Today, Cisco is excited to introduce the latest Connected Sports and Entertainment innovation, StadiumVision Mobile. This ground-breaking solution leverages a high-density Connected Stadium Wi-Fi network to deliver live video to the latest mobile devices at live sports and entertainment events, with minimal delay.

Recent research highlights how vital this capability is for leagues, teams and venues to “compete with the couch” – an astounding 57% of fans prefer to watch at home versus live in person. Watching at home is less expensive (68% of fans said this was a factor), delivers great flexibility (34% said it allows them to multitask), and allows for crystal-clear HD video (22% said it was good enough or even better than live). Arguably the couch is winning over the live experience, and that is why our customers around the world have told Cisco that the next big technology hurdle they wanted solved was “video everywhere” in their venues.

All of these statistics were derived from a recent global fan survey that Cisco’s Sports & Entertainment Solutions Group conducted along with Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) to identify how fans currently consume sports, what they value and why they pay to attend live events when the home experience is so good.

What we found from the survey Read More »

Tags: Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets, Cisco Connected Stadium Wi-Fi, Cisco IBSG, Cisco Sports & Entertaiment, Real Madrid, Sporting KC, StadiumVision Mobile

Cloud-based collaboration IT solutions are a hot topic among my peers – with questions such as how do you make the transition to cloud, what solutions do you host in the cloud, how do you address security, and how do you manage legacy systems on premises in tandem with cloud solutions?

These are just a few of the discussion points that I addressed today in a media and analyst event with my Cisco colleague Eric Schoch, VP and GM, Cisco Cloud Collaboration, and two of our Cisco customers – the City of Charlotte, North Carolina and D+M Group.

Here are Eric’s cloud predictions and my tips for IT leaders:

 1.      Prediction:  In 2013, we’ll see the cloud conversation shift to flexibility and agility as primary drivers of adoption.

Tip #1

The perfect trifecta is collaboration in the cloud as it delivers big benefits, large reach and low risk. 

Or to state it another way:  mobile and social meet cloud.  Think about how collaboration is delivered – the consumption model is different.

Tip #2

Think cloud data center: this is another area of significant cost savings while offering flexible workloads – improving delivering of infrastructure services from weeks to minutes.

Flexibility and agility are very significant to IT professionals. IT will always be held to the total cost of ownership and reducing cost wherever it makes sense.  And, we also have to deliver solutions and services faster.  Cloud is the delivery mechanism to do this over time.

Read More »

Tags: City of Charlotte, cloud, collaboration, D+M Group, Eric Schoch, NC

Cricket is an institution in Australia, with hundreds of thousands of people attending matches this season all over the country as the visiting South African, Sri Lankan and West Indian teams do battle with the Aussies. This is why Cisco Australia is so excited to have partnered with the Primary Club to sponsor “Marathon Cricket”. The epic fundraiser event saw 520 players and umpires participate in 30 hours of cricket at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), commencing at 7am and running through to 10pm on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th of January.

Primary Club’s aim is to raise money for disabled sports charities and the latest Marathon Cricket raised upwards of $100,000 for its charities. One of this year’s major beneficiaries is the Sargood Centre at Collaroy; the residential learning centre for people recovering from spinal cord injuries. Sargood also entered a team in the Marathon Cricket event, captained by former Australian Rugby Union coach, Rod Macqueen.

Read More »

Today, I am pleased to announce Cisco’s intent to acquire Cognitive Security, a privately-held company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. Cognitive Security is focused on taking cutting edge research in the field of network security and applying artificial intelligence techniques to detect advanced cyber threats. Cognitive Security’s solution integrates a range of sophisticated software technologies to identify and analyze key IT security threats through advanced behavioral analysis of real-time data.

Mobility and cloud are drastically changing the IT security landscape, where traditional security approaches aren’t enough to protect customers against an evolving threat landscape. Today’s threats are more targeted, complex, and disruptive than ever before. Cognitive Security’s technology identifies and detects security anomalies, and when coupled with the network for mitigation, allows Cisco to uniquely address our customers’ security requirements.

Cisco’s security vision is to provide always on, integrated security to empower customers to realize the benefits of a mobile, cloud-enabled business. Cisco’s cloud-based global threat intelligence and Cognitive Security’s real-time behavioral analytics, will integrate to a common policy engine that controls distributed network enforcement in an intelligent network and mitigates advanced cyber threats.

Cognitive Security has a long-standing collaboration with the Czech Technical University (CTU), benefitting from CTU’s scientific contribution to the field of network security through a joint research program. Cisco and Cognitive Security plan to continue to expand on this relationship going forward.

Cognitive Security’s employees will join Cisco’s Security Technology Group under the leadership of Senior Vice President Chris Young. The acquisition of Cognitive Security is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013, subject to customary closing conditions.

Thanks to Altimeter Group analyst Jeremiah Owyang, today marks the third anniversary of Community Manager Appreciation Day.  While there is not a lot of available data on the job outlook for a community manager, you only need to look at the job growth for a social media manager to know the trend is still on the incline. Community managers are the connectors between the community they cultivate and the brands they represent. They are creative individuals who push the envelope in how content and information is shared with their communities. They are analytical – sifting through a multitude of data and using a plethora of social tools to assess on an almost daily basis, how people are engaging with the brand.  They are strategic thinkers who translate often complex business and technology concepts into rich and engaging content that creates meaningful dialogue. At Cisco, they are all of these things and much, much more.

A HUGE thanks to our Community Managers at Cisco globally (approximately 150 total), for continuing to move the needle and advancing the role of community management.  I’ve talked to several of them recently to get their thoughts on what it means to be a community manager at Cisco and of course, their celebratory plans for Community Manager Appreciation Day.

What does it mean to be a community manager at Cisco?

• Thinking strategically about how and where to effectively communicate our messages, collaborating with other community managers to combine brainpower and synchronize efforts, planning a cadence of social activities for the year, and responding appropriately to open questions and comments on our social channels.
• Listening to customers to help inform our social media strategy and how we engage with them.
• Developing, engaging and nurturing a community of people of all different backgrounds and demographics that share one common interest: Cisco.
• Being extremely alert, organized, creative and engaged to meet the needs of a growing community of partners and customers opting into social networks to learn more about Cisco.
• Connecting with Cisco fans and employees globally in real-time and 24/7.

How are you celebrating Community Manager Appreciation Day?

• Go through some social metrics reports and analyzing the effectiveness of social media tactics and performance of the social channels. Hopefully, I’ll be sipping on a cup of Chai Latte while doing that to celebrate!
• Thanking our community on Twitter and Facebook for giving me the best job ever!
• Thanking our Cisco Corporate social communities for allowing me to have a role at Cisco that is ever-changing, exciting and challenging all at once.
• Thanking our Cisco fans for their continual support positive engagement!

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