If you’re looking for Cisco in the cloud next week, you’ll have your choice of events. The source of all of this cloud knowledge, Las Vegas. Who knew that was where the cloud started?

#EMCworld #CiscoEMCW

First up, Cisco Data Center Cloud team can be found at EMC World, Booth 401, at The Venetian/Palazzo, May 6-9.

For all of the latest information on Cisco’s presence, from theater presentations to demos to speaking sessions, visit www.cisco.com/go/emcworld

#EngineersUnplugged

We will be shooting the first half of Season 3 of Engineers Unplugged in front of a live audience! Surrounded by whiteboards and as a part of the EMC Elect Space of EMC Square, the social hub, we’re pretty excited about the line up of guests and topics. Want to learn more? Ping me @CommsNinja or visit EngineersUnplugged.com.

Unicorns and Waffles, Together Again

There will be unicorns.

#Interop

But wait, there’s more! Just down the strip, at Mandalay Bay, May 6-10, you’ll find Cisco at Interop. For all of the details on the keynote, speaking sessions, and Booth 1327, visit: www.cisco.com/go/interoplv

#Cloud2020

If that’s not enough Vegas cloud for one week, Cisco’s Rodrigo Flores will be speaking at the Cloud 2020 Summit, and we’ll be providing coverage.

That’s what’s happening during the day, but what about the community? Where can you meet with your peers? Beyond the numerous official parties, and there are many, here’s where you can meet up with @CiscoDC peers.

• Monday, May 6, 9:30-11:30 pm: Join Matthew Brender (EMC), John Troyer (VMware), and Amy Lewis (that’s me, from Cisco, if that wasn’t readily apparent) for an informal non-sponsored Tweetup (BYOWallet). We podcast as The Geek Whisperers, a show about all things Social Media in Enterprise IT. Social is a part of all of our careers these days, and we’d love to hear what it means to you. Come out and say hi.
• Tuesday, May 7, 11 pm -- 1 am: It’s Vegas, baby! After the official parties end, it’s time for Waffle Club. The first rule of Waffle Club, don’t talk about Waffle Club. Space is limited, and spots are going quick.
• Wednesday, May 8, 10 pm until: Tech Field Day’s Buzzword Bingo Bash! What could be more fun that coming out to apply all the terms you’ve used and abused during the week. This is a crossover event in a neutral location, easy to get to from EMC World or Interop.

So safe travels to all who are coming. We look forward to catching up with old friends and meeting new. Please stop by the booths and say hi, or hunt one of us down by following the Twitter stream.

For everyone watching at home, pop some popcorn, and get ready for the ride. We’ll do all we can to bring the action to you. Send questions, suggestions, and feedback: here on the blog or to @CiscoDC or @CommsNinja. We’re listening!

Tags: Cisco Data Center, cloud, Cloud 2020 Summit, EMC World 2013, Interop 2013, tech events, three paths to the cloud, UCS, vspex, Workload Mobility

As 2012 came to a close, I found myself looking back not only on the events of world at large but also on just how much progress we have made here at Cisco with the Cisco VXI Smart Solution. I took a moment to reflect on the incredible value VXI delivered to our customers last year.

Since its inception in 2010, the Cisco VXI Smart Solution has been at the center of successful virtual desktop initiatives. VXI brings together compute and collaboration in a complete solution and lets people seamlessly experience their desktops anywhere--on any device. I am very pleased to say that we have more than 1,000 VXI customers and that number is growing. With every new release, VXI has evolved with innovations that maximize performance, scalability, security and user experience while minimizing complexity and risk.

In 2012, we delivered major enhancements across the solution. We introduced optimization that reduces storage costs--often one of the biggest investments in a desktop virtualization program. We have enhanced data center performance and scalability with the remarkably successful Cisco UCS, or Cisco Unified Computing System. Now customers can easily scale from 500 to 29,000 virtual desktops on a single system by simply adding blades. The advantage of these performance enhancements becomes very obvious when large user groups are logging on at the same time—just imagine a call center at 8 am on a Monday.

Security is always at the top of the list for any organization thinking about virtualization. In 2012, Cisco VXI enhanced security for end users with support for Cisco AnyConnect VPN and single sign-on with Citrix Receiver. Security policy was also improved with integration of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) into the solution. ISE gives customers greater control with policy-based security services for both corporate and employee devices, protecting organizations from data loss, compliance issues, loss of revenue and brand damage.

The VXI Smart Solution has always been a leader in user experience for desktop virtualization. We pioneered a new collaboration architecture for voice and video by eliminating the primary cause of poor quality in virtual desktop environments--namely the hairpin effect. We went even further this year by integrating Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Software, which reduces the amount of bandwidth needed to deliver workspace traffic over the WAN by up to 70%. Now, people are able to collaborate with voice and video calling on their virtual desktops – or as we like to call it– the Unified Workspace.

Complementing the VXI technologies are comprehensive design guides, services, support and our technology partner ecosystem. The Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs) for VMware and for Citrix give our customers an end-to-end blueprint for implementation and they are updated with every release to facilitate success. To further assure a premium experience and exceptional flexibility, we have expanded our ecosystem of technology partners to include smartcards, endpoints and accessories.

While it gives me much satisfaction to reflect on the past 12 months I am even more enthusiastic about what’s in store for VXI in 2013. Right off the bat, you’ll hear about the next chapter in the evolution of the VXI Smart Solution with our upcoming announcement. Join us on January 17 to learn what’s new.

Phil

Tags: Cisco AnyConnect, Cisco Borderless Networks, Cisco Data Center, Cisco Identity Service Engine (ISE), Cisco UCS, Cisco Unified Computing System, Cisco Validated Designs, Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure, Cisco VXI, citrix, collaboration, virtualization, VMware

I invited over the past two years several technology partners and resellers to share their opinions on this blog. Today I expand this invitation to some of our service providers . Of course, it felt very natural to start with one of our best partner in this field.

David Shacochis is Vice President of Cloud Platforms at Savvis. In this role he is responsible for revenue growth, strategic alignment and customer adoptionwithin this emerging product portfolio. As a senior member of the Enterprise Cloud business unit, he helps guide decision-making with regards to technology issues and service strategy for the entire Savvis cloud hosting business worldwide.

 You can read more blogs from David here and can follow him on Twitter @daveshac

“Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres …”

(“Tell me who you are friends with and I´ll tell you who you are …”)

I overheard this old Spanish saying while drinking sangria at a tapas bar on Las Ramblas, after our first day at VMworld Europe in Barcelona. I gazed into my wine glass as the Mediterranean wind gently blew juniperus leaves through the breezeway – and I was struck by the similarities between industrial alignment and human friendship.

(OK, maybe it didn’t exactly start that way. Maybe I just happened to recall that there was a Spanish adage about who your friends are, and I Googled it from the VMworld Partner Lounge. Yeah, maybe that’s how it happened. But for now, let’s just stick with the cold-open that makes me sound like Jonathan Goldsmith.)

Read More »

Tags: Cisco Data Center, cloud, savvis

Two years ago, we, along with our partners, launched the Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI) Smart Solution, with the vision of delivering a virtual desktop platform that enables our customers to achieve faster ROI, better user experience and greater control.  Since then, we’ve seen a major shift in the market. People are using a multitude of devices while businesses are now accepting and supporting BYOD initiatives, fueling the growth of new workspace models. Cisco has responded by rolling out the Cisco Unified Workspace, strategy, and the Cisco VXI Smart Solution is a key component.

Today, we introduced a new release of the Cisco VXI Smart Solution.

Cisco VXI has always been a solution that spans the Cisco architectures of Data Center, Borderless Networks and Collaboration. With this new release, we are continuing innovations across all three including: Read More »

Tags: Borderless Networks, Cisco Data Center, Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure, Cisco VXI, collaboration

Related blog: Coming Soon to Your Doctor’s Examining Room by William Moore, CTO of CareCore National

“It’s a boy!!!” my friend Kim told me just minutes after her 18 week ultrasound. Even though we were texting I could tell her excitement was restrained despite the exclamation points. Later that day she shared “he’s healthy but…[big inhale]…he has a cleft lip [even bigger exhale]”

This unexpected information meant more tests for her and her unborn son, Mason. It meant a series of surgeries starting at 6 months until age 5. It brought a lot of anxiety to Kim’s entire family.

In addition, the diagnosis raised a lot of questions such as, “Will Mason be okay? How will my family support him and cope with our baby having surgery? Will my insurance cover all that is needed to treat his cleft lip? Will his treatment be personalized? Will I…will he…be subjected to unnecessary tests? Will there be a lot of tests? Can I trust that his healthcare team is up to date on all the latest treatments? Will there be a team of healthcare experts to support us as Mason recovers from each surgery?”

Kim had a lot to prepare for and wanted to feel confident about Mason’s healthcare team. She wanted to know that the most experienced doctors would provide the best care possible based on leading industry practices.  What she wanted most was peace of mind that her son would be ok.

Improving the outcomes of patients like Mason while simultaneously alleviating the burden on physicians is no easy task. It takes a bold and innovative company to tackle such a challenge, one who is at the forefront of the healthcare industry and can envision improved care, better outcomes, and healthier people.

CareCore National is such a company. The company currently has contracts with more than 25 health plans working with 600,000 physicians providing care to 68.8 million people.

Read More »

Tags: CareCore, Cisco Data Center, Cisco Services, cloud, EMC, healthcare, jill shaul, VMware