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August 30, 2007

Japan's Warp-Speed Ride to Internet Future

I thought I should bring yesterday's A1 story in the Washington Post to your attention, "Japan's Warp-Speed Ride to Internet Future." Broadband speeds in the U.S. are something that we've been discussing at Cisco for a long time and something that our sister (brother?) High Tech Policy blog has spent time on as well.

The lede sentence brings you right into the story, "Americans invented the Internet, but the Japanese are running away with it." The next two graphs, however, are what is truly scary: "Broadband service here is eight to 30 times as fast as in the United States -- and considerably cheaper. Japan has the world's fastest Internet connections, delivering more data at a lower cost than anywhere else, recent studies show. ... Accelerating broadband speed in this country -- as well as in South Korea and much of Europe -- is pushing open doors to Internet innovation that are likely to remain closed for years to come in much of the United States."

I didn't touch on it on my earlier post this week on Mark Cuban's take on the Internet as "dead and boring," but with higher speeds might come less deadness and boringness for him. To be sure, Cuban likely has as much bandwidth as he can handle (FTTH anyone?), but he's only one guy. If you gave it to 300M fellow U.S. citizens then maybe some more of that good ol' innovation that the Washington Post says is happening in Japan might be happening in the U.S. as well. (In fact, much of it is, but at 5 or 6Mbps instead of 100Mbps...and faster IS better...)

And, lest we say the sky is falling too quickly, last time I looked, the world economy is buzzing along nicely and if the amount of ink Rik Kirkland gave to Japan in a recent piece in Fortune is any indication ("The Greatest Economic Boom Ever"), then they still have some economic work ahead of them. However, and as the Post piece points out, they now have a head start on the digital infrastructure.

So, once again, let's get a national broadband plan together, (frankly, in the U.S. and anywhere there isn't one already) execute on it and innovate, innovate, innovate.

*I should also plug the fact that Cisco's own Robert Pepper is quoted in the Washington Post piece. The Post calls him "one of the world's leading experts on broadband infrastructure."

*I should also point out that the photograph that the Washington Post reporter includes in the story of a "demonstration using ultra-high-speed broadband, a life-size, high-definition image of a distant colleague is projected onto a screen" is Cisco TelePresence. We use it at Cisco every day...and just used it at our virtual company meeting (see, the video).

Posted by John Earnhardt at 01:53 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

August 28, 2007

"The Internet Is Still Dead and Boring"

What tha?

Mark Cuban is a smart guy. I like him even more after reading his blog post of yesterday...(see title above). His whole point is that the Internet is "dead and boring" because it has become an integral part of our lives and when it reaches that status it is a good thing indeed - he uses the word "utility." He delineates all the stuff he does on the net to show his bona fides (he does more than 99.9% of people on the net), but his key point (in my reading) is that the Internet has now become a part of our everyday lives, which makes it dead and boring. I might disagree with his word choices, but I agree with his main point - the Internet (and, hence, network) has become integral to our lives. He actually had an earlier post that started this conversation.

He's a good blogger too. What a great headline! Made me read it...and I stole it and maybe you read this post because of the headline too?

One point that he made was made by our CEO, John Chambers, in his Forbes commentary earlier this year. Technology is advancing so fast that what is may cost $100 today will cost a $1 in a few years...especially around storage.

So, take or leave his point(s), but Cuban is certainly an interesting guy.

Full discosure: he's a "friend" on facebook and last year we were both listed by the Wall Street Journal as "high-ranking executives" who blog. So, we have that going for us. Which is nice...

Posted by John Earnhardt at 10:49 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

August 24, 2007

Next Gen News@Cisco Site Focuses on Web 2.0

Our award-winning newsroom site, News@Cisco, launched it next generation look and functionality today. As more and more personalization is required and more new media (podcasts, video, blogs) are sought, the News@Cisco team developed a site that focuses on Web 2.0 functionality and features. New features on the site include more international news, personalization through audience targeting, redesign to increase readibility and usability and more...

(Screen grab of new site.)

In the lower part of the new page, you will see a "Tell Us What You Think" banner. Please click on this and, well, tell us what you think...if you take a quick survey and give any feedback on the UI and functionality we'd be grateful.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 05:06 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

VIDEO: Cisco's Virtual Company Meeting

As promised, here is some video footage from yesterday's virtual company meeting with Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers utilizing TelePresence to conduct the first global, virtual company meeting.

I hope it gives you the flavor for the virtualness (is that a word?) of the attendees from around the country and around the world (Amsterdam, London, Bangalore, Atlanta, Boxborough, RTP and Irvine). You can get a small sense for the experience we had yesterday for this very cool use of the TelePresence technology for this meeting, but until you see it in person, it is tough to describe...and this video doesn't do it full justice.

We then turn to Cisco's Chief Demonstration Officer, Jim Grubb, for three questions* about Cisco's first-ever, global virtual company meeting.
1. What is a virtual company meeting?
2. How did this virtual company meeting happen?
3. What technology was used for this virtual meeting?

*In our videos going forward, so that we are to-the-point, don't meander and give the topline information for busy viewers, we will implement a "three questions" rule.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 11:51 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

August 23, 2007

Cisco's First Ever Global Company Meeting...Virtually

Color me impressed. I've blogged about TelePresence before. It is cool. It is functional. It is easy to use. It is collaboration at its finest. Cisco innovated it. Today, however, we saw TelePresence on steroids or as one attendee called it "Johnapalooza." Our CEO, John Chambers, is all about video and today's company meeting was about as video as you can get.

We had a site on our San Jose campus that set up a kind of "theater in the round" with a round, center stage on which John and other executives presented to employees. There were about 200 employees in the room and about an additional 500 or so in sites around the country and around the world. Full size. On interactive video screens enabled by our TelePresence technology. There were six large screens (16 x 9) in the room and each one represented a different site. Employees virtually attended from Amsterdam, NL; Bedfont Lakes, UK; Atlanta, GA; Irvine, CA; RTP, NC and Boxborough, MA. In a word: very cool. (Yes, that was two words, but one word won't do it.) Side note: an additional 4000 employees attended via Cisco IPTV.

We'll put some video of the event up tomorrow (I'm new to the editing side of video so putting it in a format that is accessible, consise and relevant takes a bit more work). Attached you can see a picture from the event, but it really doesn't do it justice. Watch this space tomorrow for the video.

In this picture, Chambers is interacting with Wim Elfrink (center screen) in Bangalore, India, as Cisco employees in San Jose, CA (main pic); Irvine, CA (right screen) and Boxborough, MA (left screen) look on.

As it is also Chambers' birthday today, employees around the world celebrated at each site with a birthday cake and birthday wishes. Birthday wishes for the CEO who continues to push his innovative, creative teams to push the technology envelope and make very sophisticated events such as this no more difficult than making a conference call. Congratulations to the team who pulled off this live experiment without a hitch. Makes me proud to be a part of this innovative company, where the network is the platform for all of our collaborative tools and where we practice what we preach. It was a fun day at work. And, at the end of the day, when you can say "work" and "fun" in the same sentence, you're doing okay.

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August 21, 2007

Protecting Against Gray Market and Counterfeit Goods

Post by Phil Wright, Director of Worldwide Brand Protection

Counterfeit goods and used equipment have been the topic of two cover stories this summer. InformationWeek’s July 7 cover story titled Used Gear: Notes from the Underground provides an in-depth look at enterprise customer behaviors and concludes that purchasing used IT gear from unauthorized brokers is risky. This week’s CRN cover story titled Fakes: Can You Tell the Difference looks at the issue from the channel perspective. It cites the prevalence of IT counterfeit products globally (estimated at $100B annually), the origin of the manufacture for the suspect goods (often China), and how the counterfeit goods get mixed into the channel (typically through multiple intermediaries). This is not just a Cisco problem, but a widespread problem in the IT industry.

Cisco takes this issue seriously. The Cisco Partner Central page (accessible to any Cisco customer or partner) includes information about gray market products and counterfeit equipment. Cisco’s message is clear: Buy only through authorized channels. For those customers that need a less expensive alternative to sourcing new product, consider Cisco Certified Refurbished Equipment, which is available through authorized dealers. When products are purchased on the gray market, rather than through Cisco authorized distribution and resale channels, Cisco cannot guarantee the source and quality of those products.

What about partners or customers that suspect that they have purchased counterfeit equipment? If you have questions or concerns, contact Brand Protection by email at brandprotection@cisco.com.

Posted by Cisco PR at 10:29 AM Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

August 20, 2007

Chambers, Ballmer Address Customer Needs as the Network and Software Intersect

As I'm posting this, Cisco CEO John Chambers and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are on stage discussing the future of the technology industry and their shared vision for addressing today's customer requirements. We are at an inflection point as the industry evolves and the network and software continue to intersect, especially through the Internet. (If you are reading blog post this before 11:30AM ET, you can access the webcast here.)* You can read their joint Q&A here.

In a discussion being led by Charlie Rose, the CEOs will highlight areas of collaboration to increase interoperability across the consumer, enterprise, SMB and public sector markets, while acknowledging that the companies still compete in numerous areas. Ten years ago, Microsoft and Cisco became partners, but the partnership was more transactional in nature. Three years ago, the partnership deepened and in the last year it has accelerated to respond to customer needs. They will discuss how the two companies can map out ways to evolve the relationship to further benefit customers and joint channel partners.

The interesting dynamic here is this: customers are driving this next wave of transformation and innovation of collaboration between networking and software. Customers should not be expected to make disparate systems work together...their vendors should.

From accelerating video over the Internet to unified communications and Web 2.0 technologies in business environments, people want an enhanced, personalized experience. They want technology to work—and they want it to be seamless, secure and simple. New possibilities have raised the bar and open standards and integration have become essentials for customers.

And for Cisco, this is a good thing—it is an evolution of the path we’ve been on. We already have a long, successful track record of supporting openness and working with alliance partners. This renewed collaboration with Microsoft is not a major “shift," our business already thrives on finding ways to better meet customer needs together.

Clearly other major industry players are seeing the opportunity partnership can create. The Internet and the ubiquity of the network for anytime, anywhere access and new, rich experience is driving this next era of innovation. Once separate worlds are merging and creating new opportunity for industry collaboration. We think that being transparent and upfront with customers, partners and anyone else who wants to know on where we are working together and where we are competing will bring some clarity to future purchase and partnering decisions.

*If you are reading this after 11:30AM ET today, you can watch the replay of this conversation here.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 07:02 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Webcast: Steve Ballmer and John Chambers to Discuss Future of Technology

This morning in New York City, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, and John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, will discuss the future of technology and their shared vision for addressing today's customer requirements. If that is a conversation that sounds like it might be interesting to be a part of, please join them via live webcast. Here are the logistics.

Who: Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft; John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems; and Charlie Rose, moderator
When: Monday, Aug. 20, 2007; 7-8:30 a.m. PDT
How to View: Visit Cisco's online newsite, News@Cisco, to watch the live webcast.

(An on-demand version will be posted shortly after the event concludes.)

Following the event, broadcast-quality video clips will also be posted to the Microsoft® PressPass Broadcast Newsroom at and News@Cisco.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 03:10 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 16, 2007

Communications architecture without a network…prudent or not?

Post by Joe Burton, Chief Technology Officer, Unified Communications

A recent Forrester (May2007) study estimates that about 60% of businesses say that implementing a UC solution is on their agenda for 2007. Many of these businesses, will be faced with making architectural decisions for Unified Communications platform which might include having to choose between a client-software-based-architecture, network-centric architecture, or some combination of both.

The question that often comes up is, ”How do I bring workspaces together so that I can capitalize on the benefits of Unified Communications while controlling costs and ensuring a quality and consistent user experience”? The standardized desktop of the late 1990’s is quickly being replaced by a largely flexible set of workspaces, commonly represented by functional groups that have common communications and collaborations needs. For example, Knowledge Workers using connected laptops, desk phones, and instant messaging clients have different workspaces than Road Warriors who work mostly outside of the office using “smart phones”, Wi-Fi access, soft phones, text messaging, and continuously variable networks.

Both groups give corporate security and compliance officers nightmares as more and more business critical traffic moves off network, and questionable traffic gets invited on to the corporate network. In addition, broader market trends towards the adoption of web 2.0 technologies like Wikis and mash-ups combined with an increasing mobile, virtual, and collaborative workforce leaves technologists struggling with how they can move beyond a “one size fits all” approach and meet the unique and varied needs of their workforce.

An inclusive, open approach to Unified Communications architecture is the only way to be successful. And only a network-centric architecture provides the platform to include and unify all workspaces regardless of network type, operating system, device, place, or time.

Adopting a transformational strategy to move away from remedial, inefficient architecture towards an network-centric architecture not only delivers the inherent benefits of an IP network (such as high availability and resiliency) to Unified Communications applications but it also leverages intelligent network services (QoS, security, session border control, call control, and survivability) to deliver consistent unified communications experiences to all workspaces anytime, anywhere, an don any device or operating system –reliably and in a manner that is scalable and cost-effective.

The open-framework of the network-centric architecture also enables consistent delivery of unified workspace experience across different applications (such as Instant Messaging, Email, or Customer Relationship Management) that organizations depend on. By separating the success of the experience from the device and delivering it through the network, businesses can ensure that as new collaboration and communications technologies are introduced into the workspace, they can be quickly unified on the network and deployed widely.
Why would any solutions architect risk the delivery of their competitive advantage only to a client-software-based architecture for unified communications? For those with TDM-centric voice architectures, the evolutionary approach of running Unified Communications applications alongside this infrastructure, extends the limitations of TDM architectures (such as lack of application high availability and scalability due to nodal application deployment, lack of application survivability, and costly inter-site call tandeming) to Unified Communications applications. Such a strategy is inherently exclusionary as it is entirely dependent on the capabilities of the devices and operating system for success—workspaces without the requisite technology cannot be part of the collaborative experience. Additionally, such a strategy needlessly complicates security, QoS, compliance and management complexity by exponentially increasing the number of control points, and replaces strategic asset reinvestment with spiraling variable costs.

If deploying a UC solution is on your agenda for 2007, you should be wary of a client-software-based-architecture which offers significant pitfalls that should be avoided. A winning Unified Communications strategy and architecture should be inclusive and based on a network-centric approach to meet your current and future business needs.

Posted by Cisco PR at 05:49 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 14, 2007

Cisco in Times Square on the NASDAQ Big Board

Our good friends at NASDAQ put Cisco up on the big board in Times Square (NYC) this week. It is very clear that we made a good impression to all who saw our logo and "Welcome to the Human Network" tagline. Just look at the big smile it put on Jennifer Aniston's face.

Thank you, NASDAQ and thank you, Jennifer. Or, as I call you, Jenny.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 05:08 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

August 13, 2007

August Productivity and the Network

Productivity is a key measurement for any company, country or individual. August, however, has to rank at the bottom of productive months, but my bet is that it is improving. Let's review: The U.S. Congress is out of session for the month; much of Europe takes "holiday" during the month; many families take the last vacation before school starts at the end of the month; much of Wall Street (I'm told) is in the Hamptons or on the Cape; Cisco's annual sales meeting is this week, so many colleagues and executives are there launching our FY08 plans...so, in a word, if people are away from the office or on holiday, you would think that less work is being done.

However, (CISCO PLUG ALERT!!!) as the network allows you nearly anytime, anywhere connectivity to all your data, voice and video applications, you can seamlessly work from, say, St. John's, Virgin Island (where I would like to be currently) and never miss a beat. But, wait, you say, I'M ON VACATION!!! Yes, I say, anytime, anwhere connectivity has its detractions. However, I honestly prefer to stay on top of e-mail and voicemail while away, so that when I get back I'm not more buried than I was when I left. Sure, other philosophies may differ, but it works for me.

Speaking from experience and from viewing the work habits of colleagues and friends, I can tell you that anytime, anywhere, always-on, high-speed, always reachable connectivity is actually a good thing - after all, if your company doesn't fall apart when you are gone, how important can you be. : ) However, if you aren't disciplined, it can be a bad thing as well. You have to set limits -- as well as your "out of the office" alert. And, it has to be stated, unplugging from the 'net from time to time is just as important as the ability to stay connected at all times.

So, please enjoy the last days of vacation as you are contemplating the new school year, the new fiscal year (for Cisco), and the last third of the year. Seems like yesterday was Y2K, doesn't it? Where does the time go?

Photo of Cinnamon Bay, St. John, VI

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August 09, 2007

Math and Science Funding Vital for Future U.S. Competitiveness

President Bush today signed into law the America COMPETES Act, which, according to the White House is a "comprehensive strategy to keep America the most innovative nation in the world by strengthening our scientific education and research, improving our technological enterprise, attracting the world's best and brightest workers, and providing 21st century job training."

Then-Cisco Chairman of the Board John Morgridge testified before the House Science Committee in the last session of Congress on these very principles and Cisco has supported more funding for math and science training for years.

After the bill was signed into law by President Bush, Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers stated, "One of the most important economic policy issues today is helping our nation remain the global leader in innovation, particularly through robust broadband deployment, math and science education, and resources dedicated to leading-edge research. We believe this compromise provides a strategic roadmap to ensure America remains the leader in the world economy. We applaud the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and their steadfast support of this vital measure to create tomorrow’s scientific advancement.”

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August 08, 2007

FINAL UPDATE: Cisco.com Outage

Service to Cisco.com has been restored and all applications are now fully operational. The issue occurred during preventative maintenance of one of our data centers when a human error caused an electrical overload on the systems. This caused Cisco.com and other applications to go down. Because of the severity of the overload, the redundancy measures in some of the applications and power systems were impacted as well, though the system did shut down as designed to protect the people and the equipment. As a result, no data were lost and no one was injured. Cisco has plans already in process to add additional redundancies to increase the resilience of these systems.

Again, we thank our customers and our partners for their patience during the resolution of this issue.

Posted by Cisco PR at 10:00 PM Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATE: Cisco.com Site

We have traced the cause of the issue to an accident during maintenance of a San Jose data center that resulted in a power outage in that facility. We would like to thank our customers and partners for their patience. We expect to resolve the issue shortly.

Posted by Cisco PR at 01:46 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Cisco.com Outage

Cisco is experiencing some facility issues that are impacting services to Cisco.com. We have identified the cause of the issue and are working to quickly restore services. We will update this blog with new information as the situation warrants.

Posted by Cisco PR at 12:40 PM Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Is Your PC Just a Paperweight?

Post by Joe Burton, Chief Technology Officer, Unified Communications

At Networkers at Cisco Live!, we met with customers and partners to talk about challenges and opportunities they face while developing a future-proof unified communications strategy. For many of them, a network-centric approach to UC not only meets their immediate need for reliable business communications, but it also lays the foundation to meet future communications needs of an increasingly mobile, collaborative, virtual and socially-networked workforce. Compare this to those who are deploying a PC- (and email) centric strategy that creates a workforce of “haves” and “have-nots” due to inherent device and operating system constraints.

The rapidly declining importance of email and the desktop computer is not one that I would have foreseen even as few as five years ago. There was a wonderful recent article in CNET, “Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead,” that talked about the irrelevance of email for these customers and employees of tomorrow. For those of us with more mileage on our tires, the introduction of mobile-mail devices into the workspace has accelerated this trend into reality. When was the last time you re-opened an email or email attachment on your laptop’s email client after you had already skimmed through it on your mobile device? It has probably been awhile. Think about the length of the last email message you sent from your BlackBerry or smart phone? Most likely it contained fewer than a dozen words. And think of the volume of email you receive on a daily basis? How many are short replies that beget more short replies. Increasingly as we rely on portable devices and smart phones we are actually leveraging the email directory and transport infrastructure to send SMS-style messages.

Many IT organizations have lived through the “standardization era” of the 90s, when desktops, operating systems and business applications were standardized around monolithic clients. These enterprises are now beginning to embrace Service Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) to better manage the transition from this world to a Web 2.0 world where content is disaggregated, yet networked and presented through a range of thin-client interfaces.
Think about your own workspace today, and the one you had a few years ago. What’s different? Is it more standardized with your peers, or less? Do you have more Windows devices or fewer in your workspace? How do you use email? More importantly, how do you utilize email now, versus how you used it five to ten years ago? My guess is that it’s very different.

Posted by Cisco PR at 11:36 AM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

August 07, 2007

The WWW Gets Its Drivers License Today

So, according to Wired magazine, today is the day that the internet became publicly available...16 years ago. So, in the US, the Internet is now eligible for its driver's license.

SERIOUSLY, ONLY 16 YEARS!!!! Doesn't it feel like the Internet has always been around? How did we survive pre-internet? I honestly don't remember. So many fundamental things in our lives have changed in the past 16 years because of the Internet...and, as you know, we're really just at the beginning of what the web can do for us.

And, as our CEO John Chambers said in an essay in Forbes magazine* in April, "The last 15 years have brought us advances in communications technology far surpassing those made in the previous 5,000--making the next 15 an era that will be limited only by our imagination and our courage to execute."

And, speaking of Forbes magazine, how great is it that Forbes is the home to Technology editor Daniel Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs. Many of us at Cisco are admirers...and, while we may be a bit chagrined that Fake Steve no longer has his anonymity, we also honor the reporting of New York Times reporter Brad Stone who followed the scant clues (and writing style) to figure out who the "real" Fake Steve really is/was. Could he have done this without the Internet? Maybe, but it would have been a lot tougher.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 11:56 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 06, 2007

Cisco Year-End Earnings Call

Our conference call for Q407 and Fiscal Year 2007 Financial Results is tomorrow (Tuesday, August 7, 2007) at 1:30 PM (PT). We will announce our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2007 financial results.

Financial results will be released over full national Market Wire, as well as the European Business and Technical Wire after the close of the market on Tuesday, August 7, 2007. Cisco's quarterly earnings press release will be posted at www.cisco.com, under the "News@Cisco" section.

To Listen live to the conference call via the Internet with corresponding slides, please go to our Investor Relations site.

Replay: A telephone playback of the Q4 and FY 2007 conference call will be available beginning at 4:30 PM (PT) on August 7, 2007 through 4:30 PM (PT) on August 14, 2007. The replay will be available by calling 866-357-4205 (International callers: 203-369-0122). The call runs 24 hours/day, including weekends.

An archived version of the webcast will also be available on our Investor Relations website.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 03:23 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

August 02, 2007

Thankyouverymuch, Google!!!

I'm getting my car serviced this morning in Mountain View, CA. I'm told it will take an hour to an hour and a half. Certainly not my favorite errand, especially when the magazines in the waiting room are, no offense, Better Homes and Gardens, O: At Home: An Oprah Magazine, an old Sports Illustrated that I've already read, and a Harper's Bazaar from December 2003 (although Salma Hayak is on the cover, so that's not a bad thing.)

As I'm on my way to work, I have my computer with me. And, since this dealership is in Mountain View it is covered by free Google Wi-Fi. The whole town of Mountain View is covered. Gratis. By Google. This is where Google is based and while some may claim that is it just their attempt to get their employees to work 24x7, they've explained that it's really a community service. And, as I'm not a Google employee and they receive no direct benefit by providing me with free wi-fi, I can tell you that having access to the network and my ability to VPN to work while waiting in my car dealership's lounge does give me a warm, fuzzy feeling for them. And, I bet, one of their top two reasons for installing Wi-Fi was, "Have people feel warm and fuzzy towards Google." Mission Accomplished.

Cisco provides free broadband for its employees at home so that your work connectivity is seamless if you are a telecommuter or have an occasional WFH day...and, of course, to help extend the work day, if one wishes. Our CEO, John Chambers, explains that providing employees with broadband is a no-brainer. Basically, if an employee works one extra hour a month at home, then the broadband cost is paid for. Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you they are getting their money's worth. (And, as we have the fabulous Linksys in the Cisco family, most of our homes therefor have wireless broadband throughout.)

Okay, now back to real work. Sitting in the dealership's lounge. Using my free Google Wi-Fi.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 09:00 AM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

August 01, 2007

Happy Fiscal New Year, Cisco and Happy Birthday, Jerry

Cisco's FY08 began on Monday, so, for us, 2007 is already behind us. As I LOVE end of year lists, it seems like a great and appropriate time to review FY07 Cisco blogs on Jerry Garcia's birthday...not from a "what a long strange trip it's been" point of view, but from a typical Cisco "If I get home before daylight, I just might get some sleep tonight."

IMHO, the top Cisco blog entries from FY07 (and, yes, some of them are mine, but, hey, I'm making the list):

August 2006 - "Crossing Health Care Language Barriers"

September 2006 - "Remembering Important Things In Life."

October 2006 - "Time to Review Merger Reviews" and "How Can You Tell If a Lawyer is Lying."

November 2006 - "Giancarlo Points to TelePresence" and "Cisco Field: What's In It For Cisco?"

December 2006 - "Canadian Telecom Deregulation Spurs Quad-Play" and "Size Matters With Broadband" and "Cisco Joins Second Life."

January 2007 - "Cisco General Counsel on State of Technology In the Law" and "Awards Season Results Are In: Cisco Best Company to Work For" and "UPDATE on Cisco's iPhone Trademark."

February 2007 - "SuperBowl of Wireless: WiMAX vs. Wi-Fi Why Not Both?"

March 2007 - "Financial Times: 'Cisco has Best Website for Customers and Media'" and "Cisco Chief Development Officer Giancarlo on WebEx Acquisition" and "PC World's 50 Most Important People on the Web."

April 2007 - "John Chambers Essay in Forbes: 'Guts and Glory'" and "Patent Board: Cisco is #1 Global Innovator in Telecom" and "Cisco: Fortune "Most Admired Company" for 8 Straight Years."

May 2007 - "Unified Communications: Open and Interoperable to Increase Customer Benefits" and "The Internet is not a medium, it is a language" and "50% Have Little Use for the Internet & Cell Phones" and "Security Externalities – Meet Security Defenses and Incentives" and "What's Your Mobility IQ?"

June 2007 - "Mobiliizing the Human Network, Part I" and "How Fast IS Your Broadband?" and "FTC Gets It Right on Net Neutrality" and "FCC's Martin Steps Up to Bigger Effort on Consumer Ed for DTV" and "Telco 2.0 and the Connected Life" and "Cisco CEO Challenge: 'Use Collaborative Technologies to Cut Back Travel.'"

July 2007 - "Kevin Martin is Right about DTV Spectrum Auction: Put Consumer Interests First" and "John Chambers' Private Press Conference at Networkers at Cisco Live!" and "Cisco 'Connected Life' Contest: Who Wants to Be A $10,000aire?" and "Cisco's 'Take Your Children to Work Day'" and "Cisco Unveils Plans to Transform the Data Center."

And, one of my personal favorites, "John Wayne Style Broadband." AND, if you haven't yet seen our video with KISS, the band, discussing technology, you have to check it out here.

As you can see, as the year went by, we were doing more blogging at Cisco. Some good entries, some bad entries, some active blogs, some not so active, but with blogging it takes all kinds. So, thank you for continuing to read and we look forward to another great year in the blogosphere.

Posted by John Earnhardt at 03:43 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)