Stephen Speirs

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An interesting read for me one day last week was the Wall Street Journal reporting on the exploding yet ungoverned use of cloud services by employees in just...

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If you are involved in designing, supporting or managing a data center, you will undoubtedly rely on technical support services from one or more vendors.  Running your data center, there...

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My final observation from my days at the London Gartner Data Center Conference is related to SDN and ease of network management – or otherwise.  Hopefully this discussion will give...

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As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, last week I attended the Gartner Data Center Conference in London.   I came out of the conference with some questions...

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Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Gartner Data Center conference in London.   I attended 3 different sessions on SDN-related topics.  Here are some...

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OpenStack is gaining increasing industry attention and, while it can deliver huge...

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Last week I spent some time at the “Software Defined Networking 2014” conference in London.  It’s a relatively small conference I would say however given the growing interest in SDN and rapid progress of the technology it’s always good to hear alternative viewpoints and experiences.  And I certainly found the previous conference here in December […]

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It’s an exciting year for Scotland, with several very high profile events happening. On our doorstep in July is the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – what we call “Glasgow 2014” – which, after the Olympics and World (soccer) Cup, is the third largest multi-nation sports event in the world.  (The Commonwealth Games is sporting celebration among the 53 member […]

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Working in the Data Center and Cloud Professional Services team in Cisco on cloud and software defined networking, I am sometimes asked "What do...

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One of the great challenges of SDN – that many in my view underplay – is the change in paradigm from having a vendor deliver your network (hardware...

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  As I was thinking about how best to advise you on how to "experiment" with SDN technologies, and more specifically why you should run a formal pilot to evaluate...

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If you were to believe the industry press, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that many companies across the world were rolling software defined networking (SDN) technologies into their...

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2013 was the year I started working on SDN - specifically in the area of devising professional services for Cisco ONE and Application Centric Infrastructure, ACI.  A few...

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The other week I attended the “Software Defined Networking 2013” conference in London.  This is a UK-based event for...

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Last week I started my SDN reflections on the London Gartner Data Center Conference, and I found I had quite a lot to discuss. Last week I covered: Do we need SDN? SDN and the Gartner Hype Cycle SDN Deployment Models So here is the concluding part. This week I’ll cover: Overlay-Based SDN — and the […]

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Last week I was in London for the Gartner Data Center Conference.  As always there was a wide range of interesting topics being discussed, all very useful.  Working in Cisco...

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By now, given all the launch and blogging activity activity over the past week or so, I am sure your understanding of and interest in

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The road in my picture below – the A82 that winds through Glencoe in Scotland – was used in the James Bond “Skyfall” movie in one of the amazing car chase scenes.  This road winds through sparsely inhabited territory, has lots of ups, downs, bumps and turns and if you’re not careful it can be […]

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It’s hard to believe but it’s ten months since I first blogged on  Cisco Domain TenSM,  which is Cisco Service’s framework to guide you on your path to data center and cloud transformation. I’ve now covered all ten domains of this concise and powerful model.  I’ll now collect all articles – including my most Cisco Domain […]

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In my first SDN blog, I asserted that "Services" - that is technical support, professional and consultancy services - are the missing "S" in the SDN debate.  I'd...

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Since around the turn of the year, specific to each region of the world, we in Cisco Services have established magazines (available in both printed and online formats)...

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Operational process and governance, as I discussed last month, is “Domain 10” in the Cisco Domain Ten(SM) model for data center transformation.  It’s so important in my opinion, and so often disregarded or de-prioritised when planning and executing data center transformation, that I’ll cover it twice! Last time, I discussed some of the “Process and Governance” […]

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Having been part of the team who developed the Cisco Cloud Enablement Services, our professional services to help customers enable and adopt cloud computing, I was absolutely delighted watching the CiscoLive! keynote yesterday to hear Padmasree Warrior announce the results of the March 2013 IDC market research study that showed Cisco come out on top for […]

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Some of our Cisco Services strategy and design consultants and leaders are at CiscoLive in Orlando this week.  If you are around, please take some time to learn from their...

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  If you are following the industry debates around Software Defined Networking (SDN), and are wondering “What really is SDN?”, “How the concepts of network virtualization and network programmability relate...

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So, with this blog, the end of my Cisco Domain Ten(SM) journey approaches.  Starting back in December, I’ve now covered each of the ten domains in our Cisco Services’ framework for data center transformation. A few weeks back, I discussed some of the challenges you may face in Domain 9: Security and Compliance, and it’s […]

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  It’s 5:30am on Monday morning (10th June 2013 to be precise). ” Wake up it’s a beautiful morning” by the Boo Radleys  is blasting out of the speakers at the camp site.   “I shouldn’t be up at this time” is one of the lines of this songs which rings so true to me on this day. […]

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While I’ve been writing about Cisco Domain TenSM, I’ve been watching the SDN debate evolve in our industry, and I have to say, I’ve had my concerns.  Don’t get me wrong – I personally see SDN as an important and very much required evolution (and note: ‘evolution’ – not ‘revolution’) of the networking industry.  Being […]

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Last week I blogged on Desktop Virtualization Automation – and how we in Cisco Services can help you develop custom automation software solutions for rapid provisioning of virtual desktops. If you are involved in desktop virtualization, or interested in automation and orchesration, you may want to attend our upcoming Bright Talk Webinar, scheduled for May 29th […]

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Security and Compliance is the next domain in our Cisco Domain TenSM model that I will cover, following on from my previous post on Applications.  And following on from my previous posts around Cisco Domain Ten, I’ll give you a brief overview of the questions that come up when we discuss data center security and compliance […]

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Over the past year or so, from time to time, I’ve blogged about what we in Cisco Services have been doing with our Management and Orchestration solutions – for example Cisco Intelligent Automation for cloud – which I discussed in the Automation domain in my Cisco Domain Ten series, and also here, when we introduced […]

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“Applications?”  I hear you say.  “Why are Cisco talking about application?  They’re a networking company!?”  If this is what you are thinking, I’m glad you are reading this blog.  As we’ve broadened to be an IT company, we in Cisco Services have been quietly building our application migration capability for the past 2 years.  And with cloud, […]

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Domain 7 in our Cisco Domain TenSM framework for data center transformation is what we call “Platform”.  More specifically, this term refers to the “software platform” upon which your business applications will run.  In short, this area is where we examine operating systems, databases and other types of middleware and help you figure out your […]

Over the past 2 months  or so, I’ve been blogging on Cisco Domain TenSM, Cisco Service’s framework to guide you on your path to data center and cloud transformation. We are just over half way through the discussion on Cisco Domain Ten, so I thought it worthwhile, especially for anyone reading about this concept for […]

Service Financial Management is the focus of Domain 6 in Cisco Services‘ DomainTenSM Model for Data Center and Cloud Transformation. Closely related to the User Portal (Domain 4) and Service Catalog and Management (Domain 5), service financial management is one of those organizationally challenging topics for the data center management team – although with the advent […]

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I introduced the Cisco Domain TenSM framework for data center and cloud transformation back in December, and after my previous blog discussing “Domain 4: the User Portal“, it’s now time to discuss Domain 5, which considers Service Catalog and Management.  In this post, I’d like to illustrate the important, central role the service catalog has in […]

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The New Year 2013 has well and truly arrived – Happy New Year to all – and it’s time for me to continue on the Cisco journey of data center and cloud transformation.  Last month I introduced the Cisco Domain TenSM  framework, the approach we in Cisco Services take to help customers enhance and transform […]

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If you’ve followed my posts over 2012 for Cisco Data Center,  you may have noticed that I took a slight departure back in September from data center topics to tell you about a “Giving Back” initiative I was part of in 2012 – the “Deloitte Ride Across Britain” (RAB).   I noted previously the role […]

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Continuing my tour of the Cisco Domain Ten (SM)  framework for simplifying data center transformation, with this blog, I’ll build upon my previous blogs and introduce Domain 3, which is concerned with “Automation and Orchestration“.     I’ve asserted previously that having an automated, virtualized data center is a necessary – but insufficient – basis for […]

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Last week I introduced our new Cisco Services framework to help guide your data center and cloud transformation – Cisco Domain Ten (SM). I also described the types of challenges you should be thinking about in the Facilities and Infrastructure layer, Domain 1.  Now let’s discuss the type of challenges that Domain 2, Virtualization and Abstraction, could […]

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Yesterday I introduced you to the Cisco Domain TenSM, Cisco Services’ framework for simplifying data center transformation.  This model is applicable to both business  (enterprise), public sector (e.g. government, federal) and service provider (incl telco) organizations. Today I will summarize some key challenges that you should consider when planning a transition to cloud (as one example […]

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This week at the Gartner Data  Center Conference in Las Vegas, Cisco Services is unveiling Cisco Domain Ten(SM) – Cisco’s Framework for Simplifying Data Center and Cloud Transformation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnLFReBBV7c...

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In Cisco Data Center Services, we've been building towards this for the past 3 or 4 years.  We're formalised our approach over the past year.  Our early adopter customers have...

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I was in London last week at a conference.  I picked up the badge shown  in the photo below, and it...

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Time flies!  I'm off to the Gartner Data Center conference in London again.  And as per last year, I'll drive my this ancient and very historical...