What do you get when you cross iSCSI with lossless Ethernet? A lot of confusion.
I do quite a lot of presentations regarding converged networks, including Fibre Channel, whether native or over Ethernet (i.e., FCoE), iSCSI, NAS, etc. The hardest part about these presentations are combating some of the expectations that audiences have, considering they may come from server backgrounds, network backgrounds, or storage backgrounds.
Why is this important? Quite frankly, because like fish who don’t know they live in the water, they have come to grow unaware of their own environmental backgrounds. They tend to forget the assumptions with which they make their decisions. Ethernet and Fibre Channel networking people have very different fundamental philosophies about the way their networks run.
It’s been a very big year for Nexus 1000V so far, with the introduction of Nexus 1000V InterCloud, and our reaching a key milestone of 7,000 virtual switch customers. The Nexus 1000V also continues to play an important role in our Cisco ONE portfolio for Software Defined Networking (SDN). Now, as we get closer to the GA of the Nexus 1000V virtual switch on Hyper-V, customers are looking for the detailed, hands-on information about integrating Cisco virtual networking into their Microsoft Windows Server infrastructures.
By integrating the Nexus 1000V virtual infrastructure into System Center, customers will be able to manage their virtual networks along with the rest of their cloud infrastructure, including compute and storage resources. SCVMM promises to help organizations build out and manage their private clouds, improve processes by automating workflows for standard tasks, and provide visibility to virtual applications across hybrid cloud locations.
Damian and the rest of the Nexus 1000V product management team will be providing more details on the benefits of Cisco virtual networking for Microsoft data center environments.
For the latest information on Cisco’s partnership with Microsoft and our virtual network infrastructure products for Windows 2012 and Hyper-V, you can go to http://cisco.com/go/microsoft
Service providers are rapidly transitioning their networks to 100 Gbps in the core and it seems that every week brings a new technology, product, or customer announcement. With that in mind we encourage you to join us at an upcoming webinar, 100G Optics: Why Operators Are Upgrading Now. It will feature results from surveys by Infonetics Research with top service providers, and explains what is driving upgrades to 100G and how carriers plan to make the transition. We’ll cover not just the core but future metro opportunities as well. Continue reading “Breaking the Network Bottleneck: Why is 100G So Important?”
It was only a year ago that we were all eagerly anticipating London 2012 in our role as network infrastructure supporter. It was exciting, at times daunting and – looking back – tremendous to be at the heart of bringing the Games to the world.
To quote Lord Coe at the closing ceremony, “we did it right.” In many ways, the end of the Games was actually the start for us. That’s why on the back of our success, I’m looking forward to 2013 with huge optimism. It’s time to make our Games legacy a reality.
Back in 2011, we pledged to support the development of Tech City in London and the Government’s wider UK growth and innovation agenda. So how are plans shaping up And how are we helping students to learn? How are we discovering and supporting entrepreneurs? How are we helping them to mature and grow their technology start-ups?
Domain 7 in our Cisco Domain TenSM framework for data center transformation is what we call “Platform”. More specifically, this term refers to the “software platform” upon which your business applications will run. In short, this area is where we examine operating systems, databases and other types of middleware and help you figure out your strategy, architectural decisions and implementation plans in these areas, to help you drive a more successful cloud or data center project. Let’s discuss this area in more detail.
First, though, if you are new to the Cisco Domain Ten, please check out my “Cisco Domain Ten: The Story So Far” summary blog I published recently. Additionally, earlier this week, we ran a public webinar, where some of my colleagues in the Cisco Data Center and Cloud Services team gave their perspectives on Cisco Domain Ten. If you missed this and their very practical insights, please do catch up on the Cisco Domain Ten webinar recording.
…here are the type of votes contestants would love to receive. We recently saw two items that speak well on the progress of UCS against the most important yardsticks: how IT professionals and our partners rate Cisco as a computing systems vendor.
First up is CRN’s Annual Report Card. This is where IT solution providers rate vendors in categories of product innovation, support and partnership. For Midrange Servers, Cisco took top marks:
Next up: TheInfoPro Servers and Virtualization Study. This is a recurring report from 451 Research, now in it’s 12th iteration, which brings together interview feedback from IT professionals. You have to love a good old 2×2 (especially the upper right.) Here, customers located Cisco in the lead among server vendors on both the Promise and Fulfillment indices:
Report highlights:
Cisco tops the charts in both promise and fulfillment among large and midsize enterprises, significantly leading HP, IBM, and Dell.
Cisco ranks highest of all vendors in strategic vision and technical innovation.
Cisco’s rating is extremely positive, above average in 13 out of 14 categories.
Cisco is the ONLY server vendor to be ranked in the leading quadrant in 2010, 2011, and 2012 of the TheInfoPro study.
Now, please re-read that list, but this time out loud and in your best Dick Vitale voice. You have to throw in a few “BAAAAYBY”s to achieve the full effect. ‘Tis the Season, after all.
Keep an eye out during the tournament this year, you might just see a TV spot about a Cinderella story….
Here I sit… In Mel’s Drive-In Diner, San Francisco, CA. I just inhaled the “El Ranchero Americano”, which I am sure to regret later, and am enjoying tunes from yester-year complete with Doo-Wop and Presley. You may ask, “Why do I care…?” Well, before this turns into an episode with Anthony Bourdain, I will let you know that I am in ‘The City’ attending RSA Conference 2013.
Allow me to give you a quick background. RSA’s goal is to connect security professionals from around the world in order to continue the growth and importance of security as technology aggressively expands. RSA started these conferences in 1991 when internet security really became a topic of discussion. Everyone who is anyone is here, from start-up companies to our own Cisco.
Again, you might ask “What’s the big deal?” I listened to a keynote by Vint Cerf, widely known as ‘The Father of the Web’, he gave an ‘If you can imagine…” speech. In this talk, he said if we could imagine our refrigerator being able to ‘talk’ to us… explore the internet for recipes in which the ingredients are what we currently have in the fridge and have a list of those recipes ready for us on the door or emailed to us. Pictures on our refrigerator being streamed live from our loved ones as they are posted on various social media sites, keeping us in the loop with our families across the world… It’s not ‘If’, it’s most certainly ‘when’… We are currently living in the era of the ‘Internet of Everything’.
With this, though, comes the most important element: Security. How? How do we secure all of our information as we move forward? How do we secure billions of people while maintaining a ‘free moving internet?’ That’s why we’re here. We are here to discuss current security initiatives, evolving ideas, discussing the gaps in our current security… We are here to protect you.
As we move forward, it is absolutely essential to protect our ‘freedom’ to use the internet anytime, anywhere, and on any device. There are professionals working tirelessly in order to maintain that connectivity, and conversely, there are just as many trying to take our freedom away by disrupting our service and ‘stealing’ our personal information for their personal gain.
In our progression to ‘work our way’ in every way, we must stay vigilant and always on guard. I don’t know about you, but I do enjoy my flexibility and I also know I can sleep well at night knowing that there are people invested in my cybersecurity safety.
