The Internet of Everything is all around us. People are connecting on the go in new ways, and they expect fast, secure network connections that follow them anywhere and everywhere —at work, at home, at play, at the mall, at the gym, or even at the ballpark.

Not so long ago, getting on the Internet was a static experience. It was a desktop PC tethered to the company network, or for the elite the “double, double, toil and trouble” of a modem firing up, followed by a long wait for a sluggish home connection.

The new era of mobility takes computing beyond the PC’s limitations, surpassing it by a long shot. It’s becoming less about devices than what you can do as the workspace evolves, offering adaptability and choice based upon who you are, where you are, and what you need to accomplish. Whether it’s a quick phone call, a web conferencing session, instant messaging, or file sharing, removing the limitations of location and devices lets organizations work together better and make decisions faster.

What is driving these changes? When people think of mobility, they usually focus on the devices used to access the net. Slick new smart phone displays, multi-touch tablet screens, and futuristic industrial designs are definitely eye-catching. Consumers are snapping up these new devices, and companies are embracing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs. But what’s happening behind the scenes and on the screens is just as important—if not more important.

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Tags: byod, Cisco, collaboration, Internet of Everything, IoE, IT, management, mobility, network, security, unified access, wired, wireless

It was not that long ago that whenever I read an article about IPv6, it usually discussed how the IPv4 Address depletion in other countries. At that time, the adoption of IPv6 was coming from other countries that where the v4 address space was depleted, the US Government, or Service Provider. Well fast forward only a few years and you can include Enterprise Networks in that mix.

Driving this IPv6 train for enterprise networks is wireless technology and the enabling by-product, BYOD. Wireless technology, in particular, Wi-Fi has grown from a toy to a requirement in most businesses today. We have moved from 802.11b which gave you a max datarate of a paltry 11Mbps to 802.11n to a max datarate of 450Mbps if you currently deploy the Aironet 3600 Access Point that supports 4x4 MIMO; if not, it’s a max datarate of 300Mbps. Never mind the fact that we will soon see the Wave 1 version of 802.11ac will have a datarate of 1.3Gbps and Oh BTW, Wave 2 promises a scorching datarate of 6.9Gbps!

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Tags: 802.11, access point, Aironet, bring your own device, byod, Enterprise, government, ipv4, IPv6, mbps, mimo, network, networking, Service Provider, wireless, wireless technology

When I think about IT security, I don’t immediately start thinking about threats, hackers and countermeasures, but begin with what is happening to IT in general. Right now, the three big megatrends in IT can be summed up in three words: virtualization, collaboration, and mobility. Unfortunately, it’s become something of a Newtonian principle that any action driving information technology forward generates an equal or greater counteraction by hackers to corrupt and exploit the new technology. I also find it disconcerting that at any given time, the most aggressively marketed “solutions” to IT security problems represent a trailing indicator of what cyber criminals are actually doing to raise hell. Read More »

Tags: collaboration, Intelligent Network, IT, it security, mobility, Net-Centric Security, network, security, virtualization

When it comes to the adoption of new technology such as 802.11ac, the industry becomes a farmer’s almanac of predictions when it comes to when and what devices and products will announce 802.11ac support.  Aside from Cisco, who boldly announced support for 802.11ac on the 3600 Access Point for the enterprise, there have been a number of consumer devices such as home routers, bridges, a selection of USB clients and a single gaming oriented laptop that are offering support for the new 802.11ac specification.

With HTC’s announcement of 802.11ac support for their HTC One smartphone, we would expect others to follow suit in the near future, setting the stage for the first series of devices to bring integrated 802.11ac to market sometime in CY13. As these device become available you can expect them to be connecting to your corporate networks as BYOD devices for corporate use. With the devices come the expectations where your end-users are going to be looking for that extra bump in network performance promised by the 802.11ac standard.

Next up, Tablet and notebook devices.

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Tags: 11ac, 5G, 802.11ac, Enterprise, gigabit, healthcare, higher education, hospital, htc, htc one, laptop, mobile device, mobility, network, networking, Service Provider, smartphone, tablet, wi-fi, wifi, wireless

We had a great time last week at the Hotel Technology Next Generation’s (HTNG) North American Conference in Atlanta. Many of the industry’s top leaders were in attendance, and it was exciting to see wireless and mobility as a recurring theme throughout the show. There were various Wireless-focused presentations, including one from Wi-Fi Alliance focused on Miracast and Passpoint. Our team also noticed that personal area network (PAN) capabilities are becoming of more interest to hoteliers as guests need a way to connect their devices together to share content.

Our very own Bob Friday, CTO, Wireless Networking Group, and John Bollen, MGM resorts VP of IT Strategy led the Wi-Fi conversations and delivered the conference’s keynote where they focused on key trends in the industry and our innovative  implementation at MGM.

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Tags: Bob Friday, Cisco, hospitality, hotel, HTNG, network, networking, technology, wi-fi, wifi, wireless, wlan