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On 8 March, thousands of International Women’s Day events have been planned throughout the world. The focus of the day generally expresses respect for ,and appreciation towards women who have achieved greatness on the public stage. More often than not it is to acknowledge their accomplishments in economics, political and social change.

I’d like to take a moment today to thank several remarkable women colleagues that I work with every day who move the ball forward, inch by inch, to make sure that the impact of our efforts to improve the world do not go unseen.

Continue reading “International Woman’s Day: A Celebration for ALL Women”



Authors

Mary Anne Petrillo

Senior Marketing Manager, Digital Strategy

Corporate Social Responsibility

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If you missed our webcast on the upcoming Nexus 1000V release for Microsoft Hyper-V, you missed the announcement that we are now making available a beta version to the general public, as of March 6. (Note: Everyone asks, so, no, we haven’t announced the availability date for the GA version yet, but it’s coming soon). This should be great news for the large number of folks that we had to turn away that we couldn’t support in our earlier alpha and high-touch beta releases.

In the webcast, Damian Flynn, a 2012 Microsoft MVP for Data Center and Cloud, and IT Architect for Lionbridge Technologies in Ireland, who was one of the early beta-testers for the Nexus 1000V Hyper-V version, gave an outstanding overview of the Nexus 1000V in a Hyper-V and System Center environment. It’s worth listening to the webcast replay if you have the time. Damian had some really exciting things to say about his experiences. The webcast was admirably co-hosted by our own Appaji Malla, product manager for  Nexus 1000V for Hyper-V.

Hyper-V Beta ProcessThe new beta version is available to anyone with a valid email address, and who provide their company name and contact address. Beta users must be willing to test the product and provide constructive feedback. Beta users are also encouraged to participate in the discussion forums and contribute to the Nexus 1000V beta community site.

As described in this week’s webcast (download the slides here; or watch the replay here), the beta process starts with an email to: beta-n1kv-hyperv@cisco.com. A link to a beta site will be sent in an email invitation (you must have a userID on Cisco.com to access this site). You will then be prompted to accept the beta agreement, and then get access to the beta code and documentation. Please use the available discussion forums for support, questions and feedback.   Continue reading “Public Beta of Nexus 1000V virtual switch for Microsoft Hyper-V is Now Available”



Authors

Gary Kinghorn

Sr Solution Marketing Manager

Network Virtualization and SDN

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This year at the annual HIMSS conference I had the pleasure of helping to coordinate the Context Aware Healthcare demo located in the Cisco booth.  The Context Aware solution brings together location services (RTLS) tracking for equipment and people as well as environmental monitoring, WIPS for security, and our brand new functionality of Connected Mobile Experiences with our partner Meridian.

In our solution materials we noted that the Connected Mobile Experiences provides “an unprecedented way to engage with patients on their smart phones or tablets” but this was my first opportunity to really show many customers the power of indoor GPS and location based notifications and the response was fantastic.  Every customer that saw the demo was impressed and in the demos that I was in I would estimate that over 50% wanted their AMs to get them more information on the solution.  I also had one customer and also an integration partner come to our booth solely to see this solution.

Cisco also held an internal sales summit prior to the show starting and the feedback that we received after that from our AMs and SEs was the Context Aware Healthcare solution was one of the top 2-3 sessions that was held.  It’s clear that the excitement for context-aware, location-based services is building and customers can see the vision of having an solid Cisco wireless network foundation providing not only traditional data and voice services, but also powering vertical solutions such as Context Aware Healthcare.

For more on Connected Mobile Experiences, visit the solution page.



Authors

Jason Mortensen

Global Healthcare Solutions Portfolio Manager

Digital Transformation Group

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The future intrigues us all, especially when every now and then we’re able to catch a glimpse of what’s to come.

At Cisco, one of the ways we build our business and serve our customers is to think about the future and how technology innovation stands to transform the world in which we live. This approach is especially important now as the more than 99 percent of physical objects that are currently unconnected become part of the Internet of Everything (IoE).

And while we know that no one person or company can predict the future with 100 percent accuracy, we put a lot of effort into coming as close as we can. To make this possible, we have a Chief Futurist on staff – Dave Evans – who, in addition to his responsibilities leading the Cisco IBSG Innovations team, spends his time helping Cisco and our customers see what lies ahead.

In an event earlier this month, Evans and the General Manager of Cisco’s Emerging Technology Group, Dr. Guido Jouret, shared their top predictions for the future and the mind-boggling innovations that will start taking off in 2013 and beyond. If you’re up for a little crystal-ball gazing, here’s what they had to say… Continue reading “Cisco’s Chief Futurist Shares Top 5 Predictions for 2013 and Beyond #IoE”



Authors

John Earnhardt

No Longer at Cisco

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Isn’t it great to meet your respected peers all in one place to share ideas on improving industrial business performance?

Executives, engineers, developers and analysts did just that at the ARC World Industry Forum in Orlando recently.  And Cisco representatives were there to discuss the challenges and rewards of networking in industrial environments. Here is a summary on forum discussions specific to cyber security, the Internet of Things and risk management.

Brian Uffelman is a Security Solutions Architect for the Cisco Connected Industries Group.  In this video Brian summarizes his talk on securing the end-to-end (Plant-to-Business) network from internal network threats.  Brian speaks of the benefits of a complete security architecture that starts in the DMZ to keep threats out of the network and extends security all the way to the individual production user. Continue reading “Security, IoT and Risk Management for Industrial Networking”



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So you’ve decided you are going to run 2vCPU VMs in one, or all (GHAST!) of your VDI pools.

Why did you decide this?

Because your application is multi-threaded and you need better response times?

Or simply because ((2 > 1) = TRUE) all the time?

What DOES 2 vCPU VMs really get you in your VDI environment?

Well, we wanted to know as well. But I’m going to twist this question a little bit to satisfy my blogging agenda: How can I get the most out of 2vCPU VMs in my VDI environment?

To answer these questions and more, we tested this combination in several variants and flavors, and are posting some conclusions in our blog series “VDI The Missing Questions:” Continue reading “VDI “The Missing Questions” #6: What do you really gain from a 2vCPU virtual desktop?”



Authors

Jason Marchesano

No Longer at Cisco

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Last week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, I had the pleasure of speaking to thousands of security professionals about the opportunities and risks associated with using Software Defined Networking (SDN) for security, which will be the underlying fabric of our next generation data centers and networks. SDN-enabled security will provide a better way to secure our most valuable applications, users and data, now and in the future.

Each vendor has a different definition of how the network is changing, and there are many different terms being used, such as software defined data center and software defined storage. Cisco calls this Application Centric Networking, for example, because we are introducing programmable APIs with a focus on distributed control plane intelligence so that applications can get value directly from the network.

It’s obvious why the networking industry is embracing SDN: lower operational costs and the ability to deploy applications and network services in a quicker, more scalable manner. Cloud bursting, which is about flexible compute in the cloud, is another SDN benefit that gives us the ability for applications to interact directly with the network in ways that do not happen today.  For example, applications will be able to query the network for location of users to manage Quality of Service and deliver highly targeted content.

So why should the security industry care about SDN? As the threat landscape evolves, the opportunity is to make Security a key application for SDN. We can use SDN to build a Network-based Threat Defense System. I see three key elements to this system:

Continue reading “Defense in Depth with Software Defined Networking”



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The journey to the capital city of Amman can be daunting for rural Jordanians who require specialty medical care—people like Haifa Abd-El Karim Omoush.

The 34-year-old married mother of five suffers from a treatable cardiac condition. Her local doctor at Al-Mafraq Governmental Hospital in rural northeast Jordan referred her to a cardiac specialist in Amman to confirm his diagnosis and define a treatment plan.

But Haifa missed or postponed critical appointments with the cardiologist because she had no one to care for her children and could not afford to travel to the hospital. Her condition deteriorated.

Haifa’s experience is common in many parts of the world where specialists are in short supply. But now, technology is helping to close this gap in healthcare access.

Continue reading “Technology Improves Access to Specialty Healthcare in Jordan”



Authors

Alexis Raymond

Senior Manager

Chief Sustainability Office

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Cisco Social Media Executive Panel Broadcast
4-3-13 Cisco Social Media Executive Panel Broadcast

“How do you get executives involved in using social media themselves? How do I make it relevant for them and their business initiatives? And how do I show them value for participating right away? ” Our social media training team is approached regularly with questions like these in hopes that there is a simple formula to include each executive into the social stream and as quickly as possible.

Are you finding yourself in the same situation? Know that you are not alone. Much of the research I continue to read indicates that there is a growing interest among executives to use social media, but we still have a ways to go.

To help make it easier, we would like to invite you to a special “Let’s Chat! Social Media Training Program Series” Cisco executive social media panel USTREAM broadcast we are hosting on April 3rd, from 9-9:45am PT. Cisco executives, with social participation ranging from starting out to seasoned, will share their insights. They will share the reasons they decided to start using social media, what they’ve experienced, and advice for peers and teams.

In addition to the questions we will ask the executive panelists, we want to open it up to you as well! Do you have questions related to this topic you would like to ask these executives? And are there other areas regarding executives and their social media participation you are interested in learning more about?

Join in the conversation using the #ciscosmt hashtag starting now and during this live broadcast. We’ll do our best to pose your questions to the executive panelists. And follow the #ciscosmt hashtag for more details.

In the meantime, here are some tips to get executives involved in social media. Are there other best practices you find helpful when encouraging executives’ participation in social media?

Getting Buy-In Tips

  • Identify with the executive’s mindset
  • Show the executive the money or bandwidth savings
  • Outline ways to capture metrics
  • Set realistic expectations
  • Develop short- and long-term strategies

Involvement Tips

  • Take small steps, starting out with listening to keywords to get a feel for the conversation
  • Encourage executives to participate in existing social channels to get started, even practicing in internal platforms first
  • Look for ways to make social media use relevant to their business needs and areas of interest
  • Show them examples of other peers that are using social media and its value as well as ways they can incorporate participation into their regular routine
  • Expand awareness around building personal reputations and integrating with business initiatives
  • Help executives participate directly rather than participating for them
  • Provide executive supporting teams with the proper training and resources
  • Monitor participation and offer helpful tips and coaching along the way

If you have any questions or are interested in other types of social media training, check out our new complimentary Cisco Social Media Training Program and follow the #ciscosmt hashtag.  To request  customized one-on-one team training sessions, email ciscosmtraining@external.cisco.com.