2014 - Page 167 of 240

April 18, 2014 16 Comments

10 Cool Mobile Apps from Cisco You Don’t Know But Should

How many apps do you have on your mobile phone or tablet? Too many? Do you use all of them? If you do, you’re in the minority. 22% of people use an app only once after they have downloaded it, according to a study by Localytics.

iPhone Apps — ***My own iPhone is full of apps, some of which I rarely use — but also some tremendously valuable apps that I use multiple times daily.***

When apps first came out, we all rushed to download as many as we could, to see what they did. Alas, many of them were ‘duds’ from the start, or lost value over time, so we abandoned them rather quickly.

Companies did the same. They (we) built plenty of apps, perhaps to experiment or capture a new capability, or to address a new audience or market segment. Cisco built more than 120 customer-facing apps and more that 50 apps for employee self-service. [That’s too many!] Some of those apps were light on features, some were initially great but were later superseded by better apps, and some stand out for the recurring value they create.

Nevertheless, everyone is fighting for space on your device with the latest app and features.

I try to update my apps on a regular basis and remove any that I haven’t used in a while just to eliminate the noise and clutter on my device so I’m not scrolling through unused apps.

Cisco has quite a few great apps – below are 10 cool apps that I think you should consider downloading:

App

Description

Platform

User Rating

Cisco WebEx Meetings is an online meeting app; you can join Cisco WebEx online meetings right from your mobile screen and stay connected to important meetings, wherever you are.

iOS | Android | Amazon

#1 Most Popular Cisco App

Cisco 3D Interactive Catalog allows you to interact with Cisco products in 3D – rotate them around, explore features and learn about the key technologies that deliver Cisco’s competitive advantage.

iOS

#10 Most Popular Cisco App

Cisco Prime allows you to monitor and troubleshoot network issues anywhere, anytime. It helps organizations simplify network management, deliver predictable services and lower the total cost of ownership.

iOS

Cisco Proximity allows automatic pairing of a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) with Cisco room-based video collaboration endpoints when they come within proximity. Content shared on video endpoints can be viewed on your mobile device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycpcEtxl7Yk

iOS

#3 Most Popular Cisco App

Cisco Jabber is a collaboration application that provides presence, instant messaging (IM), voice, voice messaging, video, voice messaging, desktop sharing and conferencing.

iOS | Android

#2 Most Popular Cisco App

Cisco Binary Game app is a fun way to learn the binary number system. It has been played more than a million times all over the world.

“Great tool… This is a great and fun tool for developing proficiency in binary calculations.”
– DaMotif8er

iOS

Cisco (Marketing) App allows you to connect and collaborate with Cisco to get the latest news and promotional offers, find events and Cisco partners in your area, search for content, play our latest videos or podcasts, receive current security alerts, advisories and responses or find support.

iOS | Android

#6 Most Popular Cisco App

Cisco Well Magazine is an interactive magazine that offers in-depth information highlighting technology advances in healthcare through reports, relevant case studies, video and more.

iOS

Cisco VNI provides global, regional, and select country-level forecast projections and data based on Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecasts. Cisco VNI Forecast data is updated annually and covers a five-year forecast period (currently 2012 –2017) focused on mobile and fixed IP network traffic growth, trends, and service adoption.

Google

3.5

Technical Support app provides access to comprehensive Cisco technical support content, including support contract management information, leverage the communities for collaboration and share documents about configuring and troubleshooting Cisco products and solutions.

2012 Web Marketing Association Best Advocacy Mobile App award winner

2012 Forrester Groundswell B2B Mobile App award winner

iOS | Android

I think: you can’t go wrong with these 10. Try one or try them all. Or, you can check out all of the Cisco apps available.

Let me know which apps you like from the Cisco catalog.

Also feel free to shine a spotlight on little-known business, tech, news, and productivity apps you find especially helpful, interesting, or just plain cool (bonus points if they’re not well-known!).

Mark Yolton

Vice President of Digital

Cisco Marketing

3 Comments

Bring Out Yer Dead: 5 Steps to Eliminate 802.11b From Your Networks

Chris Spain

Now that US tax day is over, we in the wireless field can get back to focusing on P1: optimizing and maintaining network performance. Keeping your network in good shape is like gardening: if you don’t pull out the weeds, it’ll never look as good as it could. My friend Jim Florwick detailed the gory bits of the 802.11b penalty with its awful lag in efficiency and absolute waste of spectrum. I write today to help give you the steps to act on Jim’s order to stop the madness.

I liken this process to a memorable scene from Monty Python: You must “Bring out yer dead.” However much the first standard insists it’s still alive, let’s all be honest with ourselves: 802.11b is dead.

In memoriam of the first amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard hailing all the way since 1999, 802.11b was superseded by 802.11a and g in 2003 which are much more efficient. 802.11n was available in draft form in 2007 and was ratified in 2009 while 802.11ac was ratified last September. A few years from now we should be planning the wake for 802.11a and 802.11g as well.

Now is the right time to bury 802.11b and reduce the drag on your network. Let’s be real: there is a reason cyclists are not allowed on the freeway, and an 802.11b device will slow everyone down. Here are 5 easy steps for eradicating your network of 802.11b and getting on your way towards higher speed wireless:

STEP 1. Identify any 802.11b devices on your network

All of the latest Wi-Fi connecting devices are 802.11a/b/g/n capable. So how do you hunt down the 802.11b-only devices? You’ll be looking for older laptop and mobile clients (mostly before the year 2005).

Cisco Prime Infrastructure makes this easy for you with a report on clients by protocol. It will look like this:

Continue reading “Bring Out Yer Dead: 5 Steps to Eliminate 802.11b From Your Networks”

Chris Spain

VP Product Management

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Cisco IPS Signature Coverage for OpenSSL Heartbleed Issue

Walter Sulym

The Cisco IPS Signature Development team has released 4 signature updates in the past week. Each of the updates contains either modifications to existing signatures or additional signatures for detection of attacks related to the OpenSSL Heartbleed issue. I’m going to take a moment to summarize the signature coverage.

To best utilize your Cisco IPS to protect against the OpenSSL Heartbleed issue:

Update your sensors to signature update pack S788.
Enable and activate sub-signatures /3 and /4 for signature 4187, leaving /0, /1, and /2 disabled and retired (by default, signature 4187 is disabled and retired across all sub-signatures).
Sub-signatures /3 and /4 are set at a severity of Informational and Low, respectively, and will not drop traffic by default. If after monitoring the sensor alerts, you are comfortable dropping traffic inline based on those alerts, you will need to add an action of “deny-packet” to each signature.

Further detail regarding the released signatures:
Continue reading “Cisco IPS Signature Coverage for OpenSSL Heartbleed Issue”

Walter Sulym

Team Lead, IPS Signature Development, RTP, NC

Security

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Summary: IoT Holds Great Promise – But Ensuring Its Security Takes Strong Leadership and Teamwork!

Jeff Aboud

Despite the many benefits of IoT, the billions of connected sensors, devices, and other smart objects it comprises will also dramatically increase the diversity of threats we will face. As a result, ensuring that we can reap the overwhelming benefits of IoT without undermining security will take strong leadership and a great deal of teamwork throughout the industry. That’s why I’m proud that Chris Young, Senior Vice President, Cisco Security Group, recently made the list as one of the top 100 thought leaders for IoT!

Read the full blog post to learn more.

Jeff Aboud

IoT Security Manager

Internet of Things Technologies

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IoT Holds Great Promise – But Ensuring its Security Takes Strong Leadership and Teamwork!

Jeff Aboud

Many people take the term “Internet of Things” too literally, and assume that IoT is about the things, themselves. But they’re missing the whole point! It’s not the “things” that makes IoT special. After all, connected devices are neither new nor particularly interesting, particularly since the data each individual item produces is of little value. But by networking these devices together, IoT enables us to benefit from their ability to combine simple data to produce usable intelligence. In turn, that intelligence can be used by businesses to increase operational efficiency, and by individuals to make life easier and more comfortable.

But despite the many benefits of IoT, the billions of connected sensors, devices, and other smart objects it comprises will also dramatically increase the diversity of threats we will face. As a result, securely embracing IoT will require a multi-layer approach to security – including cloud, perimeter, physical, and device-level security, as well as end-to-end data encryption.

Ensuring that we can reap the overwhelming benefits of IoT without undermining security isn’t going to happen on its own; it will take strong leadership and a great deal of teamwork throughout the industry. That’s why I’m proud that Chris Young, Cisco’s Senior Vice President of Security, recently topped the list as one of the top 100 thought leaders for IoT! It will take leaders like Chris, who have a strong understanding of security and a passion for IoT, to help ensure that we can securely embrace IoT.

I honestly expect IoT to change the world in a variety of ways. But truly harnessing its power requires that we inspire and cultivate a true culture of security throughout every level of the extended network – which means that leadership and teamwork will be far more valuable than the technology, itself.

Jeff Aboud

IoT Security Manager

Internet of Things Technologies

April 17, 2014 Leave a Comment

On Cisco.com password changes

Nigel Glennie

Last week I published a brief blog about the OpenSSL heartbeat extension vulnerability, also known as the Heartbleed bug.

One commenter asked, “What about the Cisco.com website? Is it safe to change our passwords on the site?” We received a handful of similar questions from customers today, so I would like to offer our formal advice.

The Cisco Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) has not found any Cisco.com infrastructure that was vulnerable to the Heartbleed vulnerability. There is also no evidence to suggest a compromise of Cisco.com user accounts.

You are safe to change your password by visiting the Cisco.com profile management page – in fact regular password changes are something we actively recommend.

Regardless of the website you are visiting, use of a strong password and regular password changes are an important part of online safety. If you are looking for more password advice, we recommend the following US-CERT security tip: Choosing and Protecting Passwords.

Nigel Glennie

Director

Global Corporate Communications

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Reflections on Leading in IT

Lori Plate

The first time someone referred to me as a “woman leader in IT,” I was honestly caught by surprise. I had never stopped and thought about the idea that I was any different than any other leader, any other woman or any other person in IT. That single comment made me pause and reflect on where I was in my career, what had brought me to that point and if there was really anything that made me that unique or different from anyone else I worked with every day. As I reflected, I began to think about some core experiences and traits that I believe have played a part in getting me where I am today.

First, I was never once talked to about what I could or couldn’t do because I was a girl. I never thought twice about taking every math and science class I could in high school, going to college to get a degree in Engineering, and then starting my career in IT. I really enjoyed science and math, and I was good at those subjects. I wasn’t fazed by the fact that there were mostly Continue reading “Reflections on Leading in IT”

Lori Plate

Director of Enterprise Applications

Johnsonville Sausage, LLC

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The We’re Listening Blog Series: Transforming the Partner Experience with Cisco

Curt Hill

The “We’re Listening” blog series has always focused on what Cisco is hearing from both our customers and partners, and the improvements we’re making to the customer and partner experience. However, the partner experience deserves unique attention for the critical role that partners play in our business ecosystem.

Within Cisco, we have a huge focus on the Partner perspective and how to optimize success for our partnerships. As Vice President of Cisco’s Worldwide Partner Organization, Maria Cannon is responsible for the strategies that develop and enable Cisco Partners. I’ve asked Maria to join us for an expert view on what defines a successful partner engagement, and what Cisco is doing today to transform the partner experience for greater success for both our partners and end customers.

By Guest Contributor Maria Cannon

Partners are a key part of Cisco’s strategy to deliver successful outcomes for our end customers. Cisco depends on a global network of Partners to provide scale, skills, and capabilities at both local and global levels. Attending partner events around the world, including the recent Partner Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, I have the fortunate opportunity to meet and speak directly with many Cisco channel partners. While the details vary, the general theme coming from these conversations is the same: customers are evolving their business models and have new technology requirements aligned to whole business solutions. Continue reading “The We’re Listening Blog Series: Transforming the Partner Experience with Cisco”

Curt Hill

Senior Vice President

Customer Assurance

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My #InternetofEverything Perspective: Integrating Cities with IoE and City24/7

Tom Touchet

Tom Touchet, CEO of City24/7, shares his perspective on the Internet of Everything.

When the Internet of Everything is written about in history, the main determiner of its success or failure will be how it has benefited humanity. With this goal of ultimate connectivity in mind, Cisco and LG partnered with City24/7, a revolutionary IoE communications system that combines the power of smart infrastructure with the ubiquity of smart phones to bring broadcasts and customized information to the everyman. Through this partnership, City24/7 is installing 250+ Smart Screens in New York City’s five boroughs – the first large scale deployment in an emerging global market.

City24/7 is an interactive platform that integrates information from open government programs, local businesses and citizens to provide meaningful knowledge anytime, anywhere and on any device where it helps people the most. By incorporating touch, voice and audio-technology, City24/7 delivers a wide array of hyper-local information received from connected sensors, monitors and intelligent data tools, in real-time. City24/7 can even protect city inhabitants by alerting authorities citywide through intelligent networks when resources are needed in a specific area. These resource-efficient, environmentally resilient networks ensure the safety and security of residents while establishing an attractive, vibrant self-image.

Stand on any busy city corner and you will witness organized chaos. Thousands of people moving in every direction. Where are they going? What do they need? How can they access resources to help their day? Until now, these questions were often the great mysteries of the city.

We now have ways to better help inform and protect these citizens. City24/7 provides accurate and meaningful information to massive numbers of people, whether they are traveling to home, work, school or shopping. Since it’s interactive, the network is also learning what those citizens want and need, providing dense analytic data. These insights can be used by city managers to plan new programs and improve the efficiency of current systems, with the goal of making cities more convenient, comfortable and thriving.

That, in turn, improves quality of life for everyone, benefiting humanity in a way never seen before. That’s the power of the City24/7 network – the first city channel built with the IoE in mind.

How could City24/7 impact your city? Share your thoughts and join the conversation on Twitter.

Authors

Vice President of Digital

Cisco Marketing

Authors

VP Product Management

Authors

Team Lead, IPS Signature Development, RTP, NC

Security

Authors

IoT Security Manager

Internet of Things Technologies

Authors

IoT Security Manager

Internet of Things Technologies

Authors

Director

Global Corporate Communications

Authors

Director of Enterprise Applications

Johnsonville Sausage, LLC

Authors

Senior Vice President

Customer Assurance

Authors

CEO and President

City24/7

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