If you’re headed for CiscoLive! next week, you need a game plan. There is going to be a lot to see, a lot to do, and a lot to take in – all in under a week. Below, I’ve got a list for you of some of the best technical sessions to check out and some previously-un-published lightening talks to attend -- you’ll be glad you did. This guide is pretty heavy on the Cloud Connected solutions but you can also get some great ideas on how to keep up with preparing your enterprise for BYOD, the latest in security and a fewother important technologies too. If you’re not going to CiscoLive – there are some ways you can play along at home. This might actually be preferable if you like keeping up with the latest news in your PJs.
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.
We had so much fun last year…and so far, they are letting us come back. We had fun doing a little promo for the trip…an excuse really…to let Jimmy Ray play dress up, let me work on my Alfred Molina impression and most of all…let Producer Steve Ewertz loose so he can shoot/edit/compose the way he likes!
If you have attended Cisco Live, you know that Cisco technology powers many different features of the show. Digital media signage, IP phones, VXI thin clients, hundreds of wireless APs, and of course the enterprise-grade Cisco network.
At Cisco Live 2011 in Las Vegas, we activated more Cisco technology, this time from the TelePresence family. Each Cisco Live event has up to 500 breakout sessions for attendees to learn and interact with Cisco experts. Recording those sessions for on-demand viewing has always been a priority for our team, and using Cisco technology is always a win for our attendees. During this event, we put our Cisco TelePresence products to the test, bringing together codecs, HD video, automation, and transcoding systems together to create a unique experience for our virtual audience.
For this pilot capture project, we focused on four session rooms. Each room was outfitted with a Cisco C-Series C40 or C90 codec, connected to the following: laptop VGA feed, presenter audio feed, and our Cisco network. Each codec comes with an HD camera, which was placed on a tripod and connected to the C40. The camera sits unmanned, and can be controlled remotely. Once the audio levels are set, the system in the room runs unmanned at this point.
In our control room, we ran a Cisco Video Communication server, which registered the units onto our network, as well as handled call routing. With over 40 sessions to record over three days, we looked to automate the system where possible, so we turned to the Cisco TelePresence Management Server. This device allowed us to program in all session metadata as well as start/stop times. This reduced the possibility of human error, and enabled the crew to focus on other duties. To facilitate the recording the sessions, we used the Cisco TelePresence Content Server. This device has two main functionalities- session recording and transcoding. It can record multiple sessions at once, and can transcode to just about any format.
A few moments before the session began, the TCS connected to the corresponding room, and began recording both the video and the VGA feed. At the end of the session, the TCS disconnects and begins to transcode the video capture. Once the video is transformed into an editable format, a technician will edit the file and then place it back into the transcode queue for the final pass. The slides are captured in real time, allowing perfect sync with the presenter discussion.
The output you see here is the final version.
This pilot session capture project demonstrated the versatility of TelePresence to go beyond just video conferencing, to a system that creates, transforms and shares content. Our team plans to increase the use of this system at future events across Cisco, enabling us to further bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual world. You can watch these sessions, as well as over 1000 others at www.CiscoLiveVirtual.com.
If you have questions or comments on these Cisco TelePresence systems, please respond in the comments.
It’s time for another edition of Partner Update, our video newscast covering the top Cisco partner news headlines in five minutes (or less). While this update is less than four minutes long, it’s jam-packed with news and announcements for partners.
The first item is so hot off the presses, so it didn’t make our newscast. Keith Goodwin just posted a blog today highlighting the next step in the evolution of Cisco’s Worldwide Partner Organization and how it affects partners. The changes fall into three main areas: Partner Led, Partner Marketing, and geographic alignment. Keith also provides information about the new executive team in his post.
For the rest of your breaking news, watch this week’s Partner Update video. This week’s top headlines include: a full recap of Cisco Live, how your customers can get twice the power per Ethernet port, tips to help service providers capitalize on the cloud, new apps that help you manage servers from anywhere, huge WebEx discounts for partners, and more.
Tune in and watch the latest partner news:
Read on for more details, time stamps so you can jump ahead to news items of interest, and links to what we covered in this week’s newscast.
see, a lot to do, and a lot to take in – all in under a week. Below, I’ve got a list for you of some of the best technical sessions to check out and some previously-un-published lightening talks to attend -- you’ll be glad you did. This guide is pretty heavy on the Cloud Connected solutions but you can also get some great ideas on how to keep up with preparing your enterprise for BYOD, the latest in security and a few other important technologies too. If you’re not going to CiscoLive – there are some ways you can play along at home. This might actually be preferable if you like keeping up with the latest news in your PJs.
