Year: 2016

February 23, 2016 Leave a Comment
Avatar

Seeking real answers from MWC16

The annual gathering that is Mobile World Congress (MWC) is upon us again. As always there will be the usual hype around 3 letter acronyms like NFV, SDN, SON, IoT and of course 5G (ok not a TLA). As I fine tune the Cisco Mobility strategy for my APAC region, I see these as just enablers, to get Service Providers (SP) where they need to be to be successful in a post 2020 or “5G” era.

As APAC SPs head to MWC they face real business challenges that need to be addressed this year, with new Innovation and Thought Leadership;

  • Demand: With the latest Cisco Visual Network Index (VNI) report for 2015 to 2020, we start to get a feel for what networks are up against. In APAC we can expect almost 6 billion connections as we head into the “Internet of Everything”, with >3 times connection speeds, creating 9 times more traffic then today. People tend to forget the “Data Tsunami” (a previous MWC buzz word) but the tide is still coming in.
  • Monetization: Erosion of traditional services to OTT. Time to stop seeing this as a threat, but instead an opportunity for collaboration and innovation, but how?
  • Profitability: TCO can’t be left to scale with traffic growth, or service complexity. Already OpEx/Revenue margins degrade every year, from around 60% in 2010 to 75% in 2015, according to GSMA Intelligence data for APAC MSPs. Yet the future is about OTT speed of innovation and heterogeneous access, concepts that give Operations Managers nightmares today.

andrew

Demand in the “5G” era: Cisco VNI APAC Mobile Traffic Forecast, 2015-2020

Continue reading “Seeking real answers from MWC16”

Authors

Avatar

Andrew Mackay

Head of Mobile Solutions

Asia-Pacific Region

2 Comments
Avatar

Not All Clouds Are Created Equal

Does the idea of building out your own data center make you pause? Remember, the cloud enables you to leverage the investment service providers have made in cloud to reduce your own CAPEX and OPEX spending. You can literally transform how you do business with a wide range of infrastructure, collaboration, security, and recovery services delivered through the cloud.

Just the way your organization is different from other organizations, cloud services differ from each other. Trying to force your business to work with cloud technology that doesn’t meet your needs means you’ll have less success than you should. For example, trusting your mission-critical applications to a best-effort cloud can mean expensive downtime and loss of business continuity.

To help you select the right cloud for your business, Cisco created Cisco Powered services. For a service to carry the Cisco Powered designation, it has to be built on proven architectures and designed to provide enterprise-class performance, reliability, and security. And, just as cloud technology has evolved over the years, so has Cisco Powered. With both cloud and managed Cisco Powered services to choose from, you can collaborate and work the way you want.

Cisco Powered Cloud Services: Run your applications in enterprise-class data centers around the world. Your cloud provider manages your services so you don’t have to. And, with the recent addition of the Cisco Powered Architecture for Microsoft Cloud Platforms, your cloud provider can provision physical IT resources on demand within the cloud that simplify, optimize, and accelerate the entire application deployment lifecycle.

Cisco Powered Managed Services: Let your cloud provider manage not just your services but your infrastructure as well.

In addition, the global partner ecosystem supporting Cisco Powered gives you a virtually unlimited choice of consumption models and services. More than 250 service providers have undergone the certification and audit processes required to offer Cisco Powered services. Together, they deliver more than 600 services worldwide. In addition, more than 500 resellers support these providers. These providers and resellers can help you determine your business needs and build an optimal plan so you get the most out of what the cloud has to offer.

With the increasing availability of commodity, best-effort cloud services, Cisco Powered continues to play an important role in enabling you to connect with the right service provider for you.

Learn how Cisco Powered can be your trusted choice for cloud and managed services to optimize your organization for the connected world.

16CS0010-CiscoPoweredBlog-11216-01

Authors

Avatar

Xander Uyleman

Senior Manager

Global Partner Marketing

February 22, 2016 1 Comment
Avatar

Cisco’s Key to Telecom Success: “Transformation Through Innovation”

The origins of the telecommunications service provider industry evoke thoughts of stable, even staid, providers of commodity communication services. Not that long ago, it was not very easy to distinguish service provider A from B, C and D.

My how times have changed.

At this week’s Mobile World Congress, transition and change is the name of the game. IoT, 5G and cloud are heard ringing through the halls of the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona as service providers look to make the right bets to position themselves for future growth.

We’re very pleased that many of the world’s forward-thinking service providers are making bets with Cisco this week, as we announce customer wins with the likes of AT&T, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telstra, Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Portugal, Telefonica, SK Telecom and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkoMm8R3pkQ

Continue reading “Cisco’s Key to Telecom Success: “Transformation Through Innovation””

Authors

Avatar

Doug Webster

Vice President

Leave a Comment
Avatar

Cisco VoWi-Fi Solution for Today’s Voice Demands

The first time I experienced Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi), I was on the receiving end of the call.  One of my colleagues called us with an OTT voice app using the airplane Wi-Fi. Not surprisingly, the sound quality was terrible, but we were able to communicate our message to him after repeating it a few times.  My colleague’s call was using the best-effort network available, and in an airplane, there was not much bandwidth available for him to hear us or for us to hear him.

People still want to connect with their friends, colleagues, and family members, and they are using whatever network is available to connect.  However, customers no longer want to settle for ‘best effort’ mobile network to communicate; they want a great voice experience, regardless of the network they are using.  With the pervasiveness of Wi-Fi available everywhere, our operator customers are now seeing an uptick in demand for VoWi-Fi.   They are embracing the technology for many reasons, because VoWi-Fi offers: Continue reading “Cisco VoWi-Fi Solution for Today’s Voice Demands”

Authors

Avatar

Maywun Wong

Manager, Market Management

1 Comment
Avatar

Smart Services Build a Better Business Model

Cisco Software-Enabled Services Help Transform Network Operations

Imagine that you’re a network operations director for a large company. You’re pleased that your management has invested millions of dollars in Cisco equipment to provide a world-class network on which to drive the company’s business. Now, your company is counting on you to keep it running smoothly and reliably – around the clock and around the world.

But you have a network operations problem. In fact, chances are you have several problems in meeting management’s expectations:

  • Your network device inventory information is inaccurate and out of date.
  • Many of your devices lack service coverage.
  • You can’t easily identify equipment facing end of life or end of service.
  • Security alerts are often overlooked.
  • Overseeing stacks of service contracts is distracting your staff from strategic business technology tasks.
  • To manage these and other issues with your installed base of network equipment, you have to rely on a time-consuming, error-prone manual process.

As organizations undergo digital transformation, IT priorities are broadening to focus more and more on operational challenges. How do you keep up with these and emerging operational problems?

A Single Source of Network Truth: Cisco Smart Services Continue reading “Smart Services Build a Better Business Model”

Authors

Avatar

Subu Subramanian

Vice President and General Manager

Smart Services Installed Base (SSIB) Solutions Group

8 Comments
Avatar

CRN Announces 2016 Channel Chiefs

Each year, CRN recognizes the top channel executives in the industry with their CRN Channel Chiefs list. The prestigious Channel Chiefs list identifies channel executives who consistently defend, promote and execute effective channel partner programs and strategies.

CRN Channel Chiefs are chosen by the CRN editorial staff and are considered the channel elite based on their track record of channel accomplishments, standing in the industry, dedication to the partner community and plans for driving future business innovation and channel growth.

This year, seven of our own Cisco executives have been recognized, which is a truly great honor. Of those seven, both Wendy Bahr and Rick Snyder were additionally named to the CRN “50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs.”

As a company, we cannot thank these executives enough for the amazing work they do.

It’s also important, and I’m going to speak on behalf of the Channel Chiefs this year, to send a big thank you to our partners and partner ecosystem for setting us up for this success. There’s no doubt we have the best partners in the world and would not be recognized without their support.

What a way to head into Cisco Partner Summit 2016 taking place in San Diego next week, where we’ll be able to see many of our partners and thank them in person.

Join me in congratulating the following CRN Channel Chiefs at Cisco this year:

Wendy Bahr
Senior Vice President, Global Partner Organization
Wendy Bahr is the Senior Vice President of Cisco’s Global Partner Organization. She has responsibility for managing and supporting 60,000+ global partners who represent the company’s primary route to market. Encompassing system integrators, value-added resellers, distributors, services partners, independent software vendors, and technology partners, this global connected partner ecosystem accounts for more than 80 percent of Cisco’s revenue and is a unique differentiator in helping deliver business outcomes for customers and promoting growth for Cisco.

Rick Snyder
Vice President, Americas Partner Organization
Rick Snyder is Vice President of the Americas Partner Organization (APO), which is Cisco’s largest geographical region representing the United States, Canada, and Latin America. APO helps 23,000+ Cisco partners across the region expand their businesses with new business models, enter new markets, and create solutions that solve our customer’s challenges.

Julie Hens
Vice President, Global Distribution Sales
Julie Hens is a 16 year veteran whose responsibility covers all aspects of sales, marketing, operations and logistics for the Global Distribution organization, which is one of the fastest growing segments of Cisco’s business. Julie has grown the two-tier business by double digits over the past two years and established a new transformational strategy to capture new market transitions around cloud, software and IoT.

Denny Trevett
Vice President, Global ISV and Technology Partners
Denny Trevett is a 19-year Cisco sales and channels veteran. He joined the Global Partner Organization (GPO) in August 2012 assuming leadership for the Global ISV & Technology Partner team. In his current role, Denny works closely with Cisco’s geographical regions, engineering teams, services, and marketing to drive the right Independent Software Vendor (ISV) approach to accelerate success across new and existing partner ecosystems required to support the Internet of Everything. Furthermore, his team is responsible for accelerating the success of many of Cisco’s most strategic technology partnerships, including Apple, Microsoft and SAP.

Ken Trombetta
Vice President, Worldwide Channels Global Partner Organization
Ken Trombetta is the Vice President of Cisco’s Global Partner Organization, leading the company’s route to market strategies and programs for Software, Services, Solutions and Architectures for 60,000+ global partners. Encompassing system integrators, value-added resellers, distributors, services partners, independent software vendors, and technology partners, this global connected partner ecosystem accounts for approximately 80 percent of Cisco’s revenue and is a differentiator in helping deliver business outcomes for customers and driving growth for Cisco.

Sandra Flinders
Senior Director, Worldwide Services Partner Programs
As Senior Director of Programs for the Global Partner Organization, Sandra Flinders leads the partner programs and channel strategy and execution globally for Cisco. Sandra was the central architect and business leader in the development and launch of the Cisco Services Partner Program, which extends Cisco’s value-based channel model and provides partners with access to new smart services to help drive their differentiation and strengthen customer relationships.

Nirav Sheth
Senior Director, Systems Engineering and Architectures, Americas Partner Organization
Nirav Sheth is the Systems Engineering and Architecture GTM/Sales Strategy Leader for the Americas Partner Organization. Through a team of 200+ employees and thousands of partners, Nirav is responsible for partner enablement/capacity, technology strategy, sales acceleration, and, helping partners enter new markets and practice areas while providing them with the support structure as they transform to deliver customer outcomes in the world of hybrid IT.

Authors

Avatar

Darek Rensing

No Longer with Cisco

1 Comment
Avatar

Building a Platform for Cloud Profitability

Demand for cloud services is exploding. The Cisco Global Cloud Index now forecasts that cloud traffic will grow by more than 30 percent in every region in the world over the next five years. In all, global cloud traffic will quadruple by 2019.

It’s a huge business opportunity for cloud service providers (CSPs). But what do they need to capitalize on it?

  • As-a-service cloud capabilities: CSPs should be able to provide a wide range of customized cloud services—public, private, and hybrid; IaaS, PaaS, SaaS—on demand, under consumption-based pricing models.
  • Speed: Customers should be able to select and customize cloud offerings from a portal. They should be able to turn up new services in minutes, instead of waiting days or weeks for a CSP to build out new infrastructure.
  • Performance and reliability that customers can count on: Customers relying on the cloud for their business profitability don’t want to be beta testers. They want solutions from industry-leading providers, using the platforms and environments that they already know and trust.
  • Hybrid cloud flexibility: Customers know that things change fast. They need solutions that can adapt easily to whatever comes next, on a workload-by-workload basis. That means being able to move some workloads to public clouds, while running others locally to meet security, compliance, or geo-location requirements.
  • Global-ready solutions: New cloud services should be able to scale anywhere and everywhere, so that expanding into new markets is easy.

It’s a lot to ask for, but the world’s leading cloud vendors are listening. See the Cisco Cloud Architecture for the Microsoft Cloud Platform.

Continue reading “Building a Platform for Cloud Profitability”

Authors

Avatar

John Malzahn

Senior Marketing Manager

Service Provider Cloud Solutions

Leave a Comment
Avatar

Cisco and Splunk Drive Operational Intelligence at Enterprise Scale

Guest Blog from Friea Berg, Global Strategic Alliances, Splunk

As a member of the Splunk Global Strategic Alliances organization, Friea Berg is responsible for Splunk’s overall Cisco partnership. She leads a cross-functional team driving core technology alignment, solution development, GTM initiatives, and sales strategies across Cisco Data Center, Security, ACI, Collaboration and IoE teams. Friea has more than 15 years of technology marketing and sales experience with a proven track record of building successful joint solutions with Cisco, NetApp, Microsoft, Red Hat, and other technology leaders. 

 

Over the past decade Splunk has closely aligned with Cisco to help organizations gain real-time insights across the vast amounts of data generated by Cisco’s industry-leading security, networking, data center, wireless, and collaboration portfolios. Thousands of joint customers – including Cisco itself – use Splunk to correlate Cisco data with machine data across their infrastructure, enabling them to minimize operational and security risks, drive informed decisions, and ultimately transform their business.964568D4-6CFA-4880-BDF0-CC885BBA7021

We’ve also focused on optimizing Splunk software deployments on Cisco UCS to take advantage of UCS’s incredible performance, scalability, and TCO. Cisco UCS’s ability to support exponential growth across data volumes, simultaneous users and demanding use cases has been proven in Splunk Enterprise performance benchmark assessments. For example, the latest release of Splunk software was shown to complete searches up to six times faster then the previous release when tested on a 32-core Cisco UCS system.

To enable fast, predictable Splunk deployments Cisco has published multiple reference architectures plus a full Cisco Validated Design that provides prescriptive, step-by-step deployment guidance for Splunk Enterprise on UCS. Cisco UCS is also the only server platform with a Splunk supported integration!

Most recently Splunk and Cisco have collaborated to deliver solutions for:

  • IT Operations Analytics to help organizations find and fix problems faster with end-to-end visibility across their infrastructure
  • Security Analytics to provide comprehensive real-time visibility and protect against advanced threats before, during and after an attack

Intrigued? Ready to start “Looking for Trouble” and “Winning the War on Error?”

Check out these executive videos to hear from Splunk CEO Doug Merritt how we’re collaborating to accelerate time-to-insight and see why Splunk Chief Strategy Officer Steven Sorkin’s is excited about Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure. Get the scoop on rock star Splunk Enterprise 6.3 on UCS performance and be inspired by Cisco’s 5-minute Strata keynote, “Unleashing the Power of Big Data Today” (psst … it involves Splunking race car data!).

If you want specifics I highly recommend Splunk’s Cisco Security Suite Attack Chain Demo, which offers a quick intro to how organizations use Splunk and Cisco products to before, during and after an attack protect to against advanced threats and malicious insiders. Alternately, below is a quick sampling of blog posts on various integrations:

Finally, to experience Splunk for yourself check out the Splunk for Cisco Security and NX-OS Programmability and Automation on Cisco’s hosted dCloud demo environment. Or, better yet, download a free Splunk Enterprise license and one of the more than a dozen free Splunk apps for Cisco.

 

Authors

Avatar

Renee Yao

No longer at Cisco

Leave a Comment
Avatar

Cisco Private Cloud Transforms Your Business

Digital technology has become pervasive in our lives.   As a result tech savvy employees and customers have new expectations for interacting with your business. The problem is how do you meet these new expectations while at the same time meet your objectives of cost reduction, delivering business innovation and increasing profit?

Translate your manual provisioning processes with automated workflows in order to meet both objectives.   Cisco ONE Enterprise Cloud Suite delivers a hybrid-ready private cloud with built-in tools for IT professionals, line-of-business managers as well as application teams.

To learn more, watch this new video:  https://youtu.be/JPPv1alupDw

Cisco ONE Enterprise Cloud Suite provides a hybrid ready private cloud that will:

  • Deliver a self-service user experience for line-of-business, application teams and IT professionals
  • Supply consistent, compliant infrastructure to support cloud native & existing applications
  • Deliver a secure hybrid cloud extension for your data center into public cloud resources
  • Convert infrastructure templates and application profiles into automated application stacks

Cisco ONE Enterprise Cloud Suite will transform your manual processes into automated customer services that help reduce costs, deliver business innovation and free up your staff to focus on new business services to increase profit.

Don’t get left behind.   Cisco ONE Enterprise Cloud Suite allows you to become the disruptor in your industry rather than waiting to be disrupted.

To learn more, please go to:  www.cisco.com/go/cloudsuite or watch this edition of TechWise TV.

 

Authors

Avatar

Joann Starke

No Longer with Cisco