Based on the online dialog on Easy Virtual Network (EVN) that I’ve seen, it appears that some people still have questions. We thought our story was as simple to understand as EVN is to use, but there is a need for clarification. Here’s a bit more information about what EVN is and what it isn’t.
One online comment was, “It’s a Cisco proprietary version of MPLS for the enterprise.” No, we believe in MPLS. It’s supported on a number of Cisco platforms and is used by many of our customers. MPLS is the most scalable and perhaps the most capable means of network virtualization. But it’s also overkill and far too complicated for many enterprises.
I love my job, but I really don’t enjoy my commute….and the unpredictable traffic. Living on the west side of San Francisco and working on the east side of San Jose, Google Maps tells me my journey is a hefty 47.2 miles and 1 hour and 1 minute (without traffic.) Holidays, rain, and accidents can add minutes and sometimes hours.
Twice a day, to and from work, I start asking the questions:
How busy is it on the road right now? Is the road full of tired commuters, semis, or concert traffic?
Which lane should I be in? If I’m in the fast lane, what are the odds of it coming to a screeching halt while I watch the other three lanes go by?
Do I need to detour to another interstate or highway due to an accident or concert?
I am back from a week at Cisco Live London where I presented to a packed room on Enterprise IPv6 Deployment. I added much more emphasis on Internet Edge design this time around and it was VERY well received. The comments were very positive, as were the questions in the room, regarding the Internet Edge as the primary starting point for the majority of the attendees. You can check out details on my IPv6 Internet Edge content at my previous blog post.
In addition to IPv6 in the Internet Edge, IPv6 security was a hot topic as usual. Excellent Cisco speakers such as Eric Vyncke provided attendees at Cisco Live very detailed guidance on securing their networks when using IPv6. One thing that we have come to realize, not just for security, but also for all areas of IPv6 deployment, is that we cannot assume too much regarding the knowledge level of people attending our sessions.
Recently Jon Stine with Cisco IBSG wrote in the Cisco Retail blog an article titled “In Between the Numbers: Bring Your Own Device Do we know what that means?” where he talked about the changes that the BYOD concept brings to the change in the culture of employees leveraging technology to get their job done, and how it not just impacts the end point technology but all the network and information technology infrastructure.
I recently went to New York for the National Retail Federation Conference and I took a picture of all the devices (excluding my laptop) that I carried with me for use at the hotel, in the booth, and while I was at 30,000 ft.
As I think back about working with multiple devices (both issued to me and owned by me) during the week, here are some areas that impacted IT.
Cisco Live! It’s always an exciting time – real customers, sharing real world experiences, looking for news that will make their networks stronger, faster, more capable, more efficient. And for this Yank, visiting ExCeL London in the heart of London’s Royal Docks for the first time, it’s a special treat.
There are a number of announcements coming out of Cisco Live this week – two that build on the story we’ve been telling about the Catalyst 6500… a new 40 Gigabit Ethernet module and 160 Gbps per slot performance in existing Catalyst 6500 E-Series chassis.
Cisco Live London 2012 is underway this week. I’m sure that technical learning and having fun are high on your to-do list. Perhaps you’re also anxious to know what new products and technologies Cisco will announce.
I talked to several customers during the last several weeks. They all wanted to know what Cisco is doing further to help them deal with the wave of cloud computing, video, and mobility. In my previous post From San Jose to London I summarized these questions: Read More »
The other day I took my one year old son on his first train ride. I knew that he would enjoy the short trip (just a couple of stops and back) and I wanted him to get the feeling of riding a train. While on the train I noticed a teenager text messaging on a phone.
I smiled to myself, thinking that here’s a teenager holding a Smartphone in hand on a train with a modern Wi-Fi enabled network with 3G coverage, and yet she’s still communicating via a 30 year old technology.
If you’re attending Cisco Live London this week, don’t miss the opportunity to meet the medianet team as well as the medianet capabilities first hand. We have demos in the World of Solutions, three technical sessions, and on-site executive briefings on 31 January and 1 February.
There’s no need for a midnight ride when you’ve got the Right Network. We saw what happened when William Wallace upgraded to the Right Network, but how about Paul Revere?
In the last medianet blog, Ulrica de Fort-Menares described the medianet architecture as two concepts: horizontal and vertical integration. In this blog we will discuss some examples of these concepts.
*Vertical integration is about applications and network working together end-to-end across the network to deliver intelligent services. …One example of medianet vertical integration is the WebEx integration with Media Services Interface (MSI).
*Horizontal integration is about providing services that run across the infrastructure in order to deliver a consistent experience. …One example of medianet horizontal integration includes the Cisco Media Transformation Services.
If you are attending Cisco Live Europe in London (Jan 31 to Feb 3), here is a panel that you won’t want to miss. Six top Cisco engineering executives in charge of the innovative technologies for wireless, security, WAN optimization and the network will all participate in a panel “Enable the Cloud, Enable Private Mobile Devices, Enable the Future…”.
During this panel the executives will unveil their vision of what will shape the future of IT in the next several years. If you have ever had a question you’ve always wanted to ask – this is your opportunity.
Do you think hybrid clouds look like your granny’s network too? Well, that may be extreme, but there is no doubt that hybrid clouds are networked in ways we saw things connected a decade back. Consider a recent example I came across while discussing cloud adoption at a large global enterprise headquartered in the US. Their Asia office wanted to deploy a regional application for local use. It was impractical to deploy it at one of the two large data centers in the US since user experience would be sub-optimal due to latency issues. Hence they chose a local cloud provider to host the application. Sort of a hybrid cloud situation. So what? Read More »
At the National Retail Federation conference and expo this past week in New York, Cisco released its latest study on how consumers are hopping across multiple channels and how retailers can catch ‘Em and keep ‘Em. On my way from San Francisco to New York this week, I was shopping at the airport and did an e-book purchase and downloaded it to my tablet using the onboard wireless Internet service at 30,000 feet.
Think about the impact of this new consumer reality to retailers such as Sport Chalet, who needs to build a strong foundation to support customers anytime anywhere.
Sport Chalet CEO, Craig Levra, and CIO, Ted Jackson, discuss how they are satisfying shoppers and improving operations with Cisco technology.
Some of the capabilities that retailers need to provide going forward in the omnichannel world include:
The new year 2012 brings new expectations and changes. The city of San Jose, for example, enacted a ban on plastic bags at grocery stores and other retailer check outs. In response, residents and approximately 5,000 retailers are all adjusting to this new experience, making San Jose the largest U.S. city to ban plastic carry-out bags. Apparently San Jose, along with many other cities, is determined to avoid perpetuating the history of urban area pollution. The environmental destruction has plagued so many places, including the River Thames in London which was declared “biologically dead” in the 1950s.
