Technology continues to evolve at a break-neck pace, and our definition of the workplace — and how we work with our customers, partners and stakeholders — has expanded beyond the four walls of an office building. The adoption of mobile devices and cloud-based services has created an anytime, anywhere work culture. At the same time, global competition is at its greatest level, and organizations must re-evaluate how they can remain competitive and market relevant in this rigorous environment.
The need to provide products and services faster, reduce cost of operations and automate mundane tasks in order to stay competitive continues to accelerate in today’s digital world. As such, new skill sets and continued talent development are needed that address these changes currently impacting the way we work inside and outside of an organization. This isn’t an obstacle just central to the U.S. or certain markets. This is a global challenge, and will require organizations to rethink how they evolve, retrain and reskill their workforce to best complement this new way of working.
For instance, sales and marketing departments have had to adjust to this digital transformation; nowadays the vast majority of marketing is now done online through mobile and social channels. Manufacturing skills are also changing, the way we design products are changing, and the way we collaborate is changing. Across the board, significant development of new technology skills is needed.
Approximately 90 percent of technology jobs are expected to change in this new digital economy in order to keep up with new business models and technologies, which leaves us with a massive skills transition in the workforce. At the same time, there will be an estimated shortage of between 38-40 million college-educated workers by 2020, which means organizations will be competing for a relatively small pool of talent.
To keep employees up to speed on the skills they now require mandates access to pertinent information and learning, and real-time access to experts on the job, every day.
The time has come for a next-generation workforce solution to empower customers with the digital tools and technology they need to access information, experts, learning, and knowledge in real time – anytime, anywhere. To that end, Cisco is unveiling its new cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) knowledge platform: Cisco Collaborative Knowledge. The platform is designed to help customers reshape the way they work, learn, collaborate and innovate together, creating a smarter, more productive organization.
One of the original projects of OpenStack at the time that it launched was Swift, an Object Storage platform born out of Rackspace. A couple of months ago, we interviewed Joe Arnold, SwiftStack Founder and CPO. This week, we talked to John Dickinson, who serves as Director of Technology at SwiftStack and Project Technical Lead for the OpenStack Swift project. This was a notable day for John and the global Swiftstack contributors because just minutes before the podcast started, two years of effort had finally paid off with the addition of a new erasure coding feature. Watch the video, download the podcast, or read the transcripts below to learn more about:
John’s entry into tech that started with his grandfather’s Commodore 64
What Swift is well-suited for, whether you’re a startup or a large enterprise
Working with a global team to launch the erasure coding feature
Life as a Project Team Lead in OpenStack, and how anyone (even me) can contribute to Swift
Challenges in operating Swift at scale, and how SwiftStack solves those pain points
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ORJKia1pQs
You can follow John on Twitter at @notmyname and on IRC at the same name. His blog and other links can be found on his calling card page.
Jeff and I are taking the show to the OpenStack Summit in Vancouver! If you’d like to be considered for a guest spot, tweet us at @openstackpod
See past episodes, subscribe, or view the upcoming schedule on the OSPod website.
For a full transcript of the interview, click read more below.
“Product Recall.” Just these two words are enough to strike fear in the heart of a manufacturer. As John Kern points out in his blog, The Internet of Everything Will Help Solve Problems That Lead To Recalls, “Product recalls can be a headache for customers and consumers, but a financial nightmare for manufacturers.” Not only are longer-term corporate reputations and brand promises deflated, but even more insidious, shorter-term litigation and financial liabilities become a daily reality for industrial companies facing recalls.
Issues like the recent Takata air-bags, Blue Bell ice cream and other high profile cases garner news headlines almost every day. Manufacturers continue to wrestle with how to establish robust product design methodologies, component through finished-product traceability and genealogy (including context), vendor accountability and supply chain rigor–as well as production controls and visibility–all in order to avoid future issues with recalls and ensure quality output. And every sub-segment of manufacturing has its own set of related regulations adding a layer of regional complexity to the problem–whether it’s pharma, automotive, consumer packaged goods, high tech, metals, machine builders or otherwise.
The infographic below provides some food for thought with examples of the impact of recalls and how the Internet of Everything (IoE) enables the Connected Factory and a digital manufacturing world where product recalls and quality issues are less the norm and more of an anomaly.
IoE and Connected Manufacturing with predictive analytics and connected supply chains all converge to enable a platform to truly put an end to the tyranny of recalls. With a converged factory/OT and IT/enterprise network, manufacturers tap into the intelligence and accumulated analytics, to further drive innovations and improvements not just in production processes but also development and engineering, so that products are designed AND produced more robustly.
On April 13th, 2015, Cisco PSIRT was made aware of multiple instances of customer disruption in a specific region caused by a denial of service attack against Cisco devices. We responded quickly to support speedy restoration for our customers.
Our ongoing investigation has shown that the storage of some Cisco devices was erased, removing both the Cisco IOS and device configuration from the non-volatile RAM. Once rebooted, these devices became non-operational, affecting connectivity to the global Internet.
Cisco PSIRT, together with other internal Cisco teams, responded to support affected customers, review configuration backups of affected devices, and to analyze all available log files and Netflow information.
At this time, we have seen a common element across all inspected devices: a combination of weak credentials and a lack of device hardening. There has been no evidence of a Cisco bug or vulnerability being exploited. Should this situation change and we discover the use of a vulnerability, Cisco will disclose in accordance with our Security Vulnerability Policy.
Cybersecurity is a company-wide initiative. It touches every line of business, the technology, the fabric of the organization, its culture, brand and reputation. Customers are telling us that their most important issues are security and assuring the integrity of the products and data in their networks. In light of the heightened potential for cyber threats, trust is more important than ever throughout the entire IT industry. A trustworthy product requires that security be integrated throughout the product lifecycle based on a transparent and open culture of the company, its policies, its processes, its supply chain, and its partners.
John Stewart, Senior Vice President and Chief Security and Trust Officer here at Cisco, drives trustworthy systems development, supply chain security, cloud security and customer data protection, as well as validation of Cisco’s cyber security practices. This week, John was presented with the RSA Conference Award for Excellence in Information Security during the conference keynote. We are excited for John and see the award as recognition of the work Cisco is doing around the world to raise security awareness and the importance of trust, accountability and transparency from IT vendors.
I was chatting with John after the award presentation and he told me what an honor it was to receive this level of recognition, because it affirms we’re on the right path. We recognize the enormity of the security task before us and it makes us all proud to work for a company that is totally committed to the security of our solutions and of our company.
My previous blog post considered enterprise agility and our individual responsibility to take some level of ownership by being more present and connected. This week at UC Expo in London I met many industry colleagues, and it sparked off some interesting conversations.
Two themes emerged that made me think about what work might look like in ten years time:
1) Balancing artisan creativity with the art of making money
We agreed that the mass-market appeal and adoption of some technologies and devices have lead to quite bland output by some teams. We have, to some degree, lost the ability to be creative at scale. The pressure of time and money and the corporate iteration process often distil the essence of something beautiful down into something quite vanilla – generic tools often force us down the road to blandness.
#CiscoChampion Radio is a podcast series by Cisco Champions as technologists. Today we’ll be talking about Threat Grid with Cisco Business Development Manager and Threat Grid expert, Jessica Bair.
Learn about the Cisco Champions Program HERE.
See a list of all #CiscoChampion Radio podcasts HERE. Ask about the next round of Cisco Champions nominations. EMAIL US.
Cisco SME Jessica Bair, @jessicambair, Cisco Business Development Manager and Threat Grid expert
Just like private businesses, public sector organizations are taking advantage of today’s “boundless” infrastructures. They also face the same challenging reality when implementing those networks: a threat to data security. For public sector, the stakes are especially high. The proliferation of hackers, inevitable human errors, bring-your-own-device initiatives and the ever-broadening need to share information weigh heavily on government and education organizations, and consume substantial resources.
Against this backdrop, it’s more important than ever to be constantly discussing and innovating cybersecurity measures to keep networks safe. Cisco is not only an industry leader when it comes to providing cybersecurity solutions and services for the public sector, but it is also helping drive conversations with government and technology leaders around the country. In fact, Cisco will be attending a number of cyber-focused events over the next few months:
Cisco is a proud sponsor of the RSA Conference, an event that helps drive the information security agenda worldwide and plays an integral role in keeping security professionals across the globe connected and educated. Speakers will discuss everything from cloud computing to quantitative security, and include Secretary Jeh Johnson, Department of Homeland Security.
This year’s CyberTexas conference will explore the intersection of cyber security and the ‘Internet of Things’. Cisco’s Kurt Harris, Senior Systems Engineering Manager, is presenting on This session will explore the importance of securing the IoT and how these security challenges impact the enormous opportunity presented by the IoE for public sector in the future. This session will explore the importance of securing the IoT and how these security challenges impact the enormous opportunity presented by the IoE for public sector in the future. This session will explore the importance of securing the IoT and how these security challenges impact the enormous opportunity presented by the IoE for public sector in the future. This session will explore the importance of securing the IoT and how these security challenges impact the enormous opportunity presented by the IoE for public sector in the future. the importance of securing the Internet of Things and how security challenges impact the enormous opportunity presented by the Internet of Everything for public sector in the future. Cisco is also sponsoring the “Securing the Internet of Things” track.
The 2015 Synergy Forum brings together government and industry practitioners driving our collective technology futures to examine the emerging fusion of physical and digital worlds. Gary Neal Akers, senior vice president of Advanced Security Initiatives, Cisco, will take part in a panel on security and the Internet of Things.
Linked by a commitment to cybersecurity, government agencies, intelligence personnel and industry leaders will gather at the 2015 Defensive Cyber Operations Symposium to discuss successful strategies for improving security. In addition to exhibiting its cybersecurity solutions at the symposium, Cisco’s Kapil Bakshi, Distinguished Architect, will be speaking on a panel titled “Secure, Operate and Defend in the Commercial Sector – How Do We Maintain and Increase Cyber Security While Providing Innovation in IT?”
Digital Government Institute’s 8th annual Cyber Security Conference will explore today’s cyber threats and offer an opportunity for those supporting government security initiatives to collaborate on how to detect, protect, and respond to these challenges. Peter Romness, cybersecurity solutions lead, U.S. Public Sector, will be presenting during the show. Cisco is a Gold Sponsor of the DGI Cyber Security Conference.
The NSA Information Assurance Symposium is a biannual forum hosted by the National Security Agency that brings, policy, governance, technology, hands-on training and networking opportunities to attendees from across government, industry and academia. Cisco will be exhibiting at the symposium.
That is quite the cyber roadshow! Also, don’t miss our webinar with GovLoop on April 30th for a discussion on how to stay secure and connected in the age of the Internet of Things. And of course, we will undoubtedly be talking cybersecurity during Cisco Live in San Diego, June 7-11th. If you are attending any of these events, please make sure to stop by and say hello!
We get this question all the time. As much as camera technology has advanced over time, there are still some important things to understand about how light is processed through a lens and what your choice of attire can do to mess it up.
Our eyes are still better at adjusting to many things than a camera is. The color and the patterns we see will look different through the lens. When it comes to TV, you really want to dress for the camera to look your best. Some people worry too much – but it is good to have a little knowledge as to WHY we are asking you not to do certain things. I have divided these tips that I generally share into a couple of simple categories to make this as easy as it really is.
1. Color
Bold colors can do a lot to project certain traits of your personality but how they are paired with other items can make a big difference.If you are wearing a bright red tie over a very neutral shirt, the color could easily bleed.This can also make your face look flush as the camera attempts to balance everything in the scene.The challenge is in high contrast images.
This is why we often say NOT to wear all black or all white shirts.
The camera looks for the predominant value in the scene so it can balance everything else.A lot of black can cause an over exposure of other, brighter colors.All white forces the camera to seek a middle value as base for the other colors and consequently under expose them. Any of these can then costs a loss of detail and often make it hard to get skin tones looking good.
This is why you will often see cool blues, natural tones and pastels.It is always helpful to stay away from primary sold colors, bright red, blue or green, choosing off or light version of the colors is always better. Earth Tones are a great choice as well.
Any tie, jacket, shirt combination should be subdued.Blues are probably the most camera friendly and this is why you often see us men abusing them as our ‘go to’ color when doing a video.
2. Patterns
Pinstripes, checks, herringbones and textured fabrics will wreak havoc for the camera. These patterns will interfere with the camera sensor and you will see a strange ‘swimming’ effect which can be distracting and dizzying. After 300 or so videos, I get tired of wearing the same darn thing however and using a patterned shirt underneath a neutral jacket seems to work OK (“most of the time” added by Producer Steve who must be ‘accepting’ my jacket over busy shirt strategy more often than I realized)
As you would probably guess. There are (or should be) a lot of lights used within video.A good video production will pay attention to the lighting of the background and the lighting of the talent (that’s you).Basic lighting of a person includes at least three lights:
– Key light (main light directed toward the front of you),
– Fill light (control the amount of shadow thrown from the key light), and a
– Hair light (sounds gross…but not for your hotel room, this light is often behind you aimed at your head…it is great for getting separation from the background).
Shine On.
All of these foreground lights are directed at you so it makes sense to think about how reflective you are. This is not usually an issue for guys as we don’t tend to wear much jewelry.However, if you wear glasses and are doing a lot of video, a pair of glasses that has a NON-REFLECTIVE coating can be very helpful. This will cut down on the lights reflecting back at the camera, thus allowingthe audience to see your eyes.And then there is makeup.I don’t like wearing makeup any more than most guys but we are only wearing it to remove the shine.Unless you have seen it, you just would not believe how shiny our faces can get under these lights.It does not look good. A little anti-shine can go a long way in looking healthy.
4. Noise
Jewelry can always be a nice touch for anyone of course but beyond making sure it does not reflect in strange ways…be sure its not causing too much noise. I have worked with some people that show up dressed like a wind chime…and they sound like it too. Less a problem for men of course but we tend to mess this one up in two ways:big class rings and watches.
Watches and rings tend to bang on stuff, especially lab tables, keyboards and any hardware demos based on my experience.I sometimes punctuate a point by lightly banging my hand on the table and anything metal can make a sharp, distracting sound.This is also one of the reasons it can pay to have a dedicated sound engineer monitoring your recording.Part of their job is to identify extraneous sounds that are picked up in the recording and help the director determine if things should be redone to get a ‘cleaner take.’
My overall advice: Bring some options.
Besides being prepared and listening to direction, one thing a Director/Producer will love is a person who comes with alternate shirts or outfits. You can never be too sure how your choice that day will look when put in front of certain backgrounds or when next to other presenters.Don’t waste time trying to coordinate outfits in advance. Bring some options.
Be as original as usual.
My last tidbit here would be to still remain original. For those of us who work in a corporate atmosphere, we tend to give up on originality.Most of us dress pretty much the same.My shows are almost always casual. But if you wear a certain hat. Maybe you are a ‘vest’ guy…or just always wear khakis.Then do it. Be yourself. I can’t stand video where the content is not ‘real’ and certainly if the people are not themselves.I am a boring dresser.If my wife does not pick it out…then chances are I have done a bad job matching it up.I like to wear jeans and leave my shirt untucked. This is why you will see that in most of my stuff. But don’t match me unless its you. I am good either way as long as you stay true to yourself.
PS.I always hated turning my phone in airplanes as I never found any information about how that could possibly affect plane safety.I know there is some effect, but if it were really an issue, they would have confiscated our phones a long time ago.Turning your phone off while in studio however is very important – I will explain why in my next post!Blog.techwisetv.com
Technology continues to evolve at a break-neck pace, and our definition of the workplace — and how we work with our customers, partners and stakeholders — has expanded beyond the four walls of an office building. The adoption of mobile devices and cloud-based services has created an anytime, anywhere work culture. At the same time, global competition is at its greatest level, and organizations must re-evaluate how they can remain competitive and market relevant in this rigorous environment.
#CiscoChampion Radio is a podcast series by 
