The resiliency and determination of America’s sense of justice was thrust into a spirit of rejoicing on Sunday evening May 1, 2011, when President Barack Obama addressed the world, confirming Osama bin Laden’s demise in Pakistan. While watching the breaking TV news coverage, I began to share that sense of accomplishment and joy, less for the act of neutralizing the thought leader and chief architect of 9/11 and other atrocities against Americans, and more for the fortitude and resolve demonstrated by the U.S. commander-in-chief, our military forces, and intelligence agencies. I found myself thinking of what this type of public resolve implies for the future state of our Manufacturing economy in the U.S., whose resurgence is essential to the country’s defenses, global leadership, and the health and prosperity of our citizens, along with those of other democratic nations.
Cisco’s Chet Namboodri, Global Director for Manufacturing Industry Solutions and Marketing, discusses the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) proposals for Revitalizing American Manufacturing.
President Obama’s determination coming into office in January 2009 to recommit U.S. resources to bring justice to bin Laden, and the U.S. intelligence and military’s subsequent success bodes well as I consider his commitment to U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, infrastructure build-out and job creation articulated during the President’s January 2011 State of the Union address. During the last several quarters, I have had the privilege to present on behalf of Cisco to the Office of the President as part of the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC), a broad cross section of manufacturers, technology suppliers, manufacturing consortia, government laboratories and research universities across industry segments pulling together to recommend programs to revitalize U.S. manufacturing.
Steven Boutelle, Vice President, Cisco Global Government Solutions Group would like to share some of the latest updates to the Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) program and provide an expert’s overview on where the satellite industry stands today. Watch Steven’s interview below!
To further assist in moving IRIS forward, TeleCommunications Systems, Inc. has been selected as an exclusive service provider. This is another milestone in the long-term collaboration between TCS and Cisco in an effort to move IRIS onward.
Last week at the ODVA Annual Conference--as part of ODVA’s announcement of a new energy initiative and white paper--Cisco’s Bryce Barnes roused a packed-house audience representing ODVA’s ~200 industrial and automation suppliers with a compelling speech on the immediate need for Optimization of Energy Usage (OEU™) in the Production domain. Energy consumption statistics for the industrial sector are staggering, most estimates suggesting half of the world’s total delivered energy, and that amount is projected to increase by 40% over the next 25 years. For Manufacturers, energy typically constitutes the first or second highest portion of product variable costs, and most manufacturing companies now report as part of their governance a sustainability strategy that is core to their overall business strategy. Furthermore, volatility of energy markets--closely linked to the stability of governments, international relations and policies--raises the risk profile for continuity of supply, production and satisfaction of customers. Optimizing energy consumption, minimizing energy costs and mitigating energy risks are clearly top of mind business imperatives for the Manufacturing CEO.
Mark Wylie discusses the importance of energy optimization to sustainable manufacturing operations. Check out Mark’s December blog on factory energy management.
Cisco’s Connected Energy Group is exhibiting at the DistribuTECH conference taking place this week in San Diego, where it is making some exciting updates as well. Building on progress made in 2010 and expanding its smart grid activities in substation and home, Cisco is announcing partnerships with leading smart grid industry players ECOtality and Cooper Industries.
Additionally, Cisco announced a strategic relationship with Cooper Industries where Cooper will incorporate Cisco’s Connected Grid products into their substation automation solutions. http://www.cooperpower.com/news/pr.cfm?NewsID=247
Cisco’s vision is for information technology to transform how the world manages its energy and environmental challenges. The goal of Cisco’s Connected Energy Group is to build an extensive product and services portfolio, based on a smarter, connected energy grid, that will bring this vision to reality. Within the last year Cisco has made important steps to further its commitment to the energy/smart grid market with several strategic announcements, product introductions, key partnerships and acquisitions. Cisco continues that momentum this week through its partnerships with ECOtality and Cooper Industries.
