Desktop virtualization is one of the major initiatives at Cisco and our partnership with Citrix is flourishing as Jonathan Gilad reported on this social media platform several times.

Today I invited  Bhumik Patel , Alliance Engagement Architect at Citrix, to write about some aspects of the collaboration between Cisco and Citrix to provide the best workspace experience to our customers. Bhumik is responsible for delivering technical best practices and joint solutions on Citrix XenDesktop and Cisco VXI desktop virtualization solutions for customers and partners. He has been with Citrix since 2007 and is based out of Santa Clara; CA. Prior to this role, Bhumik was part of Citrix’s WW Consulting group leading consulting projects for several enterprise Citrix customers around the globe and has led initiatives for developing best practices while integrating Citrix and partner solutions.

Bhumik is at Cisco Live in San Diego this week and on Twitter @bhumikp and on his blog – Check Citrix booth #734.

“As a Citrix Architect implementing Desktop Virtualization solutions with Cisco VXI and Citrix XenDesktop in the field, I would like to share some of the successful business use cases that a joint solution addresses primarily from a Citrix viewpoint. Since Cisco VXI is a unique, end-to-end architectural solution integrating virtualized data center, virtualization-aware networks and virtualized collaborative workspaces for optimally delivering virtual desktops with XenDesktop, it is really built to drive multiple I.T initiatives for you at once, all leading towards a flexible, next-generation workspace. Let’s look at the VXI solution at a very high level and then a few practical use cases:

First and foremost benefit is with Cisco UCS providing an ideal platform for hosting Citrix XenDesktop delivering virtual desktops for organizations. With the extended memory technology providing great VM density, and the service profiles allowing customers to dynamically build and scale out their infrastructure hosting XenDesktop. UCS also provides a great end user experience even for some very large VM footprints due to the unified fabric supporting very high I/O bandwidth. The solution with UCS and XenDesktop is completely validated and tested for providing the required density numbers. I had the opportunity to contribute to the initial validations with Cisco and you can read more on it here. So the guess work is eliminated while implementing your VDI solution, which could be a huge benefit in itself.

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Tags: byod, Cisco, citrix, collaborative workspace, data center, desktop virtualization, vdi, virtualization-aware network, vxi

I’m relatively new to Cisco, and only 7 months with the Mobility Solutions team. That means I get a lot of great “firsts” to experience, and those terrific “ah ha” moments that sear through my brain as I learn something new each day. And one of those “firsts” is CiscoLive! I’ve been intimately involved in making it all come together for our Mobility Solutions team. So I know what to expect at CiscoLive!, and yet, I really don’t know what to expect.

With our planning and preparation for these five days in San Diego, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of great people and expand my network here within Cisco. The big “ah ha” through this process has been the discovery of Cisco’s pervasive and unequivocal customer-focused culture. It hasn’t mattered who I’ve work with, the overarching end goal for all of us is providing the right solutions to our customers, and making every customer feel as though they are Cisco’s only customer . It also helps that our mobility solutions are the broadest and deepest in the industry, as well as the most innovative. We like to say we are going “Beyond BYOD” – a complete solution that delivers one policy, one network and one management and ensures the best, most optimal user experience. Yes, it’s a marketing message, but it’s the truth.

We are going to prove that to you this coming week in San Diego. You’ll be seeing, learning and talking a lot about our how our mobility solutions really do go Beyond BYOD. A quick run-down by the numbers will give you a preview of how we will show you: 11 Mobility business-focused presentations, including a customer panel discussion on their Cisco BYOD implementations and experiences; 16 technical sessions covering everything from RF Fundamentals to Branch office WLAN design; and 2 all-day TechTorial seminars. You’ll also need to carve out some time to visit our booth (#850), because we’ve got product demonstrations that show how easy it is to set user and device policies using Cisco ISE, Cisco’s CleanAir and Client Link in action on our Aironet Access Point 3600 (in addition to some new features), and our Prime Infrastructure management solution.  I’m purposely vague about the demonstrations because we all want you in the booth to see them for yourselves. A couple of videos here and here will give you a preview.

We will also have a few things that will tease your brain and give you some laughs too. We’ll have a caricature artist available for a few hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to draw your portrait, digitally of course, showing you in your “ultimate wireless experience”. And, we on the mobility team are never without giving you some sort of challenge! If you want to study-up in advance, you’ll find the answers to our challenge questions (which will be available at the booth), when you watch “Fundamentals of Spatial Streams”. With only 7 minutes of great information, it’s far less than you’d spend waiting in an Apple Store to buy an iPad. Yes, get the questions right and you’ll have a chance to win one on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. And of course, there are great expo floor receptions planned on Monday and Tuesday, and Cisco’s customer appreciation event on Wednesday evening in addition to other opportunities to have fun.

Lastly, we have three meeting rooms with some private product previews. You should check with your sales rep to find out more and book an appointment, or three.

Even though it’s my first CiscoLive!, I do recommend wearing comfortable shoes that help you get from one technical session to another, or to a customer panel discussion, or to our booth to see our latest product demonstrations and talk with our wireless experts. So whether this is your first CiscoLive! or not, you’ll have plenty of “ah-ha” moments throughout the week! I know I will! See you in San Diego.

Tags: access point, byod, Cisco WLAN, ciscolive, mobility, multiple devices, Smart Solution

Mobility enables the extension of IT resources and application availability to anytime, anyplace, any way. Initially people thought that the “mobility movement” was just hype; however, it is definitely a reality, as it has become ubiquitous with efficiency. All of these new devices and social applications are bringing potential security risks to the enterprise and public sector organizations. The threat landscape ranges from potential data leakage to lost and stolen devices that may contain corporate and private information.

The question now is how can we address the customers’ challenge of enhancing productivity without compromising network security. Cisco’s AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client and the Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances enable desktop and mobile users to connect to the corporate network, giving access to the network from any device based on comprehensive secure access policies. Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client works in conjunction with Cisco’s IronPort Web security appliance, the Cisco ASA appliance, and also provides integration with ScanSafe, an in-the-cloud Web security solution.

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Tags: Adaptive Security Appliance, any device, anyconnect, ASA, byod, byod security, Cisco ASA, cisco live, Cisco Live 2012, Cisco Security, cisco security lab, lab, mobility, mobility security, networkers, ScanSafe, secure mobility, security, security lab

Today is World IPv6 Launch day. World IPv6 Launch is a follow-on event to last year’s IPv6 day where IPv6 was used for a day. The World IPv6 Launch is the ultimate recognition of the “world” turning on IPv6 and leaving it on: a true milestone for the Internet.

Cisco, along with major Internet Service Providers, home networking equipment manufacturers, and web companies around the world are coming together to permanently enable IPv6. So as we celebrate the permanent launch of IPv6, one may wonder how enterprise networks can benefit from IPv6.  Not only will IPv6 benefit the core of your network but the WLAN as part of the overall network will benefit.

In the past, the perception was that the US Military and China were the ones who were driving IPv6 deployments. That is no longer the case; the fact that there are a limited number of IPv4 addresses doesn’t just affect the just Service Providers but also large enterprise customers. Whether you are a large manufacturer with plants around the world, a university with a growing number of wireless devices or a global financial bank, you all can benefit from IPv6.

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Tags: byod, enterprise networks, IPv6, mobility, wlan

President Obama is taking the US government mobile.

Recently, the President issued an executive order memorandum to his department and agency heads calling on them to embrace mobile technology to deliver more data, more efficiently. The order requests agencies to follow a new technology strategy called the “Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People,” which includes the request for a road-map for responding to the technology transformations of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and mobile device proliferation.

Many organizations are already embracing mobile devices with over 95% of them allowing employee-owned mobile devices in some way, shape or form in the workplace according to recent research sponsored by Cisco. Not only do we expect our employers to allow us to use our personal devices, we want to gain access to new products and services—from the private and public sector organizations. So, yes Mr. President, “Americans deserve a government that works for them anytime, anywhere, and on any device,” And --nice timing on this order, welcome to Silicon Valley-high tech land—I saw you fly in two week ago from the Saratoga hills!

Cisco shares this same sentiment of allowing people to use any device their way without compromising the organization. Cisco announced their answer to the BYOD (bring your own device)—with BYOD Smart Solution which starts with Cisco validated designs and professional services that can guide you from planning and design through day-to-day operations. It combines array of products starting with the core tenants of access points, security, controllers and network management. To address a key concern of the mobile experience, security, Cisco uniquely offers unified policy for secure access -- Identity Services Engine (ISE) and next generation remote access, AnyConnect—for always on secure remote access. And most recently, Cisco also spoke to a “Your Way” mobile experience which includes the core components and then some –which allows for more efficiencies and collaboration resulting in more productivity. Mr. President and US citizens this is very achievable!

Citizens of US –I would like to hear your thoughts on gaining Federal services from your mobile device –which services would be a priority for you? Why? Do you have any concerns? What is your number one concern?

Tags: access, byod, government, mobile, mobile devices, Obama, President, security, White House