Did you miss it? The Weekly Rewind went on hiatus for a short time. It’s back. It’s better. It’s all about you. Here’s what’s new and different:
New and exclusive content featured each week.
A look back at the stories you missed.
A look forward at what’s to come.
A new name! The Partner Weekly Rewind and Fast Forward (we totally entertained “Cisco McPartnersFace”, Paul @buzzblog).
In this week’s edition we’ll take a look at the brand campaign, how your role is evolving, and customer success.
You’ll only see this here
The new Cisco brand campaign launched last week. This campaign is all about transformational, stunning stories that show how technology is changing the way we work, live, play, and learn. It’s the first time we’ve gone to market to, thru, about, and with you, our partners. And it’s the first time we’ve delivered a campaign through ENGAGE.
Have you joined the conversation yet on social media? #NeverBetter
Rick Snyder, SVP, Americas Partner Organization, blogs about the power of the brand campaign and how it aligns to engagement, enablement, and evolution.
Wendy Bahr, SVP, Worldwide Partner Organization, blogs about how the brand campaign ties into simplicity, alignment, and value exchange.
In the news:
Network World talks about the new brand campaign and digital transformation.
The VAR Guy talks Changing the World with the new brand campaign.
Channel Partners quickly details ways to use the new brand campaign assets.
Grow your business by growing with your customers
In our first blog in a new series, Sandra Flinders, Senior Director of Global Partner Programs, talks about how we’re changing the Cisco Partner Ecosystem to support how you’re evolving your role with customers. Hint: the secret sauce is software.
Fast forward:
Jason Gallo, Director of Sales shares how to take the next step in your evolution.
Grace Lo, Director of Business Development shares ways to accelerate your growth and profitability.
Use predictive metrics for better business outcomes
In his blog entry, Scott Brown, SVP Customer Success touches on the importance of using metrics to guide your customers to be more successful and to improve your own outcomes. Hint: it all starts with measuring and monitoring customer health.
What’s next?
The weekly rewind and fast forward is designed to give you a snapshot of what you missed and what’s to come. Tell us what you think in the comments. And come back next week for more!
Today’s Guest Blog comes to us courtesy of Anthony Brown, Director of Application Cloud Alliances and Program Development at Sungard Availability Services.
Today’s businesses face the challenge of maximizing their agility to meet rapidly changing market opportunities. At the same time, they need a reliable infrastructure for their day-to-day operational workloads. To meet both these sets of needs, many organizations are adopting a “Bimodal IT” approach. As described by Gartner, Bimodal IT is the practice of managing two separate modes of IT delivery to accommodate different types of workloads. Mode 1 focuses on safety, accuracy, and reliability for traditional workloads that an organization relies on to operate. Mode 2 is used when speed and flexibility are required, such as with born-in-the-cloud-type applications.
Together, Sungard Availability Services (Sungard AS) and Cisco continue to innovate how organizations can move their operations into and between clouds. We achieve this by supporting the breadth of an organization’s IT environment and offering cloud services for Mode 2 workloads that do not come at the expense of the reliability required still needed for Mode 1 environments.
For example, Sungard Availability Services Application Cloud Services | SAP, powered by Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), enables businesses to simplify their day-to-day operations. With capabilities such as customer relationship management (CRM), human resources, and accounting, businesses can run their entire company on a single platform.
Organizations needing greater performance are turning to SAP HANA because it runs analytics applications smarter, accelerates business processes, and makes data infrastructures easier to manage. It can serve as the foundation for all of a company’s data needs by removing the burden of maintaining separated legacy systems and siloed data. It also allows businesses to adopt a robust Bimodal IT strategy.
Rather than provision and manage SAP in your own data center, you can leverage the capabilities of a service provider like Sungard Availability Services to simplify how you run your business:
Infrastructure: Sungard AS provides the servers you need, as well as monitors and troubleshoots them for you
Flexible: Sungard AS is one of the few providers in the industry that can provide both infrastructure up to the OS layer or a fully managed solution, depending on your needs
Scalable: Sungard AS allows you to scale computing and storage resources as you need them
24/7 Support: Sungard AS provides SAP technical support as well as manages all support patches and updates for you automatically.
Multi-site: With three data centers in North America and two in the UK, Sungard AS can provide cloud-based recovery capabilities for SAP running in your data center or in the cloud
Moving your SAP platform to a Sungard Availability Services SAP cloud, powered by Cisco UCS, offers many benefits:
Switch from a CAPEX to OPEX operating model: Enjoy predictable pricing so you can budget better.
Pay for only what you use: There’s no need to overprovision in your data center to accommodate seasonal peaks.
Leave the equipment to us: You don’t have to invest in servers or dedicated SAP HANA appliances.
Scale dynamically: Have access to more resources when you need them.
Operate securely: End-to-end security means you don’t have to worry whether your data and applications are safe.
High availability and reliability: Because your solution is running on Cisco’s proven UCS servers, you are assured enterprise-class reliability. Your service has also been audited by an independent third party so you know you can connect with confidence.
Sungard AS has a long history of working with Cisco to provide you the best solutions on the market. With the SAP and SAP HANA solutions you need, you can leverage a Bimodal IT approach to your day-to-day operations that gives your business the flexibility and reliability it needs.
Learn more about how SAP HANA in the cloud can accelerate your business. Visit Sungard Availability Services at SAPPHIRE in Florida, May 17-19, booth 1070. Or contact me and I’ll personally put you in touch with the right people.
Anthony Brown is a channel and sales leader, with more than 20 years of experience establishing and managing key accounts and partnerships for the Enterprise space. Experienced at building productive channel revenue streams with special expertise in high technology systems, solutions, products, and professional services. He’s demonstrated success in direct sales management, effective team leadership, strategic partner recruitment, and joint-company solution development.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much” – Helen Keller
Almost five months of planning and organizing with our Cisco Greenlight for Girls (g4g) Barcelona project team (Mayte Cubino Gonzalez, Maite Cadenas Sanchez & Esther Roure Vila) came to a successful end on Saturday, May 7 at the La Salle University in Barcelona, Spain. Our dream of launching a g4g STEM event for young women ages 10-15 for the first time ever in Spain finally became a reality, as we welcomed 170 girls and their intrigued parents to the campus this past weekend.
When Cisco announced Barcelona as a key pilot for its smart cities initiative two years ago, we saw an opportunity to turn a dream into a reality. With money already invested into an Innovation Center in Barcelona (slated to open in the summer of 2016), our team knew it was time to harness our passion for getting more girls into STEM. Mayte, Maite and Esther all studied engineering in Barcelona at La Salle University, giving us the perfect role models for what it means to be a successful woman in technology.
With the support of Cisco Spain and Cisco Services, 21 employee volunteers helped run the event. They served as group leaders to the students and managed many of the STEM workshops throughout the day. One of the workshops featured the popular Arduino programming tool, and another taught the girls routing and switching in a fun, hands-on way.
Cisco employee volunteers helped inspire girls to technology through hands-on workshops
The girls had a blast in a total of 15 different workshops, creating colorful ‘worms’ made out of polymer with Covestro; printing magic with HP technology; virtual reality & rugby with AIG; making LED flashlights with Simon; and building & constructing therapeutic robots used for children with autism with La Salle University, to name a few!
Julie Chrysler represented Cisco Networking Academy as a workshop leader and shared how inspired she was by the students in attendance:
“It was amazing to participate in Greenlight for Girls Day as a facilitator for the Cisco Networking Academy workshop. In just one hour, the girls learned the basics of connecting things through digitization and developing their own ideas about how they could improve their everyday lives using technology. Although these events aim to inspire girls in STEM, I think the girls inspire us as much as we do them! Fantastic energy and I look forward to participating in future editions.”
What’s unique about these g4g events is that that they bring together so many different STEM companies and organizations for one common cause — to inspire and build the future generation of female STEM talent. Together, we’re breaking down the stereotypes that girls may have around these subjects and showcasing exceptional role models.
We hope that by running these events, we can ultimately fill the growing skills gap in today’s digital economy. There’s never been a better time to motivate girls to enter STEM fields, especially before they begin high school or college. By exposing them to hands-on learning and technology at an early age, we’re inspiring them to pursue new careers while they’re still in school and developing ideas about the world.
This week, a mother of the one of the girls who attended wrote us, sharing in her daughter’s excitement:
“I just wanted to let you know that my daughter and several of her friends attended the event on Saturday in Barcelona and said it was fantastic. Teenagers don’t often say that about something educational which takes place all day on a Saturday. So congratulations, it sounds like it was a fabulous event. Thanks!”
Letters like that make the hard work, time and effort of that goes into g4g worth it. When hundreds of parents eagerly register their daughters for these STEM events and you see the genuine interest from the girls when they learn something new, you know you’re working successfully toward a greater cause. Being a role model is incredibly important, both to the students and our volunteers, and we need to show the girls just how exciting, fulfilling, and enjoyable a career in STEM can be.
After a day of innovating at work, one of the last things many people want to do is sit in traffic waiting to get home. In Lagos, Nigeria – this is often what happens as the traffic creeps along resulting in over an hours’ worth of commute time. Vivian Agu, a Cisco Virtual Sales Account Manager in Nigeria, and her co-workers decided to take matters in their own hands instead, and as they were also looking for ways to become more active and healthy they thought this was the prime time to begin working out together.
This is how ActiveCisco was born. “We meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for one hour where we do vigorous workout routines with a team from Truppr who guides us, “ say Vivian, “So, now instead of sitting in traffic for an hour or more – we’re working out together and connecting outside of our office hours. It’s really becoming a type of team bonding for us!”
What started out as 10 Cisconians that focused on various methods of working out from cardio to yoga, has now grown to 20 participants. It surprised the group that even though their meetings had begun as a way to become more active during rush hour, it was also the perfect activity to unwind after the work day and it evolved into a space where they could really get to know one another further.
Says Vivian, “This has shown us a whole new side to our co-workers, there is a different light to everyone who is in the group as people let go during the routines. It’s not just about work, anymore. We now know more about each other’s personal lives and goals – this has helped us to grow even closer and has enabled us to have more open conversations in both our professional and personal lives.”
This has also led to a more relaxed feel around the office as yoga has been incorporated into their time working out together, but Vivian says their ability to joke around with another has helped aid in being a stress reliever as well. “There is a different attitude with each other. More stress has been released, we’re not stressed while we sit in traffic, and it has shown us a great work/life balance as we all work on our goals together.”
As the group continues to grow, their goals do as well and they’d like to spark some healthy competitions with other Cisco co-workers around the globe who are working out together to motivate one another and make their efforts more lively – maybe even inspire some senior management to become more involved as well. 😉 With how dedicated our co-workers in Nigeria are, we know there are endless possibilities for them to ensure a fit and healthy lifestyle that translates to a better work experience around the office too.
Get your career to a healthy place, too. Apply at Cisco.
What are you doing May 17-19th? If you’re like tech leaders from around the world, you’ll be at SAP SAPPHIRE NOW in Orlando. And while there will be all kinds of attractions to check out both in and around Orlando, some of the most interesting (and educational) events will only be found at the Cisco booth.
Here are the 5 ½ reasons Booth 234 is going to be the most exciting spot at SAP SAPPHIRE NOW. Except, maybe, for the Coldplay concert.
Reason 1: Discussion Areas You Actually Care About
The Cisco booth will be overflowing with thought leaders, talks, and demos on the most important tech topics out there today. From the Internet of Things to SAP HANA to policy-driven environments, we’ll be focused on the real business questions that organizations are dealing with every day.
Internet of Things for SAP Solutions
SAP Big Data and SAP HANA Vora
Data Center Solutions – SAP HANA on Cisco UCS
Cisco Advanced Services for SAP
Policy-Driven Single Click Deployment for SAP Solutions
Reason 2: Case Studies for Quick Studies
We get it. Case studies aren’t always exciting. But what if those case studies included face time with experts and interactive demos? We’ve specially formatted our booth experience so you can quickly get insights that actually help your business.
We’re focusing on joint projects with SAP Labs, CenturyLink, Dimension Data, and more. Best of all, they are all quick and accessible, so you can get the info you need before or after one of our in-booth presentations.
Reason 3: Go One-on-One with Cisco Experts
Busy conferences like SAP SAPPHIRE NOW don’t always offer easy opportunities to get quality time with the people you really want to talk to. That’s why we’re offering private meetings to discuss opportunities for leveraging SAP solutions built on Cisco hardware.
Have questions about what Cisco and SAP can do for your organization? Need to know about capabilities? This booth is an open book. So skip the crowds and sign up by emailing Colleen Murphy at collmurp@cisco.com
Reason 4: Speaker Sessions Where You Get to Speak
Everyone has learned a thing or two from a lecture or speaker session. But wouldn’t it be better if you can actually have a conversation with the person on the stage?
At Booth 234, we’ll be hosting back-to-back speaker sessions with tech industry leaders who are ready to answer your questions and have a real conversation with the audience.
First, Neil Nickolaisen, CTO of O.C. Tanner, will be talking about how his organization uses Cisco solutions to improve organizational agility. Neil will be joined by Ethan Kennelly, Director of Enterprise Architecture and Program Management for O.C. Tanner, as well as Hans Dossche, Director of SAP HANA Practices. That’s at 12pm on Thursday.
Next up is a session with Shivkumar Thiagarajan, VP of Business Development for CenturyLink. He’ll be talking about how his organization deploys SAP HANA Solutions in just hours, with full compliance and security. Hint: it’s all about policy-driven automation. Check out this session at 1pm on Thursday.
Reason 5: A Jam-Packed Lineup of Booth Presentations
All conference long, Booth 234 is going to be a revolving door of incredible talent and smarts, and nothing exemplifies that more than our lineup of in-booth presentations. From 10am to 6pm every day, industry leaders from O.C. Tanner, CenturyLink, NetApp, EMC, and more will be presenting insights from around the integrated infrastructure and cloud computing world.
Stop by for the full lineup of presentations and speakers.
Reason 5 ½: Win While You Learn
Now for the fun stuff.
In addition to all the educational opportunities, the Cisco booth will also be giving away tons of sweet prizes. And while we can’t reveal what the prizes will be or how you’ll win one just yet, know that they’ll be as awesome as the everything else happening at the Cisco booth. So visit Booth 234 for a chance to hear big ideas and win big.
To win in today’s market where disruptive startups and agile competitors are advancing on all sides, digitizing the enterprise to infuse greater agility and innovation is critical. This means transforming your operating model, which includes reimagining products and services, business models, as well as business function strategies for marketing, operations, and finance. To succeed, companies need to challenge themselves by being granular, and in many cases, revising legacy policies.
Unfortunately, concerns about cybersecurity are holding companies back from achieving their digitization goals. A new Cisco research report, “Cybersecurity as a Growth Advantage,” found that security concerns caused:
71% of companies to hold back on innovation
39% of businesses to halt a mission-critical initiative
60% of firms to reconsider digital projects
Over the past six months, I have had the privilege to meet with more than 100 of Cisco’s top customers from around the globe to reimagine their businesses through greater digitization initiatives. In these briefings, I emphasize cybersecurity as an enabler of growth and innovation, not simply a defensive capability to be “bolted on” to existing infrastructures. This new report supports the position I encourage leaders to take: make cybersecurity pervasive across the network while ensuring that security is a true business strategy measured across every facet of a company’s operations.
The research also identified a unique market segment of cybersecurity first movers. By implementing a cybersecurity and digitization strategy simultaneously, these companies increase the pace of innovation and the overall digitization process. Further, they have higher confidence in the security of key digital capabilities, R&D, Big Data/analytics, cloud, operations, and more expansive business models enabled through the Internet of Things (IoT).
Becoming a digital business requires holistically building cybersecurity into business operations, and digital products and services. As initial efforts succeed, leadership teams and workers will gain the confidence and expertise needed to further expand their digitization strategies, instead of being shackled by cybersecurity doubts, as many companies are today. Most important, digitization and security together will serve as a major force in driving growth and innovation.
So according to a recent report by the ITU, at the end of 2015 there were more than 7 billion mobile cellular subscriptions globally, or the equivalent of 98% penetration of the world’s 7.14 billion population. With the average length of a mobile phone as 4.5, if laid end to end that would equal more than 7 times around the earth. Mobile-broadband penetration levels are increasing as well, with highest in Europe and the Americas at around 78 active subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.
That is a lot of devices, lots of contention for Mobile Internet Service, and the demand is increasing!!!
So what is a mobile operator to do?…….. Follow the leader.
Cisco Leadership
According to IHS Research, Cisco continues to lead the Mobile Industry in both Total Mobile Packet Core at 22%, but also leads in Evolved Packet Core at 29%. Why is that do you ask?
Well it is because of our continued investment in our Cisco ASR 5000 Series Platform that enables us to win against the other competitors. We win because the competition cannot compete against Cisco’s Software and Hardware Development.
Software Development
Each year we continue to develop our Cisco StarOS software that runs in more than 350 customer networks globally on our ASR 5000 Series Platform. So whether a customer buys our ASR 5500, 5700, Virtualized Packet Core (VPC), or recently announced at MWC 2016, our Ultra Services Platform, each of our platforms have the same look, feel, and features because we run the same software platform.
We continue to enhance our rich software, StarOS platform by developing more than 350 software features per year, with about one-third of those features for 3GPP compliance and the remaining two-thirds of those features customer requested features.
Hardware Development
We continue to develop our ASR 5500 hardware recently releasing our “next generation”, our DPC2 that has 300 – 400% improved performance then our prior versions. Soon we will be releasing other enhancements increasing our port density per footprint with continued investment, supplying our customers with even more port density on our Packet Core Solution.
Watch this space
So watch this space for new releases coming soon on our ASR 5000 Series Hardware Platform.
It’s all about analytics! From data, to insight, and then action. Analytics, along with Internet of Things, represent the foundation of Digital Transformation that is changing businesses, industries, and lives globally.
Fundamental to this transformation is ‘integrated’, ‘software defined’ many things including compute, storage, network and management. Through innovations, Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) integrates these elements in to a cohesive programmable infrastructure that can scale as workloads demand. Cisco’s UCS Integrated Infrastructure portfolio further optimizes the application architecture solutions based on your use cases, your applications, and technology needs.
Cisco UCS Integrated Infrastructure for Big Data introduced few years ago has become a popular choice in the enterprises across major industry segments including agriculture, education, entertainment, finance, healthcare, manufaturing, insurance, public sector, retail, and service provider environments.
These reference architectures are supported with leading software partners including Actan, Cloudera, DataStax, Elastic, Hortonworks, IBM (BigInsights), MapR, Oracle (No SQL Database), Pivotal (HD and GPDB), Platfora, SAS, SAP (HANA Vora), Splunk, and others.
Recently, the business value of our Cisco UCS Integrated Infrastructure for Big Data solutions were quantified by IDC through independent research, which showed the following benefits for an organization:
The new reference configurations and single SKU bundles are listed in Tables 1,2,3 and 4 below. These configurations can be deployed as-is, or referenced as templates for building custom configurations, and used to scale to thousands of servers on demand through the use of Cisco Nexus® 7000 and 9000 Series Switches.
Table 1: Performance Optimized: High performance Hadoop, Scale-out databases and analytics solutions
Base Solution SKU
UCS-SL-CPA4-P1
UCS-SL-CPA4-P2
UCS-SL-CPA4-P3
Connectivity
2 Cisco UCS 6296UP
2 Cisco UCS 6296UP
2 Cisco UCS 6332
Servers in Base Solution SKU
16
16
16
Server SKU (C240 M4)
UCS-SPBD-C240M4-P1
UCS-SPBD-C240M4-P2
UCS-SPBD-C240M4-P3
Processor
2 Intel Xeon processor E5-2680 v4
2 Intel Xeon processor E5-2680 v4
2 Intel Xeon processor E5-2680 v4
Memory
256GB DDR4 2400MHz
256GB DDR4 2400MHz
256GB DDR4 2400MHz
Boot
2 240GB EV SSD
2 240GB EV SSD
2 240GB EV SSD
Data
24 1.2TB 12G 10K SAS HDD
24 1.8TB 12G 10K SAS HDD
24 1.8TB 12G 10K SAS HDD
Capacity
29TB
29TB
43TB
IO Bandwidth
4.1GBytes/sec
5.5GBytes/sec
5.5GBytes/sec
Scalability (no additional switches)
80 (20Gbps per server)
80 (20Gbps per server)
26 (80Gbps per server)
Scalability with ACI
1000s
1000s
1000s
Table 2: Capacity Optimized: Hadoop, Scale-out databases and analytics solutions
Base Solution SKU
UCS-SL-CPA4-C1
UCS-SL-CPA4-C2
Connectivity
2 Cisco UCS 6296UP
2 Cisco UCS 6296UP
Servers in Base Solution SKU
16
16
Server SKU (C240 M4)
UCS-SPBD-C240M4-P-C1
UCS-SPBD-C240M4-P-C2
Processor
2 Intel Xeon processor E5-2620 v4
2 Intel Xeon processor E5-2620 v4
Memory
128GB DDR4 2400MHz
256GB DDR4 2400MHz
Boot
2 240GB EV SSD
2 240GB EV SSD
Data
12 6TB 12G 10K SAS HDD
12 8TB 12G 10K SAS HDD
Capacity
72TB
96TB
IO Bandwidth
2.5GBytes/sec
2.3GBytes/sec
Scalability (no additional switches)
80 (20Gbps per server)
80 (20Gbps per server)
Scalability with ACI
1000s
1000s
Table 3: Starter Configuration for test and development, and smaller deployments
Here’s a question: how many devices are brought into your organization that conform to the 802.11ac Wave 2 standards? Don’t tell me, I already know the answer: probably none. That’s great and you’re safe. For now.
By this time next year, you’re going to start seeing more and more 802.11ac Wave 2 enabled devices on your network. The shift to the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard doesn’t just concern high-tech businesses; it’s going to affect all industries. With the highest Wi-Fi performance ever, wider channels and better end device efficiency, 802.11ac Wave 2 is going to be the standard that most will adhere to.
No matter what field you’re in or the size of your budget—even if you don’t have a lot of wiggle room, finance-wise—Cisco has you covered.
Current and Emerging Technologies
Without the expanded capacity of 802.11ac Wave 2, the impact of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies will be felt on your network as more employees flood the office with laptops, tablets and smart phones—sometimes all three—they will all be fighting for bandwidth. The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more commonplace too. Smart sensors, smart thermostats, wireless security cameras and more devices are sharing connections with the network. The increased bandwidth of 802.11 ac Wave 2 allows BYOD and IoT to run smoother.
Right now you have the opportunity to get a head start when it comes to readying your organization for 802.11ac Wave 2.
Any way you slice this up; your current wireless network is going to be stretched to its limit. And that means in a year you’re going to be stretched to your limit trying to update your network.
Technologies shift and more people are using video as the prevailing form of communication. Whether it’s because of YouTube or Netflix streaming or video calls, text and voice as means of communication are going the way of the 8-Track. To keep up with the next wave of communication, you have to provide more bandwidth and better wireless performance so that devices are able to smoothly utilize video the way it’s meant to be used: without interruption.
Cisco Aironet Access Points (AP) take full advantage of the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard’s highest Wi-Fi performance ever, by allowing for a higher data rate and freer flowing wireless data traffic with wider channels.
Even your legacy devices—those that run 802.11a/b/g/n—will see a bump in performance when you begin updating your network with 802.11ac Wave 2 products. The reason? With Muti-User MIMO (MU-MIMO), 802.11ac Wave 2 clients are on and off the network so fast allowing for more legacy clients to be served. Plus 802.11ac Wave 2-enabled smart phones, laptops and tablets, will jump on the 5Ghz band leaving the 2.4GHz bands for older devices.
With the higher speeds of 802.11ac Wave 2, it takes a lot less time to transmit data than it did with previous Wi-Fi standards. This preserves battery life on Wave 2 clients. That means in the long run, updating your wireless network to 802.11ac Wave 2 standards will provide a better user experience for your users.
802.11ac Wave 2’s Impact is World Wide
Make no mistake the affect of the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard is going to be global and won’t just affect specific business areas.
Schools need to support 802.11ac Wave 2 because more and more students are bringing devices to class. And it’s not to sneak a peek at the latest Taylor Swift video; educators are using tablets and other mobile devices as part of the education process. While additional devices and apps that will consume bandwidth are a big reason for the upgrade, it’s not the only thing. Schools need an 802.11ac Wave 2 network that can:
• Support up-to-the minute notification on mobile devices.
• Detect externally launched attacks and insider threats.
• Automatically adapts to environment changes for optimal performance.
Whether you’re a small coffee shop or a large department store, it’s not just your workers that need exemplary Wi-Fi, customers demand this service too. Cisco Aironet Access Points are great tools to gather data in order to understand customer traffic patterns and behaviors, prioritizing your business-driving apps and better protecting the privacy of your business. Your customers need to be able to jump on a network too and:
• Connect to a custom guest access network (which can be used as another advertising venue).
• Be able to find the things that they want, quicker.
• Adapt to flash crowds during sales events.
In the old days, putting out an array of stale donuts in the morning and offering travelers a bed for the night was the peak of hospitality luxury. Those days are long gone as guests are now a bit savvier than they once were and expect a multitude of high-end services. One of these services is a robust wireless network. If you’re in the hospitality game, you need an 802.11ac Wave 2 compliant network because:
• It delivers mobile check-in, key lock and room control
• It quickly deploys wireless access for conventions and social gatherings
• It adapts to crowd surges during high volume of registration
Where Does Cisco Fit In?
That third bullet brings me to one of the most amazing things about the Cisco Aironet Access Points, and that are the innovations that only Cisco delivers:
• Flexible Radio Assignment automatically adjusts radio bands to better serve the environment. A Cisco Aironet Access Point deployed in a hotel lobby can handle a crowd of people armed with mobile devices frantically looking to get settled in their rooms. Flexible Radio Assignment automatically triggers the access point to shift from the dual radios operation at 2.4GHz and 5GHz to both radios offering 5GHz.
• Cisco CleanAir remediates device impacting interference
• Optimized Roaming intelligently connects the proper access point as people move
• Multi-Gigabit Uplinks provides faster wired network offload on existing Ethernet
Your Cisco 802.11ac Wave 2 access points aren’t static. They offer investment protection via the ability to expand along with your organization with three ports located on the Cisco Access Point. A smart antenna port allows you to add either another antenna be it of the Stadium Panel, Directional or Location variety. A built-in module port is perfect for connecting hardware such as a video surveillance device. While a USB port allows you to add a Bluetooth capabiities.
Preparing for 802.11ac Wave 2 is not a one-sized-fits-all solution. Cisco has a wide access point portfolio that offers different solutions to fit different situations. The Cisco Aironet 1830 and 1850 Series Access Points are perfect fits for small to medium-sized businesses. These devices offer the functions and features of an enterprise-level access point and they are the lowest cost 802.11ac Wave 2 AP on the market today.
For mission-critical organizations, look no further that Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Point. More robust than the Cisco Aironet 1830 and 1850 Access Points, the 2800 Series is built for large sized organizations. Rounding out the portfolio is the Best-in-Class solution: the Cisco Aironet 3800 Access Point. This product is targeted specifically for larger areas such as stadiums and arenas.
To get started on your network redesign, look at our wireless solution pages here and compare the products here.
Everyone has learned a thing or two from a lecture or speaker session. But wouldn’t it be better if you can actually have a conversation with the person on the stage?
So according to a 
According to IHS Research, Cisco continues to lead the Mobile Industry in both Total Mobile Packet Core at 22%, but also leads in Evolved Packet Core at 29%. Why is that do you ask?
