Today, I am pleased to share the news that Cisco WAAS 5.0 has been certified by SAP for integration with the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform 7.0.  Cisco WAAS 5.0  on the Cisco WAVE-594 appliance has been tested for performance preservation, secure encrypted communication, reliability, and functional correctness with SAP NetWeaver 7.0.  The WAN bandwidth utilization is typically reduced by 20 percent or more.

In addition to the performance benefits verified during SAP certification testing, Cisco introduced WAAS 5.0 earlier this year, which includes the following features: Read More »

Tags: AppNav, Central Manager, html5, iPad, iPad-ready, NetWeaver, NetWeaver 7.0, SAP, SAP CRM, SAP-Certified, SSL Support, waas, waas 5.0, WAAS Express, XenApp, xendesktop

A quick note to make sure that  you don’t miss the last weekly leg of this 6 weeks contest -

Last week on November 1st was  a big milestone for our customers with the announcement of Cisco UCS Central - I hope you has a chance to check the blogs on this topic , including the analysis of  partners bloggers. Check here you will find all the clues you need to answer the questions and get a chance to win the iPAD .

So naturally our questions are about UCS  and UCS Central.

To enter the contest and answer the 5 easy questions with multiple choices, just go to http://www.Facebook.com/ciscodc and click on the tab “win an iPad !”

Here is one additional clue : To answer the question number 2 about cost avoidance, you definitely want to discover our UCS  TCO tool 

Just a quick reminder of how this contest works :

Read More »

Tags: challenge, Cisco, contest, data center, iPad, UCS, UCS Central, Unified iQ

As we look seriously at connected learning, the influx of notebooks and mobile learning applications has been astounding. This week, in fact, Apple took over much of the news with the launch of its iPad Mini. In the previous weeks leading up to this launch, I heard and read discussions around education being a key target audience for this new iPad offering, which renewed my intrigue in the use of handheld devices & mobile learning.

Bloomberg discussed the rise in iPads being used in the classrooms due to its “cool factor” and ability to encourage students to learn by increasing engagement. More than 2,500 classrooms currently utilize iPads as learning tools, and this number is expected to increase with the continued growth of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Superintendent of the McAllen Independent School District in Texas was quoted saying, “We’re moving away from desktops and laptops. Ninety percent of the work is now being done on mobile devices.”

Think about that for a minute -- ninety percent -- wow. With mobile learning amongst Forbes recent list of Five Technologies to Watch, it is obviously only going to increase in momentum. In addition, the potential revolution in digital textbooks is primed to change the entire landscape. The jury is still out on when that revolution will take place, but it’s looking more and more like a reality.

Are you, or do you know, an educator who is formatting educational materials for mobile devices and planning learning activities that leverage multimedia, videoconferencing and other features of smart phones and tablets? Tell us your story! (and what you think of the new iPad mini)

Tags: byod, Cisco, connected learning, edtech, iPad, ipad mini, mlearning, mobile learning, unified workspace

The verdict is in — and it is all about security. Recent research from The Economist notes that security is the top concern for mobility and BYOD. Organizations want to embrace BYOD but want control to ensure secure access to the network. Chuck Robbins, Cisco Senior Vice President, wrote a blog entry that underscores what we hear almost daily in conversations with our customers and partners. The organizations we speak to have mobility policies that range from no personal devices allowed at all (which is really not BYOD), to policies that permit all personal devices with restricted access, and still others that allow all devices with differentiated access based on the device type, user, and posture.

Some common differentiation access use cases may include:

• Allow my sales force to access the proposal portal remotely from their iPads but do not allow them access to the finance database.
• Do not allow any jail broken device, whether personal or corporate-owned, because there is a high probability it has been infected with malware. A device is considered jail broken when the user gains root access to the operating system, allowing applications or extensions to be downloaded that are not available in the Apple Application store, which increases the risk of malware infection.
• Automatically check to see if the device has pin-lock and disk encryption (basic device security), grant the device the appropriate access. If not, it will be diverted with the non-compliance explanation.

Another interesting observation is many of our higher education customers are starting to see eight devices per user versus the three devices noted. Watch out! The next workforce has some real potential to influence the new workplace.

To help organizations get ready for securing BYOD, we have a paper on Readiness Assessments: Vital to Secure Mobility; check it out.

Stay tuned -- later this year we look forward to sharing with you some further insight on mobile workers and their perceptions and behaviors regarding security. For example, how many folks download sensitive data on their personal smartphone? Or when an alert or pop-up warning occurs on their personal device what do they do? How many engage in risky behavior? Who is security aware? If you are a mobile device worker it would be great to hear your understanding of the security of your personal device in the new workplace.

Tags: bring your own device, byod, iPad, malware, mobile device

Did I tell you that we have a contest currently underway?  In case you missed it,  you still have till midnight PST today to answer 5 easy questions with multiple choices. One correct answer makes you eligible to win an iPAD.

Questions this week are about Cisco ONE (Open Networking Environment ) -- Perfect timing as you are  maybe preparing your participation to Openstack Summit (we do!) in San Diego.  But even if you don’t plan to go,  I am sure that you heard about SDN -- Haven’t you?

OK,  here are the questions:

Read More »

Tags: Cisco, contest, data center, iPad, ONE, SDN, Unified iQ