General Category Archives

April 20, 2008

Mixing Reality via Virtual Syndication

The Cisco virtual environment team gets asked to mix reality with virtual all the time. We also get asked to make it easier to participate and view the events we hold in virtual environments. So (drum roll please ;-) this month we are trying an experiment using the Second Life Cable Network to syndicate our TechChat on sensor networks taking place at 1200 PDT on Tuesday, April 22nd.

What does this mean? It means for all of you who can't join us in Second Life at the Cisco Bandwidth Stage you will be able to come to this blog entry and watch the virtual event streaming live via an embedded web page feed. For those of you who missed this live you can view the archive of the event below now.

Please let us know what you think of this new format by submitting a comment to this blog entry. This new format is a direct result of your feedback to make accessing the events held in virtual environments easier for all interested parties. So you see we really do value your feedback and would appreciate more of it!

Posted by Dannette Veale at 10:38 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

April 15, 2008

The Internet of Things

Jean Philippe Vasseur, a Distinguished Engineer with the NSSTG Systems and Technology Architecture team, has a passion—something he refers to as "The Internet of things." The concept of a world where inanimate objects communicate with us and one another over the network via tiny intelligent object fascinates Vasseur.

While sensor technology such as motion detecting lights have been around for quite some time now, not much has been done to enable your door to tell your light to turn on via a hand on the doorknob. Vasseur’s efforts could be a catalyst to change this, and rapidly so if he gets his wish.

What does he see as an example of the proof of the power of sensor driven networks?
"For example, you could have millions of sensors across any large city that could measure the air quality, pollution, and noise, connected together to improve the quality of life and save energy, and the number of examples involving Sensor Networks is endless (Connected home, Intelligent buildings, Smart Cities, ...)." Vasseur explains.

What does he see as a challenge to achieving this goal?
"Right now, it’s a world of proprietary systems, and that’s one of the reasons it hasn’t taken off," he says. "There are literally dozens of protocols coming from dozens of companies, and if you’re interested in applying sensor technology to a huge network, you’re going to face a number of interoperability challenges. Technology A won’t work with Technology B, and none of the technology will currently run over IP. This is why we truly believe in the use of IP for these networks."

To hear more about the 'Internet of Things' and 'Sensor Networks' come out to the Cisco Second Life Bandwidth Stage next Tuesday, 22 April 2008 at 1200 PDT to hear John Philippe discuss the idea of the Internet of Things and ask your questions of him during a presentation followed by an interactive Q&A.

Posted by Dannette Veale at 09:09 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

October 09, 2007

A geek in a virtual world

Hi all. My name is Dannette Veale and I work in Corporate Events here at Cisco. Let me start by stipulating I am not super-technical like my fellow virtual worlds bloggers, who should have capes and related insignia to indicate their super hero status :-)

However I am a geek, always have been and always will be I am proud to say. Specifically I am a science fiction/cyberpunk/anime/gaming geek; so virtual worlds are right up my alley of interests.

At Cisco, I am tasked with programming virtual events in networked virtual environments…so virtual events for all you readers to learn from and enjoy, hopefully. Much of my work time is spent on Cisco’s islands in Second Life as Dannette CiscoSystems.

I get these types of questions/comments a lot:
1) Why does Cisco pay me to play?
2) Why would I participate in a virtual event instead of a webcast or forum?
3) Why would I use this virtual thing? You got to be kidding me…maybe my kids but not me!

My responses are usually something like:
1) Why does Cisco pay me to play?
1a) Second Life (and most virtual worlds for that matter) is not necessarily a game. I game a lot: MMORPG (Wow), Console (Lego Star Wars is my current addiction, all though Resident Evil for the Wii is a serious contender) and PC (Pyschonauts being one my favs right now) so I now of what I speak. The key difference with games is they have clear objective you are supposed to accomplish where as most virtual worlds are open ended user driven experiences. Sure you can game in them but that is up to you, not part of the system. Cisco pays me to program virtual events because we believe that networked virtual environments offer an exciting and rich collaboration experience.

2) Why would I participate in a virtual event instead of a webcast or forum?
2a) In this day and age do we really do one thing instead of another? I know I for one use all types of communication methods for learning as well as disseminating information out. However, there are intrinsic differences between the live webcasts, forums, and virtual events Cisco offers.

-- Live webcasts allow immediate Cisco to you/you to Cisco but ‘walls’ exist between you and your fellow peer attendees. However they are very easily accessed anytime, anywhere.
-- Forums allow for peer to peer but not in real time. However the discussion can be on going and have hundreds of contributors to a single entry.
-- Virtual events combine the best of both; real time Cisco to you/you to Cisco as well as peer to peer. Also, virtual events enable you to do things you may not be able to do in real life events. For example I can provide a heads up display (HUD) to virtual event attendees, which when worn enables them to have text based chat translated on the fly into their native language. However, virtual events usually require an application download, some amount of ramp up for the user to get comfortable with the UI and usually have to limit the number of attendees to the event.

3) Why would I use this virtual thing? You got to be kidding me…maybe my kids but not me!
3a) This is the same rhetoric folks gave me about webcasts back in the day but we all know that isn’t true today don’t we? So why use virtual now…I am not sure how to explain it scientifically but there is something about interacting with an avatar in a graphically rich environment that acts as a catalyst for creative thinking. “Thinking outside of the box” just happens more naturally it seems. I know this sounds a bit cliché and maybe nuts but I have confidence that there are smart people out there doing research right now on this very subject.

To quote a character from Rudy Rucker’s novel Mathematicians in Love: "Crazy means illogical. I'm logical. Therefore I'm not crazy. Note that a system can be at the same time logical and unpredictable."

Looking for feedback from all you logical yet unpredictable readers. Comments, critique, general assessment, virtual event requests, or whatever strikes your fancy!

Posted by Dannette Veale at 06:55 PM Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

September 25, 2007

It’s about the user experience!

I will start with a quick introduction of myself, as I’ve not yet posted to the blog until now. I am Randy Sisk, another one of those Technolgy Center folks working in networked virtual environments. Most of my efforts are centered on Cisco’s use of Second Life as a platform and environment for engaging with our customers, partners and other interested parties. As a result of this, a good deal of my time is spent in Second Life and facilitating Cisco groups and employees in accessing and utilizing SL. Having looked at and used several virtual worlds, I’ve noticed that acceptance and adoption are in part a function of how easy it is to get the tool running and then to be able to utilize basic features.

Now, by training I am very technical, however I am also somewhat “right brained”, so rich graphical interfaces are very appealing to me. In the case of virtual worlds, the wider the flexibility (good 3D graphics, physics simulation, external interfaces), the more challenging the learning curve is for new users, and the more complicated the user interface is. Human nature is to select tools that provide a good deal of utility while minimizing the “investment cost” of learning to use the tool. This is especially so in an enterprise environment where there is a high opportunity cost for an employee’s time. Where I’m going with this is that users will tend to adopt a tool with an easy to learn and use interface, but those tools that do so and provide a rich interface (graphical and integration with other applications and media types) will be differentiated in the marketplace. One of the technologies (is UI design a technology?) that will help move this market forward will be the design and integration of technologies and tools that make virtual worlds easy to use. I will be digging a bit deeper on this topic in future posts, so stay tuned!

Posted by Randy Sisk at 06:39 AM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

September 14, 2007

Announcing the Cisco Industry Solutions Partner Network

For those of you who did not see the announcement, Cisco has announced a new tool for our channel partners and application service providers to interact, the Industry Solutions Partner Network (ISPN). This is a 3D immersive environment for our channel partners to discover the wide array of solutions available from our ASP partners.

To quickly dispel any confusion, this is not a user-created-content, avatar-customized, free-roaming experience as experienced on the Cisco Virtual Campus in Second Life, but a 24/7 3D tradeshow with easy navigation targeted specifically at our Channel partners. As you know (if you are reading this blog), there are a number of different species of virtual worlds, ranging from pre-scripted web-based flash worlds, walled and open 'free-roaming' worlds, and hybrids. Each species has it's own best uses, as there is no 'one-sized-fits-all' solution.

We'll be releasing more details in the near future, however here is a sample screenshot of the environment because a picture is worth a thousand blog-words. ;-)

Posted by Christian Renaud at 02:07 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

August 15, 2007

A Warm Welcome

Welcome to the newest addition to the blog family at cisco.com, Virtual Worlds!

The term 'Virtual Worlds' can be a bit misleading, which is why you'll see the term 'Networked Virtual Environments' in our blog description. We believe that these environments offer an excellent new tool in our collaboration toolbox, alongside established technologies like IP Telephony, Web Collaboration, and Telepresence. They also offer a number of new opportunities to collaborate in ways we haven't had before, which is intuitively obvious to those who use them regularly, but we'll work on enumerating in future blogposts.

We encourage you to experiment with these environments, starting with Cisco's virtual campus in Second Life, a virtual environment created by a San Francisco startup Linden Lab. Second Life uses geographic bookmarks, called 'landmarks', which can directly teleport you to a location in Second Life. If you have Second Life installed, click here to be taken to our virtual campus. Don't be surprised if you see a number of other people there, as we have virtual events regularly such as our recent Networkers at Cisco Live! Be sure to check our upcoming event boards around the virtual campus and join us!

You've probably noticed that we opted for a simple blog format as we get started, and will be adding more bling as we get going. We have already created a del.icio.us group that contains the links from our blogposts for easy reference.

Last but not least, a note about the authors of the blog. We are the Networked Virtual Environments team within Cisco Technology Center, which is a group within Cisco chartered to look at new and emerging technologies as part of our Corporate Business Development organization. We are not a business unit shipping product, but rather a source of new technologies and ideas for Cisco. You'll probably notice quickly that we wander far from the beaten path regularly, as is our charter.

Having said that, we hope you enjoy the blog. Please don't be shy in commenting and asking questions, as that's part of this great conversation!

Cheers, the Cisco Technology Center team

Posted by Christian Renaud at 01:00 PM Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (4)