2014 - Page 136 of 240

May 29, 2014 1 Comment

CiscoLive – 25 Years and 25,000 People

We celebrated 25 years of CiscoLive last week in San Francisco, with more than 25,000 people attending (live) to learn more about the power of the Internet of Everything and the value it will bring for years to come.

My favorite part… a ‘dancing’ John Chambers as an intro and close to his opening keynote kicked off the event Monday afternoon. He focused on IoE as a movement that will be enabled by Fast IT and that change is a constant in business. He stressed that those who do not change fast enough will not survive. And, he noted that only 24 percent of the Fortune 500 companies still reside on that list from just 25 years ago.

Rob Lloyd, Cisco president of development and sales, complimented John’s keynote with his own the next day, adding that FastIT is based on Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and Intercloud.

Continue reading “CiscoLive – 25 Years and 25,000 People”

Laura Fay

Vice President

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

1 Comment

#HigherEdThursdays: The Unique Nature of the American Research University

Carol Stillman

To understand the unique nature of the American Research University, public or private, it is important to have some historical context of the Academic Research Enterprise.

As America pursued economic growth and other national goals, its research universities emerged as a major national asset — perhaps even its most potent one. This did not happen by accident; it is the result of forward-looking and deliberate federal and state policies. These began with the Morrill Act of 1862, which established a partnership between the federal government and the states to build universities that would address the challenges of creating a modern agricultural and industrial economy for the 20th century. Continue reading “#HigherEdThursdays: The Unique Nature of the American Research University”

Carol Stillman

No Longer at Cisco

Cisco Live!: Threat-Centric Security from Networks to Data Centers to Clouds

Marc Solomon

Security has emerged as a leading pain point for CIOs, executives, and even in the boardroom due to changing business models and growing attack surfaces, a threat landscape that is more dynamic by the day and the increasing complexity of IT environments.

With these challenges as a backdrop, attendees of our 25^th annual Cisco Live! event last week in San Francisco absorbed over 170 hours of security-focused material, including hands-on labs, seminars, technical breakouts, panel discussions, and keynotes. This overwhelming amount of time and effort is a testament to Cisco’s commitment to protecting our customers against the latest threats across the full attack continuum—before, during, and after an attack.

In case you could not attend or make a session, particular highlights from the week included Chris Young and Bryan Palma’s keynote (must create Cisco Live account to view) examining the security challenges brought about by the Internet of Everything. Chief architect Martin Roesch also led a session exploring threat-centric security, examining the modern threat landscape, and how threat-centric security increases the effectiveness of threat prevention.

From a product perspective, momentum continued as we announced major updates and new products during Cisco Live! to help our customers address their security needs across the attack continuum with protection from the network to the data center to the endpoint to the cloud.

Continue reading “Cisco Live!: Threat-Centric Security from Networks to Data Centers to Clouds”

Marc Solomon

VP, Security Marketing

May 28, 2014 1 Comment

Cisco Cloud Technology Enables SAP HANA Cloud Offerings

Stacy Hayes

At the start of 2014, SAP identified four corporate priorities: HANA, Cloud, Mobility, and Analytics. Cisco, in support of these priorities, expanded their partnership with SAP to announce the availability of a Cisco Cloud Reference Architecture for SAP HANA Applications. This architecture, jointly defined between SAP, SAP partners, and Cisco, enables Cisco Partners to launch enterprise-class clouds for SAP applications that run on HANA and meet SAP’s certification requirements while maintaining the critical infrastructure performance.

Virtustream, a leading SAP partner and Cisco Powered Cloud Service Provider, was one of the first companies to reach SAP certification for HANA in the Cloud, and follows the Cisco reference architecture for SAP HANA Applications. Our Enterprise-class Cloud offers customers a secure, elastic and resilient way to deploy SAP workloads, with and without HANA, with all the economic benefits of a cloud solution.

Cisco’s strategy of enabling service providers to deliver SAP HANA Cloud Services via a proven reference architecture is complimentary to Virtustream’s Cloud Service Provider (CSP) enablement efforts. CSPs are using Cisco’s reference architecture and Virtustream’s xStream software to build their own SAP HANA Cloud Service. Cisco’s global market penetration and service provider optimized solutions effectively furthers Virtustream’s reach in the market. Together, we offer CSPs a faster time to adoption and a more predictable path to revenue.

Partners like Virtustream who follow the Cisco Cloud Reference Architecture for SAP in the Cloud are also eligible for participation in the “Cisco-Powered Cloud and Managed Service Provider Program (CMSP)”. This program links the partner community and the Cisco sales force, allowing for Cisco sales reps to get compensated for workloads that land on CMSP platforms. With the rapid rise of hybrid cloud deployments, this joint approach puts the Cisco field sales force in sync with the partner community, resulting in a consistent message to the customer base.

Further, given the dynamic nature of the SAP HANA solution and the fact that technology is rapidly evolving, having strong partner OpEx options means that the customer can experience flexibility over the lifecycle of the technology.

Customers who are interested in learning more about Virtustream, our offerings for SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud services, and Cisco’s CMSP designation for SAP HANA can visit the Cisco Booth at Sapphire Booth 230 where we will be demonstrating and displaying our solutions.

Stacy Hayes

Vice President for Strategic Alliances and Channels, Virtustream

3 Comments

#EngineersUnplugged S5|Ep12: OpenStack 101

Amy Lewis

In this week’s episode of Engineers Unplugged, Mike Dennard and Edgar Magana discuss OpenStack 101. Wondering what Cisco is working on for OpenStack? This is the episode for you.

This is Engineers Unplugged, where technologists talk to each other the way they know best, with a whiteboard. The rules are simple:

Episodes will publish weekly (or as close to it as we can manage)
Subscribe to the podcast here: engineersunplugged.com
Follow the #engineersunplugged conversation on Twitter
Submit ideas for episodes or volunteer to appear by Tweeting to @CommsNinja
Practice drawing unicorns

Join the behind the scenes by liking Engineers Unplugged on Facebook.

Amy Lewis

1 Comment

Fast IT Workshop #1: Beyond SDN _ Expanding the Conversation

Colin Kincaid

As business leaders navigate an increasingly complex world of connections, they need IT to dynamically respond to their needs. This four-part blog series explores how responsive and programmable infrastructure helps IT leaders succeed. Today’s post highlights how Fast IT, a new model of IT, encompasses a broader focus of next-generation infrastructure and how it can drive business value.

To read the second post in this series by Jim Grubb which discusses a roadmap to adopt a Fast IT model, click here. To read the third post in this series by Doug Webster which highlights how service providers specifically stand to benefit from Fast IT, click here. To read the fourth and final post in this series by Jeff Reed which explores how a Fast IT model can mitigate infrastructure challenges, click here.

Lately, there has been a lot of chatter around what software-defined networking (SDN) really is. Initially, SDN was a term used to explain the concept of splitting the forwarding plane from the control plane with the added benefit of automation and orchestration. However, recently SDN has become a “buzzword” attached to products that vendors are trying to sell as explained by Network Computing’s Tom Hollingsworth.

Critics of SDN say that it means too many things to too many different people, making what was once network architecture into a philosophy. This was affirmed by Colin Bannon, Chief Architect and CTO, British Telecom, as heard in this recording of the “Business Implications of Software-Defined Networking” panel discussion at Cisco Live Milan in January. During the panel, he suggested SDN means one of three things:

Centralized control which is especially popular with data center,
Centralized control but with lots of distributed intelligence, or
A software programmability into existing infrastructure, meaning more of an orchestration set.

Tim Zimmerman, Research Vice President, Gartner, echoed this sentiment at this same SDN panel: “SDN tends to have a meaning for everybody. It’s not always the same meaning for each person who asks the question.” He added, “We have to worry a little about using it to mean everything. I encourage people to ask the additional questions to ensure they’re getting the right answers when we explore what SDN means to them.”

At Cisco, we know that the old way of doing things won’t work anymore and SDN seems to solve many issues organizations face today with programmability. However, we want to expand the conversation beyond just SDN to include application-centricity, automation, virtualization, and orchestration. We’ve labeled these types of capabilities Fast IT. Fast IT is a new model for IT with a drive for less complexity, more agility, and comprehensive security. With the majority of IT budgets tied up in manual processes, IT struggles to free up resources needed to deliver innovative technology services to the business. IT must deliver value faster, and be more agile and less complex in responding to changing business needs. IT must enable the business to innovate and achieve business outcomes faster through a simple, smart and secure IT model.

So, what do IT leaders need to do?

Continue reading “Fast IT Workshop #1: Beyond SDN _ Expanding the Conversation”

Colin Kincaid

Vice President, Marketing, Networking Software

Network Operating Systems Technology Group

5 Comments

New Ways to Partner with Cisco

Traci Soward

If you’ve attended any Cisco partner events lately, then you have certainly heard about the new opportunities for partners through the Solution Partner Program. We hope you are as excited as we are about the new membership tiers and the added benefits that come with this program.

We value your partnership with Cisco, and we designed this program for you, with the intention that the new membership tiers will better align with your unique business needs and increase your success.

If you haven’t had a chance to review the details about the membership tiers, please do so now and let us know what you think, as your feedback is important to us. It will help not only our partnership with you, but also with other partners as well. Continue reading “New Ways to Partner with Cisco”

Traci Soward

Cisco Solution Partner Program Strategist

Announcing Cisco Tidal Enterprise Scheduler (TES) 6.2 

Andrew Blaisdell

Introducing New Adapter for Cisco UCS Manager, Lightweight Java Client, Multi-domain AD/LDAP Authentication & Runtime User Support for TES Workgroups

Managing and automating mission-critical business process is key to the success of your enterprise. By managing the delivery of the right data to the right application at the right time you can ensure that everyone in your organization has the information they need to be successful.

End-to-end Workload Management with Tidal Enterprise Scheduler (TES) 6.2

With the release of TES 6.2, Cisco continues its leadership in workload automation (WLA) and job scheduling. With hundreds of in-production customers, running complex workloads for global trading exchanges, manufactures, health care providers and technology companies, Cisco TES has proven itself in some of the most demanding data centers in the world.

Already known and cited by analysts and customers for its ease-of-use, ease-of-installation, scalability and enterprise-wide visibility, Cisco TES 6.2 ships with major performance enhancements, added user management flexibility and greater infrastructure management reach. Enhancements in this release include:

Adapter for Cisco UCS Manager
The Enterprise Adapter for UCS Manager allows users to schedule UCS Manager component infrastructure jobs through Cisco TES so that users can leverage the scheduler’s capabilities to automate, simplify, and improve job scheduling and workload performance. The UCS Manager Adapter integrates with UCS Manager using the XML API and provides for the automation of UCS Manager activities for blade and rack-mount server management in the form of UCS Manager jobs. This allows you to control and manages server instances as part of an overall infrastructure and data processing workload management solution.

Job Definitions for Cisco UCS Manager

Lightweight Java Client
For power users who are managing thousands of workloads and their associated objects in their database, the Java client syncs data directly from the Master, but it is many times faster than the client manager because all data is stored in-memory on the Java VM rather than to an external database. Many interactions through the Java client will see marked increases in performance including smooth scrolling with zero latency and faster search and filtering.

Lightweight Java Client for TES 6.2

Flexible Security Feature
For large enterprises that segment globally or for any user who creates domains for their data center, Cisco TES now supports multi-domain coverage from a single client manager allowing greater flexibility and ease of use. And for greater runtime flexibility, Cisco TES allows users to associate runtime users to workgroups to be used while defining the workloads.

Cisco TES and Big Data
TES supports end-to-end workloads that include Big Data business processes. This release strengthens our support for Apache Hadoop, Cloudera as well as MapR. If you are traveling to San Jose for the Hadoop Summit next week stop by our booth (Cisco is a Platinum Sponsor) to see the latest Cisco solution designed specifically for the Hadoop platform. See Scott Ciccone‘s blog post for more details.

June 3-5, 2014 –San Jose, California

Questions? ask-tes@cisco.com

For more on the TES 6.2 release visit http://www.cisco.com/go/workloadautomation

Data Center blogs I follow:
Raghunath Nambiar
Scott Ciccone

Andrew Blaisdell

Product Marketing Manager

Products, Solutions and Industry Marketing (PSIM)

Cisco Carrier-Grade Virtualization for Mobile Operators

Jim O'Leary

Wow how time flies, three months ago there was snow and cold weather in Boston but at the same time it was quite hot at the 2014 MWC. Hot from all of the discussions on Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Orchestration were on everyone’s minds, as both mobile operators and vendors try to answer the question “How to handle Machine-to-Machine (M2M), Internet-Of-Things (IOT) and the 50 Billion new devices by 2020”.

Fast forward to today and NFV & Orchestration Proof Of Concepts (POC) are being requested by or being inserted in every mobile operators network. Many of whom will be publically launching in specific application areas like M2M soon, and several operators are evaluating insertion into their main network sooner than expected.

Cisco Quantum™ Virtualized Packet Core (Quantum vPC), the industry’s most complete, fully virtualized EPC (Evolved Packet Core) that Continue reading “Cisco Carrier-Grade Virtualization for Mobile Operators”

Year: 2014

CiscoLive – 25 Years and 25,000 People

Authors