Security and Compliance is the next domain in our Cisco Domain Ten^SM model that I will cover, following on from my previous post on Applications.  And following on from my previous posts around Cisco Domain Ten, I’ll give you a brief overview of the questions that come up when we discuss data center security and compliance challenges with customers as we help them transform data centers, migrate applications to Cisco UCS, and adopt cloud computing solutions and architectures.  Security has and continues to be a major focus area in Cisco, so it was great to see Cisco come top in the recent survey by Infonetics Research, “Data Center Security Strategies and Vendor Leadership: North American Enterprise Survey, March 2013”!

Domain 9: Security and Compliance

Security and compliance are indeed exciting areas, indeed security is often highlighted in surveys -- including my own survey of Cisco customers a few years back now -- as the #1 issue impacting customer adoption of cloud computing.  So what are come of the issues, challenges and considerations should be on your mind with respect to security and compliance in the data center and cloud?

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Tags: architecture, Cisco Domain Ten, cloud_computing, data center, security

The mobile market will be vastly different 10 years from today. We will see two and a half billion more people connected to the internet, but also 50 billion more devices. Those devices are going to have a totally different consumption profile compared with the smartphone or dongle user that we have today. We will have a mobile market with mobile internet which has got to have flexibility in terms of how it supports the massive number of devices, signaling events, and bandwidth that will occur in the future.

To manage this exponential growth in mobile data, effective small cell networks need to take advantage of both licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Small cells help operators increase coverage, capacity, and services, effectively and have already proven to be vital element in mobile networks.  To better integrate licensed and unlicensed small cells, we have identified 5 fundamentals that are important to remember: Read More »

Tags: analytics, architecture, big thinkers in small cells, device, Enterprise, HetNet, mobile data, mobility, Service Provider, small cells, SON

Towards developing a Secure Architecture for the Internet of Everything, I plan to kick off a series of blogs around this pivotal topic.

In discussing security and the Internet of Everything, the first question that comes to mind is, “Which segment of “everything” is one referring to?”. A reasonable approach has been to understand the common attributes that crosses vertical segments such as Intelligent Transportation, Smart Utilities, Industrial Automation and so on. The Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) are general abstractions for the network infrastructure that links physical and virtual objects. In Cisco, we now refer to these abstractions as the Internet of Everything, IoE. The IoE describes a world where billions of objects have sensors to detect, measure and assess their status; all connected over public or private networks using standard and proprietary protocols.

Until a point in time around 2008/2009, there were more human beings in the world than devices connected to the Internet. That is no longer the case.  Read More »

Tags: analytics, architecture, internet, Internet of Everything, internet of things, IoE, IoT, ip, IPv6, M2M, Service Provider, sms

Understanding future demands on the network are instrumental in developing a robust and scalable network architecture. As seen below, projected growth in mobile, video, and IP traffic is staggering. Read More »

Tags: architecture, cisco on cisco, coc-borderless-networks, E2N, extended enterprise network, network

For the last two years, Cisco has helped many CIOs and IT leaders achieve their objectives by using a business/IT architecture methodology called Transformative Networking, or TN. TN’s ultimate deliverable is the “Unique Architecture Roadmap” which aligns IT initiatives with the key business priorities. This puts the CIO in a strong position when defending the IT plan/budget towards the other C-level executives.

We have seen great successes in public sector accounts, such as Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire Fire Services or Fontys University of Applied Science, coming from the fact that:

• TN is simple & pragmatic: it’s not rocket-science and values common sense over pre-established rules;
• TN is holistic: it encompasses network,  data centre, collaboration, security, applications, governance, etc.
• TN is flexible: it’s not a rigid framework, and can be adapted depending on the context;
• TN is result-oriented: it’s not an academic project, and there are concrete business deliverables;
• TN is iterative: we prefer short iterations (ideally no more than 6-weeks), and we are not re-writing the annual report;
• TN is based on TOGAF and many best practices and templates from similar customers across EMEAR region;
• TN is entirely funded by Cisco and/or our partners.

In this post, I explain how TN can be performed in 10 steps, as depicted below.

I will now describe each step and provide template slides; these are just generic examples of what TN deliverables look like.

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Tags: architecture, government, TN