Innovation Insights on Our Global Search for Innovative Technology Solutions

Network Authentication

Interop Las Vegas 2009 is now in the rearview mirror.  I came back with a lot of discussions still echoing in my ears. The gathering was smaller than last year but still a good turn out.  Cisco conducted a poll among conference attendees. More than 70% of them picked security as an area of interests, higher than any other areas. And network authentication was a hot topic.

So what is network authentication all about? On a very basic level, it is about understanding who is coming to the network. There are a number of ways to implement network authentication. 802.1X is one of them (see my blog on Identity based networking services). NAC (network access control) is another. In fact, most NAC solutions on the market support 802.1X as a deployment option. So why is it that not everyone is doing network authentication today? No merit? Inconvenience for end users? Too costly?

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Posted by Steven Song at 10:10AM PST

SAGEM Fax over IP solution built on the Cisco AXP platform

Christian Larocque, VP of Business Development at Sagem Interstar and Tugba Goksel of Cisco discuss how to leverage Cisco AXP for Network aware Unified Communications Solutions. Learn how Cisco Application Extension Platform enhances the capabilities of the Cisco ISR.

Posted by Tugba Goksel at 05:11PM PST

Thoughts from Cisco and Nemertes Execs from the Floor of Interop

Marie Hattar, Cisco VP and Johna Till Johnson, Nemertes President and Co-Founder, discuss the trends and highlights emerging at Interop 09/Las Vegas

Posted by Tugba Goksel at 03:41PM PST

Live from Interop 2009! Prashanth Shenoy talks about Webex Node for Cisco ASR 1000 series

Prashanth Shenoy discusses how WebEx Node for Cisco ASR 1000 Series can help customers reduce bandwidth costs and increase productivity.

Posted by Tugba Goksel at 05:00PM PST

Live from Interop 2009! Hear Steven Song talk about deploying wired 802.1 from the showfloor…

Wired 802.1X is hot. Find out why and how customers are deploying 802.1X for their networks today.

Posted by Tugba Goksel at 03:01PM PST

[Cisco Developer Contest] Meet the Finalists!

The wait is over. After getting nearly 900 registrations from 75 countries, among all those who submitted their proposals for Phase-1 of the Cisco Developer contest, we had 110 qualified teams who satisfied the requirements originally set forth. Cisco judges were amazed at the quality of the entries, the diverse range of ideas and the creativity that had gone into these submissions. This was especially surprising given that a vast majority of the contestants had never been exposed to Cisco router and many had not even heard of the Application Extension Platform and how it facilitates application integration. Because of the diversity we had judges with multiple disciplinary backgrounds sit in as consultants. For all those who responded - THANK YOU! For all those, who were shortlisted as potential finalists - big KUDOS to you. And for the top ten finalists - CONGRATULATIONS!

So, who thought Inside the Box?
These teams were short listed into potential finalists as mentioned in my previous blog. After another review process, we finally have the top 10 finalist teams who are raring to roll up their sleeves and get into the Cisco labs.

These finalists come from four different continents:

• From North America: Team Cupertino Systems, Team Service Enabled Networks and Team SNAT
• From Europe: Team MADnetwork, Team Bugsbernie and Team RSDevs
• From South America: Team Jin Jin and Team Campuser
• From Asia: Team Ideate and Team Enhancers

We’ve two teams of three, three teams of two, and the rest are individuals. They come from diverse backgrounds including many who are entrepreneurs, some are students and others are techies who’ve entered the contest for the fun of it. Their motives range from “taking the family to Disneyland” to “continuing higher education”.

Mick Scully, Cisco Vice President at the Access Routing Technology group put out a VoD announcing the finalists. Be sure to check out the Flash version where Mick captures the momentum and announces the finalists on the contest website. 

It is ironic that a few months ago, many of these finalists were going about their busy lives. They were probably aware of Cisco and maybe had heard of our routers, but had no idea that they would be doing anything with either. The Cisco Developer Contest changed all. Now, their lives just got that much busier, as they spend their waking time thinking what they need to do to win the contest and create some history here .

New and updated contest website:
We’ve updated the Cisco ‘Think Inside the Box’ contest website to feature the finalist teams and provide insight into their applications. We’ve also put up team photographs with their personal profiles.  Be sure to check that out. You may send shout outs to your favourite teams through the Innovation Blog (no need to register). We’ll also look to bringing you video blogs shortly, to give you a 360 degree view into our finalists.

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Posted by Shashi Kiran at 09:00AM PST

Cisco Developer Contest - Finalists to be announced tomorrow (drumroll please….)

Okay, it’s almost time. Let’s begin the drumroll, as we announce the finalists that move in into Phase-2 of the Cisco Developer contest and begin to develop applications.

Watch this space on May the 15th, 2009. Also look out for exciting updates to the contest website

Posted by Shashi Kiran at 05:43PM PST

Top Ten Questions on My Mind as I Head to InterOp—What are Yours?

Oh, how InterOp has changed… and changed… and changed, again.

I remember InterOp’s original innovation roots—when live connection to the showfloor network was a requirement for all exhibitors. In this early phase, attendees numbered from a few to around ten thousand and were mostly software/hardware development engineers. Proving was paramount. Connecters, signals, protocols, devices… everything needed proving. I remember InterOp’s transition to a full-fledge mega-show, requiring exhibition space in not only the Las Vegas Convention Center and attached Hilton, but also within a dozen or more satellite hotels. In this phase, attendees numbered over 150,000 and were mostly network operators and product marketeers. Selling was paramount. Vendors sold customers. Start-ups sold investors (or outright buyers). Technology innovation seemed to take a back seat to crossing the chasm in order to reach the mainstream money pile. Well, with a troubled economy and heightened virtual access to industry events and information, InterOp would seem to be returning to its innovation roots once again. No network vendor should be spending event monies unless they are looking to show something that is truly innovative. No network operator should be spending travel monies unless they are looking to do something really innovative. While the development engineers may not have returned, InterOP has once again returned to being a proving ground for networking. Only this time around, it is less about proof of concept and more about proof of value. Which leads me to the questions that I will carry with me as I travel the aisles, visit the booths, and attend the sessions. 

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Posted by Mark Leary at 10:51AM PST

Inspirational innovations

When Barack Obama kicked off his online town hall meeting recently, he accomplished yet another innovative endeavor in his presidency. No other US presidents have ever reached out to the public and grass roots the way he has, utilizing the full power of the Internet and technologies to connect with the main street.

Customers are asking the same effort in the information security arena. They are looking for new solutions that can help them secure their business environment, with easy deployment and management in the mean time. I’m very excited about the major progress made in Cisco’s Identity-Based Networking Services (IBNS).  It is just such an innovative solution for customers.

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Posted by Steven Song at 07:46AM PST

The Power of the Network

With power, comes responsibility. You’ve heard this before, but it is even more critical when we’re all armed with the tools that can influence or impact others. Most recently, this came to a head with Twittering about Swine Flu.  With the unfiltered nature of the ‘tweet’, fact and rumor, the correct and incorrect, are immediately available to ‘followers.’ It is almost like mob rule for news. Twitter is just the latest example of our sometime misplaced demand for the latest information … a nation developing an acute case of ADD and grabbing disparate pieces of information on the fly …. without any centralized analysis based on vetted data.   

Imagine if you managed your IT infrastructure that way. Reacting to individual situations as isolated problems; troubleshooting based on rumors or hearsay; operating in a vacuum, without analysis and without the bird’s eye view. Not the most strategic or efficient way to manage your business. And certainly not an approach you can sustain over the longer term. Caveat emptor, magnified a thousand-fold. 

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Posted by Marie Hattar at 05:25PM PST

Cisco IT Innovation Forum - A sneak peek for May 7th

As mentioned in my previous blog, on May 7th, less than three days from today, curtains will rise on the Cisco IT Innovation Forum - a 360-degree customer-focussed event involving Cisco’s customers from all over the world, industry thought leaders from various analyst firms and of course, Cisco business and technology experts.

What’s in it for you?
All our keynote speakers, panelists and other presenters are going to share their thoughts and experience on how to sustain innovation in turbulent times while navigating to survive. Though there is no one size fits all, these are times when the bulk of organizations resonate to a few common problems, and are looking for creative practices to lower costs in the workplace, improve productivity and think outside the box in how they leverage IT not just as a cost center but as a strategic asset to their business.

Who’s speaking?
We have our customers sharing their experiences and advocating best practices from across the globe. It’s not “Cisco-speak” and believe me you don’t want to miss this -

- Joao D. Bezerra Leite, Director, IT Operations and Infrastructure, Itau Bank
- Ushir Bhatt, Chief Executive Officer, Future Group
- Dave Cahill, Chief Information Officer, Van Meter Industrial, Inc.
- Matthew Frederickson, Director, Information Technology, Council Rock School District
- Grigorios Gkotsis, Project Manager, Consultant, Information Society S.A., of Ministry of Interior
- Eric Hicks, Director, Information Technology, Burnham Institute for Medical Research
- Marco Michelotti, Manager, Information and Communication, Leaseplan
- Darren O’Connor, Chief Information Officer, The Reject Shop
- Riccardo Salierno, Chief Information Officer, Liquigas S.p.A.
- Daryl Schweiger, Manager, Information Systems, Cardiovascular Group

Also, don’t miss out on some of the leading analysts from Nemertes group, Current Analysis and the Lippis report, or the Keynote session with Cisco executives Mick Scully, Marie Hattar, Shailesh Shukla moderated by Bob Berlin. Believe me, none of them are shy to voice their opinions.

Register now @ http://www.ciscoitinnovationsforum.com. It’s Virtual and Free!

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Posted by Shashi Kiran at 10:29PM PST

ALERT! Cisco Developer Contest - Potential Finalists Intimated

Our team is very close to announcing finalists for the Cisco AXP ‘Think Inside the Box’ Developer Contest. Based on the judging criteria outlined in the terms and conditions, we have identified a short list of potential finalists. Each potential finalist (individual or team) has been contacted and we are close to completing the review process. Once the review process is completed, we will announce the top teams selected to move into Phase-2. We expect this to happen within the next two weeks.

If you have not received an intimation of being designated as a potential finalist, you may assume that your team is not shortlisted at this point. We trust this provides an update on the status. The large number of entries, coupled with inter continental logistics has made this an exciting, yet challenging task. We are happy to stay close to our original deadlines and want to sincerely thank the multitude of contestents who have sent in such quality proposals all over the globe. 

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Posted by Shashi Kiran at 10:42PM PST

Understanding Opportunity

Restructurings, layoffs, slashed budgets. These are the words we’re hearing everyday in the news as we continue to wade through the current economic crisis. It’s a challenging and uncertain time to be sure, but it’s also an excellent time to be preparing for turnaround. Because the reality is that any time we’re forced to do more with less, we become more inventive, more resourceful. And that’s essentially the theme we’re carrying to this year’s Interop: Redefining Innovation. Igniting Your Business.

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Posted by Marie Hattar at 06:30PM PST

Cisco IT Innovation Forum - A gateway to thriving in turbulent times

When meeting with some of my industry peers, I often get asked “How’s Cisco doing?”. In some ways it is a loaded question. On one hand, I think Cisco is doing extremely well considering today’s turbulent times. The innovation engine is humming along. On the other, it’s not being complacent either taking things easy. With a publicly stated goal of cutting costs by $1 billion by July, it’s a challenge that’s top-down and across the company. It’s fair to say a lot of these costs savings are through increasing operational efficiency and better collaboration.

There are different ways to weather turbulent times. Solid cash and cashflow. Good M&A strategy. Good leadership, strategy and execution. Frugality. Sustained innovation coupled with operational excellence. If it were a multiple choice question, this is the one that you’d tick “E” – “All of the Above”.  To a large extent it is about understanding market transitions, and being in a good enough position to drive some of it.

Funnily enough, none of this is new. This stood us in good stead during the dot-com crash and technology-led bust of the early 2000s. A quick search on Amazon.com will reveal books like “John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating through volatility” and “The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers steered Cisco through the technology collapse”. I’ve often heard John remark, that Cisco has benefited tremendously by being a good listner, understand our customer requirements and working with them to execute.

This time, our ears are perked up even more, as our customers and partners are challenging themselves (and us) to deliver operational excellence with limited budgets and without compromising on innovation. “Do more with less” is the clarion call.

Cisco IT Innovation Forum
This is a challenge we have to resolve together with our customers and partners on a global basis, by proactive partnership, transparency and sharing best practices. Any product innovations are a means and not an end to deliver on our customer requirements.

In line with this mindset, on May 7th, 2009, Cisco is hosting a Virtual IT Innovations Forum, an interactive platform that brings together our global customers, our solution partners, industry analysts and some of our own executive and technology talent from within Cisco to share best practices and ideas to weather this economic downturn and prepare for the upturn.

Despite the seriousness of the current economic climate, a little humor never hurts. Thank God for Scott Adams. We’ve our own take on injecting a little humor. Some of it is reflected in these viral videos that our team put together to help promote the Innovation Forum. This one’s titled “The copier”

Look out and watch for the other videos in the series. After you’ve had a good chuckle, or fallen out of your chair, go ahead and take the next step. Register to attend the Cisco IT Innovations Forum on May 7th.

It’s FREE! You don’t have to leave your desk to hear some of the best minds in the business talk shop.

What better way to foster Innovation? Or Operational Excellence? Or Both?

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Posted by Shashi Kiran at 11:37PM PST

IPv6 - To be or not to be?

Greetings.  Interop 2009 is just around the corner!  We’re excited and looking forward to catching the latest news and views about IPv6 industry uptake.  We’ll be video blogging from the floor so don’t be shocked if you see me coming around the corner with a video photog in tow!  We’d love to hear your insights and attitudes about IPv6 and other important issues facing our industry.  You can tell us here and at the show.  Here’s to a great show.  See you there!

Jennifer Geisler, Manager of Network Systems Switching Solutions for Cisco.

Posted by Jennifer Geisler at 08:03AM PST