Public Service Announcement: Call Before You Dig (or “10 Most Bizarre and Annoying Causes of Fiber Cuts”)

At Cisco, we strive to provide the utmost in reliability and are particularly pleased with the market leading reliability we have with our IOS XR operating system on our ASR 9000 system and CRS routers.  Whether it’s video, mobility, broadband or voice, reliability is key for a good experience.  However, while we, at Cisco enable the experience, providers are the ones who deliver it – and in doing so, there are huge number of network heroes and heroines to make it happen. When it comes to fiber optic cable, someone somewhere actually has to go out and dig the trenches or hang the fibers, regardless of weather, critters, or angry land owners. This week on Lightreading.com, we saw an article worth sharing from our friends over at Level 3 Communications, “The 10 Most Bizarre and Annoying Causes of Fiber Cuts.” Read More »

Tags: ASR9000, Cisco, CRS, CRS-3, fiber cut, IOS XR, Level 3 Communications, Lightreading, reliability

Research shows that when managers get involved the process of bringing a new employee up-to-speed, the new hire learns what they need to know much faster.  That means you get a team member who can deliver results that much sooner.

But how is it done? Find out in this terrific webinar from the Ken Blanchard team.

Register now.

In many organizations, on-boarding is little more than making sure new people feel comfortable in the department. That only gets you so far. Master Certified Coach Madeleine Homan-Blanchard will share three strategies managers Read More »

Tags: Cisco, leadership, Results, training, WebEX

Your customers want all the benefits that borderless networks have to offer; things like working from home, VPN access anywhere, and secure network access via any device. But how do you best walk customers through the costs, benefits, IT staff requirements, ROI, and the dizzying array of considerations around a sizable IT upgrade?

With a series of questions, scenarios, and analysis, the new Borderless Networks ROI Benefits Calculator is a free tool that helps partners analyze customers’ IT costs and needs—whether it’s a future network deployment or a post-deployment ROI analysis.

By plugging data into the calculator, you receive a tangible list of benefits that a customer would see from upgrading their infrastructure (like reductions in help desk costs, increases in end user productivity, or energy savings).

Cisco tapped independent technology and market research company Forrester Research to create the calculator. Forrester gathered data from its research on Cisco Borderless Networks and the market in general, interviewed Cisco marketing and sales personnel, spoke with organizations offering solutions, and conducted a survey of 121 IT network execs.

How do I get access to the calculator?

Read More »

Tags: analysis, borderless, Borderless Networks ROI Benefits Calculator, Cisco, customer, Energy, forrester, mobile, partner, ROI, server

According to SiriusDecisions, 70% of the buying process is now completed before the prospect is ready to speak with a sales representative. This means that marketing is moving further into the buying process as the prospective buyer uses new – and decidedly online – sources of information instead of a relationship with a sales professional to guide their purchasing decisions.

As B2B marketers we know it’s important to leverage social media as part of our marketing efforts and most of us are. However, it’s more important to pay attention to how our target buyers’ online behavior is changing overtime. How do IT professionals leverage social networks? What sources of content influence their purchase decisions?  Do IT professionals have a preference for certain formats of content over others? 

Answers to these questions can be found in the 2011 Toolbox.com/PJA Social Media Index. Read More »

Tags: b2b marketing, Cisco, cisco channels, Cisco partner marketing, IT buyers, marketing, social media, social media marketing, social networks, technology buyers

How do the kids in your life spend their time after school? Do their activities involve video—either watching it, playing with it, or creating it?

For Cisco Consulting System Engineer Mike Harttree’s son, Tommy, after school time means gathering his Legos and those belonging to his neighborhood buddies, arranging them in elaborate constructions—like recreations of movie scenes— taking digital pictures of the arrangements, digitally gluing these photos together on a Mac, and uploading the glued photos in video format to YouTube.

Tommy is seven years old. His oldest friend/collaborator is 12. Check out their impressive work here. Read More »

Tags: Cisco, federal, technology, TelePresence, telework, young government leaders