One of the key takeaways I heard consistently at the recent Citrix Synergy conference was the fact that you shouldn’t just do IT for IT’s sake: Your top consideration should be the end user experience. That’s one of the key lessons Seattle Children’s Hospital learned when it recently deployed Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) blade to support a 3000-plus deployment of virtual desktops and zero clients. This deployment and Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI) as a whole was the topic of a panel discussion at the conference.
The panelists included Aaron Cockerill, Senior Director of Product Management at Citrix; Doug Dooley, Director of Product Management for Desktop Virtualization at Cisco; Jake Hughes, the Chief Technical Architect at Seattle Children’s Hospital; and Harry Labana, VP and CTO of AppSense. Aaron and Doug offered up their thoughts on the Cisco-Citrix partnership, and how Cisco is leading virtualization charge with its end-to-end solution. Harry provided insights around desktop virtualization and AppSense’s role in creating flexibility and a rich user experience. Jake, as a customer who has implemented virtual solution, discussed the nuts of bolts of implementation, and talked about key points to take into consideration when contemplating a deployment.
I chatted with the panelists after the session, and they each offered up their top takeaways from the discussion.
Want to learn more about the details of the panel discussion? Read on for tips and lessons learned around implementing a virtual desktop solution.Read More »
Are you responsible for IT or voice services in a mid size company? Do you have 300 or fewer employees? Is your existing voice collaboration solution nearing its end of life, or no longer supported by the original manufacturer? Have you considered a solution from Cisco Systems? Yes Cisco! We are is proud to announce a new foundational voice solution specifically built for companies like yours, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition 3000 (Unified CMBE 3000).
Cisco entered the IP communications in the late 1990’s and soon became a market leader. Cisco’s unified communications and voice products historically have been designed for a large majority of the market’s segments. Cisco’s Unified Communications 300 and 500 series products were designed for businesses with under one hundred users. The more capable Unified CM Business Edition 5000 and 6000 have more advanced features for organizations with 100-1000 users. Comparatively, the Cisco Unified Communications Manager scales up to 30,000 users per cluster.
It may be sunny where you live, but the forecast calls for clouds today as Cisco and Xerox Corporation announced a strategic alliance to deliver cloud-based IT services. The partnership between Cisco and Xerox brings technology solutions that combine network and print cloud services for customers, along with a host of opportunities for partners.
Today’s announcement means that customers can add managed print services to their networks, leverage cloud server infrastructure to scale their application hosting, monitor print devices, manage everything in one cloud environment — and lower IT expenses, too.
What’s not to like? Today’s announcement delivers solutions in the following major areas:
XeroxCorporationManaged Print Services over Cisco Borderless Networks:
This consolidates IT and print management using the network’s embedded security, WAN optimization, and print aware intelligence to monitor print technology and operating costs, to protect confidential data from any location, and to improve employee productivity with advanced mobile and cloud printing applications.
XeroxCloud ITO Services via Cisco UCS and Vblock Infrastructure:
This accelerates the rollout of new IT services to adapt to changing needs of the workforce and reduce IT costs through a private cloud, the public cloud or through a combination in a hybrid cloud environment.
XeroxMobile Print Solution on Virtual Desktops and Cisco Cius:
Means (almost) no more worrying. Mobile workers can securely print documents from any email-enabled device – including virtual desktops and Cisco Cius tablet – to any enabled printer using the Cisco Borderless Networks and Wireless LAN solutions.
While traditional brick and mortar data centers meet the requirements of many IT organizations, there are some customers that require a different solution.
As the Senior Vice President, Global Government Solutions Group, I am happy to announce today the Cisco Containerized Data Center offering for government and commercial customers.
“Containerized,” or modular data centers, offer a flexible option for organizations that need to quickly deploy new data capacity. Built into weatherized ISO containers, these solutions consist of a complete Cisco unified data center, built as a self-contained, pre-integrated environment. In response to changing, mission-critical operations, the entire container can be transported wherever it is needed.
On Tuesday, March 15, 10:00 AM PT, be sure to attendTalk2Cisco, a live, real-time, social, interactive, online video broadcast featuring Cisco leaders Carlos Dominguez, SVP, Office of the Chairman of the Board and CEO and Lance Perry, VP of Cisco IT Customer Strategy & Success talking about how they managed the Web 2.0 learning curve, adopted a new mindset, and redesigned the way they work—for the better.
Since this event will be broadcast live via Ustream.tv, Talk2Cisco will put you, the viewer, directly in touch with Carlos and Lance so they can answer questions submitted by you.
Be sure to attend this event on March 15, at 10:00 AM PT by going here. I encourage you to comment on the Ustream.tv event via this blog post.
