SP360: Service Provider Insight into Service Provider Trends and Technology

The March to a Truly Global Inter-carrier Intercompany TelePresence

(aka:  the Virtual Frequent Flyer)

Like many of you, I am a recovering “road warrior” able to recite airport code names backwards and the exit row numbers for all types of aircraft (rows 20 & 21 for the “nerd bird” flights from Austin and San Jose, btw). For awhile in fact, I checked my frequent flyer account more than my bank account (which is unfortunately far less than the other…) Like many, though, my travel is far less now as I’m basking in the newfound benefits of Cisco TelePresence™ and other collaborative tools that make meetings near life-like, efficient, and permit more time with my family.

How many of you remember when airline frequent flyer programs expanded and began to work with one another - accepting each others miles and allowing us more freedom to choose? Now such alliances, whether they be OneWorld or StarAlliance, are part of a flyer’s expectation. Well, somewhat analogous to this are new, global inter-carrier and intercompany TelePresence capabilities available from Cisco and several service provider partners.

Read More.

Posted by Doug Webster at 10:12AM PST

Welcome to the Cisco Service Provider Mobility Community

I am delighted to announce the formation of the Cisco SP Mobility Community. This community will bring together mobility experts to collaborate and discuss technical and business challenges in the mobility space. If you are not already a member, please check it out…here are some hot topics so far:

• WiMAX vs. LTE: Which technology will “win” and why?
• Business models being redefined
• The new iPhone: Good or Evil?
• Ask John Chambers Anything (well…almost!)

Read More.

Posted by Kittur Nagesh at 10:08AM PST

D3 Is the New Black - And SPs of All Sizes Are Trying It On

DOCSIS 3.0, a.k.a. “D3”, is definitely one of the hottest trends we are seeing among cable service providers of all sizes today. Cisco’s DOCSIS 3.0 solution has now been deployed by more than 35 service providers and more than 135 sites worldwide. In recent months that momentum has shifted to North America where more than 45 sites have deployed DOCSIS 3.0 solutions with Cisco technology. See the deployment map below.

Read More.

Posted by Murali Nemani at 08:35AM PST

End of an Era - Analog Television Yields to Digital

Today, across the United States, the last regular analog television broadcasts are being shut off and by tonight all over-the-air television will only be in a digital format (with a handful of special exceptions for rural areas). Most of the press coverage today has focused on the relatively small number of people who watch TV over the airwaves yet haven’t purchased digital converter boxes. However, the real story is the opportunity it offers providers to deliver faster mobile broadband and other advanced personalized services while leveraging new business opportunties in the Zettabyte era.

To mark today’s milestone, let’s look back and compare the video experience of the early televison era with that of today:

Read More.

Posted by Suraj Shetty at 02:04PM PST

Cisco Recognized as Outstanding AT&T Supplier

As you may have recently read in the Wall Street Journal, Cisco was honored to have been recognized as a 2009 AT&T Supplier Award winner for outstanding performance and service to AT&T Business Solutions during the past year. We look at this as a big deal since AT&T selected only six suppliers from more than 5,000 in the AT&T supply chain. It’s an even bigger deal for us in that it’s the sixth consecutive year Cisco or the former Scientific-Atlanta have won an AT&T Supplier Award, which proves to us that our efforts to achieve high marks with such a prominent customer are continuing to resonate.

Read More.

Posted by Suraj Shetty at 10:30AM PST

Experience Provider Mega Test & Unified Service Delivery

It was just a short time ago that I was on SP360 writing about cloud services and the impact it will have on the SP services market. This was in reference to the launch of Cisco’s Unified Service Delivery solution, and cloud computing certainly is one of the main topics that Cisco is aiming to address with USD.

But that’s not the only area I’m looking at with USD. Making an almost 90-degree turn from cloud computing and business services for IT, I’ve now got a unique opportunity to deliver a “one-two” punch to demonstrate the power of the Cisco Unified Service Delivery solution - this time talking about media and video services which generally target the consumer/residential market.

Read More.

Posted by Simon Aspinall at 03:14PM PST

Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast Annual Update

The Annual Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast has just been released and projects a five-fold increase in traffic from 2008 to 2013, when an estimated 2/3rds of a zettabyte will cross the network.

Watch to learn more about the study, the drivers, and some new applications that that help you dive into the details of the forecast and compare how your usage matches those of others around the world. Video after the jump…

Read More.

Posted by Doug Webster at 05:00AM PST

The Perfect Father’s Day Gift

Over the years, I’ve given quite a few Father’s Day gifts, and I’ll be the first to admit it - they really have never even come close to represent the full extent of the admiration, appreciation, and love I have for my Dad.

One year, despite my best shopping efforts, I ended up giving him a blender. Dorky and desperate I know, but what made it even worse was that it was the year that he decided that wine was his thing, so the blender got no use…(and no, he doesn’t do smoothies!)

Read More.

Posted by Doug Webster at 01:43PM PST

The Medianet Mega Test - Walking the Talk!

Service providers around the globe are facing the challenge of delivering rich media services in a world with explosive growth in video traffic, expanding sources of content and numerous end devices.

As I mentioned in a previous entry, Cisco introduced a concept called medianet, to address these service provider challenges with the premise of transitioning towards rich media optimized networks that are end-point aware, network aware and media aware.

Light Reading, the largest online communications publication in the world, wanted to check if Cisco could not only “talk the talk” but also “walk the walk” regarding our medianet solutions. In order to do so, Light Reading commissioned the European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) to conduct a comprehensive independent test around these solutions including: Cisco IP NGN architecture with embedded medianet technologies, medianet end user experiences and Cisco’s Service Provider Data Center Solutions. No wonder this thing was dubbed “The Mega Test.”

Read More.

Posted by Murali Nemani at 02:43PM PST

From India to Intercloud

Following my presentation at the Futurenet Conference in Boston on May 6, 2009 entitled, “Disruption: Emerging Technologies and Business Models,” I flew to India to meet with customers and colleagues in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The atmosphere was rather electric as the country was in the midst of its national election. With Cisco Globalisation East, we are now embarking on developing architectures and solutions for what can be broadly termed as “Connected Societies,” under which comes “Intelligent Urbanisation.”

Read More.

Posted by Monique Morrow at 09:34AM PST

Experience Provider Mega Test Meets the Zettabyte Challenge

The Cisco Visual Networking Index details that by 2012, the total annual volume of IP traffic will reach half a zettabyte with video accounting for nearly 90% of this traffic. With all the attention centered on the growth of video, Service Providers have been asking how they can build media-aware networks to handle this explosion of video with reliability, quality, and profitability.

As it turned out, Light Reading was also thinking about the same question. They approached me with a challenge, “Can Cisco demonstrate that their IP Next Generation Network is media-aware and ready to meet these demands?” Was this a dare?

Light Reading then proposed a test, run by an independent party, that would stretch from the data center all the way to the set top box with lots of our routing, switching, and video gear in between. Honestly, for a brief moment, I hesitated like a kid on a playground that had just been “double-dog dared.” I tried to size up what this all meant. This would involve a lot of gear and a lot time from Cisco people who were already really busy. Fortunately, however, folks at Cisco all stepped forward. So, I accepted their challenge and Light Reading could save their “triple-dog dare” for another time.

Read More.

Posted by Mike Capuano at 01:48PM PST

Defining Green

Green is the color of choice these days. It seems everywhere I look, I see another company marketing its products or services as environmentally friendly, or “Green.” Some of these efforts test the limits of credibility, as described in this wikipedia post on “Greenwashing.”

While I appreciate and applaud the increased level of environmental awareness among corporations, as more and more companies attempt to promote themselves as Green, discerning consumers are left with the challenge of trying to separate fact from fiction.

Read More.

Posted by Doug Webster at 09:29AM PST

Cisco CRS-1: Five Years Strong

Happy Birthday, CRS-1! Our flagship router, the Cisco Carrier Routing System, or CRS-1, just celebrated its 5 year anniversary in style with the announcement of three new customers:

• Megafon, the largest mobile provider in Russia which is deploying a new 3G network for the country
• Free, in France, which has a range of offerings, including its Fiber-To-The-Home broadband offering (of which, as a consumer, I’m envious it’s not available in my neighborhood)
• Mobinil, in Egypt, which is that country’s largest mobile provider offering a range of multimedia services, such as mobile TV.

These three providers join the ranks of more than 300 others in the world, including ATT, BT, Comcast, DT, Swisscom, Softbank and more, that are using the CRS-1 as their core platform to support the growth of their businesses.

Read More.

Posted by Doug Webster at 03:41PM PST

Enabling SP Business Models for Cloud Services

Perhaps you’re wondering where the demand for cloud services will come from, what will be the key market drivers, and how will service provider business models fit into the expanding view of the overall IT infrastructure virtualization market landscape.

A prime indicator of the upcoming groundswell came from attendees at a recent IT tradeshow. Despite the reported benefits of virtualization, a majority of IT managers polled at Interop say they experience problems with the technology and don’t always realize the anticipated cost benefit.

A Market Primed for Cloud Services
More than one-fourth of those polled at Interop cited a lack of training on virtual infrastructure and 21% expressed concern over an inability to secure the infrastructure. For nearly 60%, the primary problem with virtualization was a lack of experience to appropriately manage the technology and nearly 50% said that technology implementation costs were too high.

Read More.

Posted by Simon Aspinall at 10:18AM PST

Profile of the Agile 21st Century SP Infrastructure

We’re now entering an exciting period of creativity within the broadband sector. Facilities-based services providers have a unique opportunity to apply their inherent advantage – yes, superior infrastructure matters. It’s a key deciding factor in sustainable growth.

Most industry analysts believe that the potent combination of the IP NGN and a re-architected data center infrastructure will progressively change the market dynamics—re-engineering legacy cost structures, enabling greater business agility and positively accelerating differentiated go-to-market strategies.

Demand for Rich Media Applications
Your customers expect a richer, higher-quality media experience, and they want access to more kinds of content than ever before. Are you prepared?

They anticipate the same interactivity, personalization, mobility, and control that they have come to expect from the Internet across all media. They also demand access to any type of content, whenever and wherever they choose, over a variety of devices and screens at a high quality.

Transforming service delivery is essential for meeting the increasingly complex demands of immersive user experiences. These requirements are creating the opportunity for a variety of new transaction-based and revenue-sharing business models—through new forms of collaborative partnerships with content and application providers.

Read More.

Posted by Simon Aspinall at 07:47AM PST