In my video, I highlight the Innovation and Collaboration that the convergence of plant and enterprise networks enables, which we will be showcasing in our Cisco booth on the AF show floor, including:
It is no longer a question of “if” your organization will face the new reality of mobile device proliferation, just an ever closer “how soon.” Users expect the network to enable trends like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and they aren’t just using smartphones and tablets to be more productive, they are falling in love with them. For businesses, simply allowing access isn’t the answer. It’s a question of relevant, secure access across the entire network, while protecting corporate assets and delivering an optimal user experience. Cisco focuses on exactly that -- how to enable a simple and secure mobility experience, with a consistent end-to-end architecture across wired, wireless and VPN access.
As a cornerstone of this wired-wireless access architecture, the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) has already been helping customers like Whittier Union High School, San Antonio Water System and BlueWater Communications Group apply consistent security across the entire network through a centralized, single policy source.
Whittier Union High School District, a California high school district serving more than 13,600 students, was facing the challenge of mobile devices. Both faculty and students were bringing their personal devices on campus, many for educational apps and tools.
“It’s becoming increasingly critical to provide employees, students, and visitors access to our network and extensive educational resources given the growing expectations of our tech-savvy population,” stated Karen Yeh, Director of Information Technology, Whittier Union High School District.
Whittier needed a way to apply differentiated policy across their student and staff populations, somehow managing access for both personal and corporate devices, all without increasing IT resources. Karen called Cisco, and two weeks later her team was deploying the Cisco ISE, implementing a single point of security policy for their networks across wired, wireless and VPN. Considering that Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the US went to Whittier High School, the flexible network access enabled by Cisco ISE may be empowering the next generation of leaders, scientist or artists. But, mobile devices aren’t confined to education. San Antonio Water System, a public utility owned by the city of San Antonio, is seeing surprisingly similar issues.
Each year a considerable part (up to 30% in some cases) of IT budgets is funneled towards device troubleshooting. It is no surprise therefore that after security, maintaining lean operational efficiency is the next most frequent concern regarding enabling a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) model.
Suppose you have allowed personal devices to connect on your corporate network, and you get a helpdesk call from a disgruntled employee that can’t access certain resources. How would you go about addressing the issue? In this video, Saurabh Bhasin, Product Manager of the Cisco Prime Network Control System (NCS) – a newly launched platform for unified wired and wireless network management – answers the troubleshooting question.
Allowing personal devices on the corporate network can make any IT professional cringe. Security is naturally a top concern – and the topic of today’s blog.
One dimension of security is about enabling network access. To do that properly, you would need to design and enforce a mobile device access policy, which may include attributes such as: what the device is, who the user is, where and when access is requested, and the health (posture) of the device. Another dimension of security is about maintaining overall device integrity regardless of the network (corporate or otherwise) it connects to.
In this video we only address the first. Cisco’s solution is based on a newly launched product, the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE). Watch the video to learn:
What is the Cisco ISE?
Can I treat corporate devices differently from personal ones?
What about guests in the organization, do I need a separate system?
It’s been a busy couple of weeks around here and we’ve got a fresh batch of newsfor partners!
In this week’s Partner Update newscast, Andrew finds out that even though an actual cloud can’t stream his music, Cisco’s new Cloud Partner Program offers everything partners need to capitalize on the growth of cloud, which is expected to reach $172 billion by the year 2014.
We also get to hear Andrew’s top video tips, find out why his suit needs to go to the dry cleaners, learn about networking myths, find out how one customer deployed VXI and virtual desktops, and we answer your technical questions.
Watch this week’s Partner Update newscast.
Keep reading for a transcript of what we covered, links to what we shared, and additional information. Read More »
