One of the things I admire about great athletes is they are both fast and flexible. This combination makes them more agile and gives them a competitive edge. Our next evolution of Cisco UCS Fabric provides customers with greater speed and flexibility to help you maintain your competitive edge. This third generation Fabric Interconnect enables a high-performance, low latency and lossless fabric architecture to address the requirements for deploying high capacity datacenters.
The new Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect leverages our key technology differentiators – UCS Fabric, the Virtual Interface Card (VIC) and UCS Manager. The Fabric Interconnect 6300 series and the MDS 24-Port 40G FCoE module enable a high-performance 40G FCoE end-to-end solution. The new 6300 series adds to our successful Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect to deploy 40GbE, 40Gb FCoE, and 16Gb FC. This provides UCS customers with higher bandwidth and more configuration options, so they can have higher performance ports and the flexibility to support LAN and SAN connectivity for all servers within a domain.
Cloud architects and IT operations need a consistent policy model for all applications and for the virtual and physical infrastructure hosting it. A policy model for control, monitoring, and enforcement contributes to bringing today’s siloed operational teams together, with the ability to integrate their workflows using automation tools. Today server virtualization is largely based on VMware so we frequently encounter VMware virtual infrastructure (VI) in our ACI customer environments.
There are three major aspects or points of integration between VMware VI and ACI to deliver simplified operations to the VI admin and net admins.
Guest Blog by Igor Dayen, Service Provider Product and Solutions Marketing
KBRO, the largest cable television provider in Taiwan, has announced that it will use the Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Router to deliver one gigabit per second high speed internet connections to its customer base. Already known for its innovations and forward-thinking network architectures, KBRO is using the cBR-8 converged broadband router to modernize its infrastructure and improve its offering to its more than 400,000 subscribers
KBRO is not alone in recognizing the need to provide high-speed bandwidth to support the worldwide explosion of video traffic. To respond to this tremendous growth, cable operators must adopt new technologies and new ways of thinking. The Cisco cBR-8 is designed from the ground up to support high-speed Internet delivery as well as DOCSIS 3.1 and its associated levels of services over the current cable infrastructure.
It isn’t every day that I publicly disagree with a man who won the Turing Award and was on a first-name basis with Albert Einstein.
But today I respectfully will.
On January 24, an incredible man named Marvin Minsky died. He was one of the fathers of computer science in general and artificial intelligence in particular. I never met Mr. Minsky, but I share his passion for AI. The concept of superintelligence fascinates me. Yes, we’ve got a lot to figure out. There are so many HAL-like dangers we need to dodge. The work is really fascinating and if you want to read some really interesting work by Minsky take a look at his Society of Mind.
In eulogizing Minsky, the BBC linked to one of the last interviews this pioneer granted—a piece in the MIT Technology Review. Be sure to watch the video; I guarantee it will be four minutes and five seconds you will not regret.
What happens when your company succeeds beyond its wildest imagination? If you’re the German food corporation Seeberger, you complete revamp your warehouse and transform it into a building with a top-of-the-line wireless network.
Though the company had thought long and hard over how the business should evolve, the wireless network solution wasn’t made over night. After reviewing three vendors and choosing Cisco (due to Cisco having the most complete and simple solution) Seeberger built out their wireless network gradually and carefully. Now their entire campus is connected via 200 Cisco Aironet 1600 Series Access Points and Cisco 5500 Series Wireless Controllers.
With the entire operation wireless, it has allowed warehouse operations to be automated. Whether its the temperature and humidity being controlled in the raw goods warehouse to technicians checking sprinkler systems and recording the results anywhere on campus, the company is run in a more efficient automated way. Continue reading “Cisco Brings the Future to German Food Manufacturer”
Over the past few years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as reality with the advent of smart refrigerators, smart HVAC systems, smart TVs, and more. Embedding internet-enabled devices into everything presents new opportunities in connecting these systems to each other, making them “smarter,” and making our lives more convenient than ever before.
Despite the new possibilities, there are major concerns about the IoT which inspire a legitimate question: “What happens if it’s not ‘done right’ and there are major vulnerabilities with the product?”
The unfortunate truth is that securing internet-enabled devices is not always a high priority among vendors and manufacturers. Some manufactures do not have the necessary infrastructure to inform the public about security updates or to deliver them to devices. Other manufacturers are unaccustomed to supporting products past a certain time, even if a product’s lifespan may well exceed the support lifecycle. In other cases, the lack of a secure development lifecycle or a secure public portal to report security defects makes it near impossible for researchers to work with a vendor or manufacturer. These problems expose users and organizations to greater security risks and ultimately highlight a major problem with the Internet of Things.
What does this mean for the average user? For starters, a smart device on their home or office network could contain unpatched vulnerabilities. Adversaries attacking the weakest link could exploit a vulnerable IoT device, then move laterally within an organization’s network to conduct further attacks. Additionally, patching vulnerable devices can be complicated, if not impossible, for the average user or for those who are not technically savvy. For organizations that maintain large amounts of IoT devices on their network, there may not be a way to update a device that scales, creating a nightmare scenario.
Making a trip to Berlin is always worthwhile. And February is especially notable, as this is when famous movie stars make their way down the red carpet for the international film festival Berlinale. For me, the special draw is Cisco Live Berlin and the opportunity to speak German. A week from now, Cisco Live Berlin will be ready to rock. From a Cisco Data center standpoint ACI, Inter-Cloud, IOT and UCS continue to grab the headlines. In particular, Cisco ACI has established itself as the dominant SDN technology with thousands of customers and a growing eco-system of partners in just one and a half years. In this blog, I am going to present excerpts of what attendees can broadly expect to see and experience at the buzzing event, and I will take you on a tour of how ACI is ready to engage and enrich you.
Keynotes
At the outset, I’d recommend that you attend all keynotes to understand Cisco’s strategy for emerging technology trends and market transitions. Cisco Execs Jeremy Bevan and Zorowar Biri Singh kick-start the proceedings with an opening keynote on Feb 16 as they discuss empowering customers and employees as companies embark on building a Digital Business in the new era of IT. Don’t miss several technology innovation talks occurring throughout the week.. Cisco Exec Soni Jiandani’s session on SDN/ACI topic is going to be a sell-out. Come and listen to Soni to understand how ACI enables business outcomes like Digital Transformation as well as how Cisco’s innovations, from Applications to ASICs, bring unique capabilities and value to the industry.
Now I want to segue to ACI specifics. The last year has been phenomenal from an ACI eco-system momentum standpoint. F5 and Citrix, leading ADC vendors, have developed joint solutions with ACI and we have experienced several customer wins and success stories.
ACI Solution Partners
F5 is a platinum sponsor and has a big presence at Cisco Live Berlin this year to delight the attendees. Visit F5 at stand P2 to meet with subject matter experts and watch live demos of F5 and Cisco solutions that enable rapid, secure, and reliable L2–7 services across physical, virtual, and cloud platforms. Attend F5’s technical breakout session BRKSP-2003 for a Technical Deep Dive on F5 BIG-IQ, BIG-IP and Cisco ACI for Applications Deployment. Do not miss F5’s DevNet Zone workshop to learn how to deploy applications configurations with F5 BIG-IP and Cisco Nexus 9000 infrastructure with Puppet. Get a head-start by watching the live panel session video we recorded last month.
Citrix is a platinum sponsor at Cisco Live Berlin.. This year , Citrix has a signifcant presence in the partner area. Key activities at the booth include joint solution demos featuring UCS-XD/XA with ACI, ACI-NetScaler, ACI POC on Github, Cisco APIC-EM among other major ones. Furthermore, David Potter and Raj Gulani from Citrix are doing a breakout (BRKSP-2006) on the topic, “Citrix and Cisco Alliance – Delivering the best load balancing, virtual desktops and application delivery with Cisco ACI”. For your benefit, we also have a detailed white-board video illustrating various ACI and Citrix NetScaler deployment scenarios. There are many other exciting activities to offer, which you can check out at the Citrix Booth P3.
Demos and Theater Presentations at WOS
At the World of Solutions (WOS) this year, SDN/ACI, UCS and Cloud take center stage in the Data Center category. There are multiple demos showcasing ACI innovations. I want to draw your attention to key ones like security and micro-segmentation, Multi-Hypervisor support, and ACI integration with Cloud Management Platforms. We also have a ”Meet the Engineer” program, which gives you the opportunity to engage with a Cisco engineer in a 1:1 conversation focused on your unique questions and challenges. Click here to setup a 1:1 session. Finally, you have access to our subject matter experts staffing the booth demos. They will give you a real-life demo and explain how these are relevant to your needs.
So stop by the WOS to explore new technologies and get answers to your unique questions.
In addition to the hands-on demos, we also have round the clock mini-presentations at the WOS Cisco Education Zone mini-theater. This year we have several exciting ACI theater topics namely “Secure and Accelerate your Applications with policy-based L4-L7 services”, “Network Analytics – Key Use Cases for Applications, Automation, and Operations”, “Open NXOS / Programmability Solutions”, plus many more. If you are hard pressed for time, these sessions are ideal given their short duration nature. They will give you a quick overview on innovative features and architectures of Cisco ACI. Check our WOS Theater roster in the agenda handout.
Breakout Sessions
To your heart’s delight is how I’ll describe Cisco technical breakout sessions. Yes, we have more than 300 breakouts from industry recognized experts at the show. ACI breakouts feature prominently, and the legends of the ACI domain including Carlos Pereira, Ranga Rao, Lilian, Maurizio, Thomas Scheibe all are presenting stimulating sessions.. Search the session catalog to pick your choice sessions. I recommend Carlos’s breakout BRKVIR-2931 which takes you on an end-end journey of ACI. Also TECDCT-2002, a day-long technical session by ACI big guns Thomas, Azeem et al will give you an end-end view of the evolving Data Center fabric. Marketing Director, Craig Huitema is doing a session PSOSDN-2002 that focuses on how to speed up business by simplifying Data centers with ACI and Nexus. ACI thought leader Harry Petty is doing a Panel session PNLACI-2201 same day with fellow Cisco experts and Customer Thomas Raabo on how to build Data Centers with ACI. You are in for a double treat on Feb 17.
Social Networking
As a Cisco Live attendee, you benefit from the opportunity to interact with your peers, Cisco staff and partner technical experts in both structured and informal settings. Our Welcome Reception and Customer Appreciation Event are the highlights of the week’s social calendar. Read more on the Social Events & Networking Onsite section. Our social media online communities provide year round access to like-minded individuals as well as valuable content, news and updates. We’d love it if you would join the conversation.
I can go on and on, but I’d never be able to cover all of the excitement in store. There is so much more you can explore on your own, and our Meet and Greet ambassadors will be happy to assist you at the show. As for me, if time permits, I plan on acquainting myself with some of the legendary artworks in Berlin’s 100 plus Museums. Safe travels and a happy Cisco Live.
Each week, we’ll highlight the most important Cisco Partner Ecosystem news and stories, as well as point you to important, Cisco-related partner content you may have missed along the way. Here’s what you might have missed this week:
Off the Top
You Spoke: Big Data Analytics Drive Faster Time to Services Quotes
Throughout the year, our partners provide feedback to us about their experience doing business with Cisco. Well, as you know, it’s simply not enough to just gather feedback; it’s our duty to you to report back on how we’ve listened and acted on your input.
It’s that time of year again. Partners can now join our latest period of Value Incentive Program.
VIP 27 offers you the chance to earn rebates when selling targeted Cisco products, architectures, solutions, and services within a six-month rolling period.
Integrated Systems Europe is once again upon us in chilly Amsterdam, and Cisco Collaboration will be attending for the third year in a row. We always bring along our industry-best collaboration gear to showcase alongside the amazing AV equipment at ISE. This year, we have some particularly bright stars in the mix.
Starring the DX80 If you’ve seen the Oscar-nominated movie, The Martian, you might have noticed that Cisco video conferencing technologies play a key part in helping to bring home the stranded astronaut played by Matt Damon. The Cisco DX80 desktop collaboration system starred in that endeavor. Come see it for yourself at the Cisco booth. And, in case you haven’t seen the movie or just missed the scenes, you can also see a clip of the DX80’s cameo in the movie*.
Interoperability and Scale Speaking of stars, one of the brightest stars in collaboration is joining us at ISE. We just closed our acquisition of London-based Acano. We’ll be together for the first time publicly at ISE and will share how we plan to extend our respective leadership in interoperability and scale to truly bring video to everyone, everywhere. And we have a never-before-seen demo that you won’t want to miss. Continue reading “Cisco Is Bringing Some Big Stars to ISE 2016”
The new Cisco UCS 6300 Series Fabric Interconnect leverages our key technology differentiators – UCS Fabric, the Virtual Interface Card (VIC) and UCS Manager. The Fabric Interconnect 6300 series and the MDS 24-Port 40G FCoE module enable a high-performance 40G FCoE end-to-end solution. The new 6300 series adds to our successful Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect to deploy 40GbE, 40Gb FCoE, and 16Gb FC. This provides UCS customers with higher bandwidth and more configuration options, so they can have higher performance ports and the flexibility to support LAN and SAN connectivity for all servers within a domain.
