TGIF! Busy week? Us too! Check out some of our top news stories of the week.

1.)  Cisco Opens New Green Data Center in Allen, Texas

Cisco today announced a new green data center in Allen, Texas, with an architecture that deploys Cisco’s entire data center technology portfolio — computing, switching and data storage access — to support Cisco’s internal private cloud and deliver IT as a service. Read more about the construction here.

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Tags: cloud, collaboration, CRS-3, data center, music, News@Cisco, social media, Verizon

We have three very interesting on-demand WebEx recordings from leaders in the education field talking about emerging trends in education including social media and mobile learning. Each of them contains specific advice and case studies. We hope you find these sessions helpful and thought provoking.

You don’t need any special software to view the WebEx recordings. Simply click on the title that interests you and you’ll be taken to a landing page where you can begin listening.

Blending Traditional and Online Learning: 101 Best Practices for Getting Started

Using online tools is bridging the achievement gap and marking the biggest single shift in public education in more than 100 years. Innovative public schools are opting for blended or hybrid classroom environments, with 70% of learning taking place in a traditional brick-and-mortar setting and the remaining 30% of learning happening online.

Hybrid models offer a powerful mix of synchronous and asynchronous learning styles, enabling students to master core content online while deepening critical thinking, problem solving and application of content mastery in a face-to-face setting. Blended or hybrid learning models not only make pedagogical sense, they also make financial sense.
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Tags: collaboration, Connected, education, learning, mobile, Recording, social media, WebEX, wired

Today, Ricardo Moreno--Senior Director, Strategy, Planning & Programs, Worldwide Partner Organization--blogged about evolving our channel partner program and specific architecture specializations: Borderless Networks, Collaboration, and Data Center.

As Cisco evolves its products and services to map to architectures, partners and customers must develop new skills to be successful. Engineers will need to be able to devise network-centric architectures, and salespeople will require the ability to identify business issues and map technology solutions to the issue.

Building competencies in key areas including business consulting, architecture practice and business and solution modeling will position channel partners with the skills they need to thrive in this new architectural framework.

As the Global Director of the Worldwide Learning Partner Channel, my team works directly with our network of more than 450 strategic partners located in over 130 countries globally.

Learning Partners are authorized by Cisco to deliver technical, certification, product, and solutions training. They are key to supporting the company-wide transition to architectural strategy by delivering architectural proficiencies and related certification courses.

You have undoubtedly joined the more than 300,000 worldwide Cisco customers and channel partners who annually receive authorized training and enablement through Authorized Cisco Learning Partners.

To help Cisco partners and customers make the shift to architectures, we’re working closely with Learning Partners to create specialized training and skills development.  In fact, Cisco is evolving its entire global Learning Partner Channel program to deliver architecture-based skills and training.

To speed customer adoption of the new architectural approach and help partners embrace architectural capabilities, Cisco is transforming its Worldwide Learning Partner Channel program into two tracks for FY12: Read More »

Tags: andres sintes, architectural specializations, borderless, Cisco, collaboration, customer, data center, gold, learning partner, partner, premiere, silver

At Partner Summit 2011, Edison Peres, SVP WW Channels, described architectures as being the house, with individual solutions being the rooms in that house.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BbVPCavN1U

Today we are evolving our channel partner program with architecture specializations: Borderless Networks Architecture Specialization, Collaboration Architecture Specialization, and Data Center Architecture Specialization.

Architectures present massive opportunities for Cisco and its channel partners – borderless networks alone have a $49 billion total addressable market opportunity in FY11, collaboration $35 billion in CY11, and data center/virtualization is $42 billion in FY11.

To capture market opportunities that lie ahead, we must evolve towards architectures together.  And here’s how we’ll do it.

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Tags: architectures, Borderless Networks, Cisco, ciscops11, collaboration, data center, edison peres, gold, partners, premiere, ricardo moreno, silver, worldwide

In last week’s blog, Bank Branches – “News of my death has been greatly exaggerated”, I argued that bank branches are not only thriving, but are the foundation customer interaction channel for most retail banks and that video will be the enabling technology to reinvigorate and reenergize the branch. Read More »

Tags: bank, branch bank, branch experience, collaboration, communications, customer, virtualization