I just finished an interview on the topic of “Cloud in Manufacturing” with a German machine-building and factory automation magazine. The interview ran an hour longer than scheduled—an indication of the publication’s interest, as well as its lingering doubts about whether cloud services truly can benefit “real manufacturing.”

We discussed an abundance of cloud-related ideas – most pertaining to obvious areas such as web presence in marketing, after-sales application hosting to make field engineers more productive, and collaboration as a service to enable partners and suppliers to work together more effectively on large projects.

The uncharted cloud territory, however, is the area that manufacturers see their “core”: the physical making of things. Can cloud play a role in supply chain management (yes, it can)? Will there be a cloud service for motion control (due to latency and determinism considerations, not yet) and for asset management and MIS applications (yes)? Read More »

Tags: Cisco, cloud, Cloud Computing, cloud services, context, control, core, Governance, IBSG, Manufacturing, manufacturing industry, security

A number of forces are changing how we work, live, and innovate: pervasive technologies, distributed ways of working, “space rather than place” as a work ethos, new methods and modes of work, access to shared services, open versus closed innovation, a new generation of workers, environmental concerns, and macro socioeconomic shifts.

Given a choice, people will demand freedom to work, live, and innovate in ways that meet their individual lifestyles, unfettered by place. Meanwhile, pressures to reduce costs and seek new approaches to innovation are causing many private and public organizations to rethink how work gets done. Read More »

Tags: Big Data, Cisco, cloud services, device proliferation, future of work, IBSG, infrastructure, network, S+CC, security, smart applications, Smart+Connected Communities, urban services, urban sustainability, work-life

Please Welcome Dirk Schlesinger to the Manufacturing Industry Blog

It is with great pleasure that I introduce Dirk Schlesinger as our latest Manufacturing Industry Thought Leader. Dirk has a distinguished career at Cisco and is currently senior director and global manufacturing lead of the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG).

In this role, Dirk helps leading manufacturers become more competitive by transforming their businesses through leading processes and innovative technology enablement. He has extensive knowledge in the areas of business process reengineering, asset development and productivity improvement, as well as post-merger integration. Read More »

Tags: Cisco, Dirk Schlesinger, IBSG, Internet Business Solutions Group, Manufacturing, manufacturing industry, thought leader

Following the conclusion of State of Green Business 2012, I boarded a plane to Vancouver with Stephan Dolezalek, Managing Director, VantagePoint Venture Partners and one of my fellow panelists at the San Francisco conference, to ask that other “greenish city on a bay” similar questions that were pondered in San Francisco. (As some of you already know, these two cities enjoy a friendly rivalry to see who can be more sustainable and prosperous while still being hip and cool).

The Cities Summit, hosted and organized on February 1-2 by Vancouver’s city government, assembled an interesting group comprised of hundreds of international business and urban leaders. They focused on the design of creative, practical solutions for a sustainable urban future. The city invited me to moderate a session entitled, “City Finance 2.0: Next Generation Urban Infrastructure.” The invitation arose for one good reason: the focus of this  Vancouver discussion — the business of city building — closely mirrors the focus of the “2012 Meeting of the Minds,” which Toyota and Cisco and others will convene in San Francisco in October. Read More »

Tags: 21st century cities, Cisco, city transformation, green business, IBSG, Smart Cities, sustainable development, urban innovation, urban planning, urban sustainability

In the past five years, consumer monthly Internet usage has grown nearly three-fold, but users spend little more than in 2006. According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Global Forecast 2011, consumption per U.S. user grew 278 percent. In that same time frame, according to published research, the monthly U.S. cable broadband ARPU remained virtually flat.

As consumers increasingly rely on their broadband access for more of the basic everyday needs, broadband has become the most important core service provider service when compared to pay TV, mobile voice, landline phone and mobile data. But these broadband service providers are struggling to get consumers to equate the value of their online experiences with the value of their broadband service. To that end, SPs are actively considering usage-based billing strategies as a tool to align consumer value perceptions with their underlying networks. Anecdotal evidence from non-U.S. SPs that have introduced usage-based billing indicates that it can drive new value creation.

To help explore consumers’ perspectives, Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) conducted a survey of broadband users in the United States, Canada, France, and Italy to determine current views on usage-based billing policies and approaches.

This particular document is titled “Usage-Based Billing Strategies Can Enable SPs to Align Customer Value Perception with Network Investments”.   It can be found on the Service Provider Thought Leadership section of the website of Cisco IBSG.  At this site, you will find many interesting, provocative papers on various subjects relating to the service provider segment.  

Check this and others out . . .

Tags: broadband, Cisco, IBSG, service_provider, Visual_Networking_Index, vni