How was your week? Well, here at Cisco we had another exciting week filled with interesting technology stories and news. Here’s what happened…

1.) Mobile Technology for Smarter Cars

Today, the only types of collision avoidance systems in cars are expensive radar- and camera based systems, which are few and far between. However, if the U.S. Department of Transportation had its way much cheaper warning systems would be installed in all new cars before the end of the decade. The key is replacing expensive sensors with cheap and ubiquitous global positioning system (GPS) and Wi-Fi wireless technology.

2.) Cloud Providers Combine to Boost Asian Market

Some of the biggest players in technology have come together to form a group that aims to boost the use of cloud architectures in Asia, where adoption lags behind the U.S. and Europe. Eleven companies, including Cisco, primarily from the U.S. and western Europe, announced they were forming the Asia Cloud Computing Association to address regional issues and challenges to the adoption of cloud computing in Asia.

3.) Visualizing Global Mobile Traffic Growth

Check out some insights from Cisco’s Visual Networking Index. According to the VNI, global mobile data traffic will increase 26-fold between 2010 and 2015 and there will be nearly one mobile device per capita by 2015. How do you see mobile evolving in the next five years?

4.) Cisco Makes Video Easier to Create, Consume, Search and Share Across the Enterprise

This week Cisco unveiled a host of new offerings designed to make it easy for anyone to be a video producer. Customers now have new ways to create and consume video across the enterprise. With the new Cisco offerings, they can:

• Record and share videos and content on the fly from Cisco TelePresence or other video endpoints.
• Enjoy exceptional search capabilities within videos themselves. Instead of wasting time scrolling through hours of video to find the right clip, with a few clicks of a mouse, users can now simply advance to the right spot.

5.) Cisco Names Gary Moore Chief Operating Officer

This week Cisco announced that Executive Vice President Gary Moore has been appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO), a new position within Cisco.

“Gary is a seasoned and trusted leader who consistently delivers results.  He is uniquely qualified to drive strategic prioritization and accountability within Cisco, with a laser-focus on operational excellence,” said John Chambers, chairman and CEO, Cisco.

Cisco also has a TON of things happening next week. Here’s what to look out for…

• The Internet it out of addresses?  Check out this feature article next week about how careful planning and slow transition will minimize the impact of the transition to the IPv6 addressing system.

• On Tuesday, hear a few quick thoughts from GigaOM VP of research, Michael Wolf, on social media and how it is changing the way we experience entertainment.

• With the Academy Awards this weekend check out how the Oscars are taking TV and social media to a whole new level!

• Partner Summit 2011 is happening next week in New Orleans! Keep up to date with news from the event.
  • Register for Virtual Partner Summit
  • Follow the #ciscops11 hash tag on Twitter
  • “Like” the Cisco Channels Facebook page for a chance to win an iPad.
  • Check the Channels blog for updates, important info, and news leading up to and during Partner Summit.
  • Watch the “know before you go” cartoon for tips on making the most of the event.

• Enterprise Connect in Orlando is next week as well! Make plans to participate in the following Cisco activities.
  • Register to watch Barry O’Sullivan, SVP/GM of the Cisco Voice Technology Group keynote on March 1.
  • Download the Enterprise Connect Mobile App
  • Check out the Enterprise Connect Virtual Experience Community page for live updates throughout the event.
  • Follow @CiscoCollab on Twitter and “like” the Cisco Collaboration facebook page.

Be sure to check out News@Cisco next week to learn more about all of these news updates! Have a great weekend!

Tags: channel partners, Chief Operating Officer, cisco channels, collaboration, enterprise connect, News@Cisco, partner summit, social media, Technology News, virtual partner summit

Google’s Android operating system is one of the hottest names in mobility right now. According to a Feb 9 Gartner report, “In the [worldwide] smartphone operating system (OS) market, Android grew 888.8 percent in 2010 and moved to the No. 2 position.” No other mobile OS grew anywhere near as fast as Android.

So it makes perfect sense that Cisco should be a part of the growing Android ecosystem. We are pleased to announce Cisco WebEx Meetings for Android and Cisco Mobile for Android.

Read More »

Tags: Android, Cisco, collaboration, WebEX

Today, Cisco announced a series of new video offerings designed to make it easier for enterprises to create and consume video. Listen below as Cisco’s Director of Marketing for Enterprise Video, Erica Schroeder, outlines these new announcements and what it means for our customers.

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Tags: collaboration, enterprise connect, video

Although not a rule, IT and Control at many manufacturers have an arms-length, if not more distant, relationship.  They have different priorities, expertise and cultures.  But the reality is that the converged plant, based upon standard networking throughout the plant, requires them to work together to achieve the bucket of gold benefits awaiting their company.  Our partnership with Rockwell Automation in many ways is a result of this need at many of our customers.  They need us to work closer so that they can focus on a single technology and solution and rely on a “converged” support model as they bring their plants into the standard networking world interconnected to the rest of the enterprise.  To this end our companies have been working together for more than five years.

Gregory Wilcox, Rockwell Automation, on IT/Control cultural convergence

Listen to my colleague at Rockwell Automation, Gregory Wilcox -- Business Development Manager, describe the culture convergence that needs to occur -- critical to the overall convergence.  We have done a lot of the leg work to make this convergence happen.

Tags: automation, Borderless Networks, collaboration, Control engineers, convergence, Factory, Industrial Automation, Industrial Intelligence, Industry, machine, Manufacturing, OEM, operational excellence, plant, R&D, Rockwell, security, shop flloor

So, I got locked out of my Cisco “everything” account recently. At first I thought it was just my home router acting up, but after a couple days I called IT for help, and they asked me to reset my router, and my modem, and then when that was done they informed me that maybe my password had expired.

Long way of getting to the story. I hate when my password expires. We have pretty stringent rules about passwords here at Cisco. I appreciate that. I just don’t want to change my password. You see I have (guessing) at least 20 sites that I use, all have different password requirements. Some have unique requirements for User Names too.

So I have figured out that from now on, the day that I change my company password I am changing all of my other account passwords too. At least within Cisco they synchronize all of the passwords. But I still have all my individual accounts, and I’m quite sure they sit there and watch, here comes that idiot, requesting a new password. Why can’t these people remember their password, they likely wonder while they smirk.

To some degree it is a matter of how often you go to the website, I suppose. Read More »

Tags: automation, Borderless Networks, collaboration, cybersecurity, Factory, Industrial Automation, Industry, machine, machine builders, Manufacturing, mobility, operational excellence, password, R&D, Research and Development, security, Security Thought Leadership, shop flloor, strong passwords, supply chain