up to speed on the latest on the Solution Partner Program here at Cisco Live 2014. Continue reading “Away by the Bay at Cisco Live!”



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David Durham

Content Strategist

Channels

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SONY DSC Today at Cisco Live we started to show a train model that we use as a testing/validation vehicle for applicable train technologies.

At Cisco Live, the train includes our Cisco IE2000 industrial switches (IP67 and non IP67 versions), Cisco-819 M2M router, our target application hosting server-PC with VSMS and an even smaller application hosting server – a Raspberry PI.

Every car also hosts our ruggedized Cisco-IPVSC-6050 cameras and a demo version of a passenger information system (PIS) with both outside-train LCD and top-of-seat LCD panels. This is built on a Arduino/Linux prototype platform. Cameras and PIS-devices are PoE powered from our switches. Continue reading “Debuting the Autonomic Train at Cisco Live”



Authors

Toerless Eckert

Principal Engineer

Cisco Network Operating Systems Technology Group