Tuesday 29 August 2017

Stay Connected Wherever You Go with MTX Connect

So how many of you go on a business trip to another country only to find upon your return the shock of a lifetime, your phone bill? I know that I have and instead of the promises of lower prices from the big operators, you get hit with roaming surcharges and the like? C’mon you know that you have.

Friday 25 August 2017

Network Slicing in Action

One particular aspect of mobile network evolution that deserves attention is the idea of reducing round-trip time (RTT) between consumers of a service and the service source itself. So much so that in 5G, this concept has acquired its own unique 3GPP term: URLLC which is an acronym for Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications. Cisco envisions, as does AT&T among other leading carriers that low latency communications will enable a new class of network services characterized by tight control loops involving Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual reality (VR) and even haptic communications triggered by the immediate network response to a touch event. Cisco is excited about these possibilities and is pursuing an aggressive mobile network evolution strategy designed to deliver an end-to-end system architecture enabling low latency capabilities. But amidst all of this, it is probably worth unpacking the basics so that we can develop an understanding of what is truly needed and how we can help carriers realize the end-game.

Cisco Accelerates Cloud Native vDRA and Scoops up Two North America Wins

People today use their mobile devices anytime, any place, and anywhere and According to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) today there are still more than 800 mobile operators investing in LTE. There are also close to 600 additional LTE networks that have been commercially launched and another 60 are still being built out. Growth in LTE is being driven by all types of intelligent devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and IoT Devices are some of the big growth drivers. Adoption of Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) and Voice-over-Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) is also extremely high and growing. This growth has caused a tremendous amount of new signaling traffic that needs to also be addressed with a new signaling architecture.

Wednesday 23 August 2017

Introducing New Enterprise Controls for Cisco Spark

Making the Impossible, Possible


Last year, one of my colleagues went to a start-up conference with 2,000 people. On stage, someone asked the audience how many were working on consumer apps. Almost everyone raised their hands. Then the person asked how many were working on enterprise apps. This time only three hands went up. Three.

Tuesday 22 August 2017

How Your Network Just Became the Smartest Student in the Class

The Network. Intuitive. is a complete transformation in hardware, software, and management that will change how networks operate, enabling them to adapt in real time with artificial intelligence (AI), and delivering the secure foundation for our digital world, faster and more  securely, all while driving down operational cost. This new era in programmable networking leverages machine learning and analytics to deliver a new level of intelligence at the core of any organization. So, what does that mean for the future of Digital Education?

Sunday 20 August 2017

Service Provider Security Architecture – Part 2

In my earlier blog post, I described the need for pervasive security and architectural approaches to enable secure, agile services against increasingly sophisticated attackers. Pervasive security is critical to the Open Network Architecture (ONA).

Saturday 19 August 2017

Service Provider Security Architecture – Part 1

There has never been a more interesting time to be a Service Provider.  Today, we are in the midst of a once in a generation transition in technology that we last saw with the birth of the internet.  Today, the exponential growth in hyper-connectivity, the services that evolve upon it and the dawn of the Internet of Things demand a next generation of flexible and dynamic infrastructure.  To power this new epoch in infrastructure, Service Providers are grappling with the promise and challenge of such technologies as virtualization and orchestration.   Compounding this challenge is the need to maintain the security of this critical infrastructure and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information that resides upon it.  Service Providers are well aware of this requirement and have traditionally built architectures that focused on enforcement of the security perimeter.

Friday 18 August 2017

Digital Transformation Taking Flight in ASEAN Region

We showcased our innovation at CommunicAsia in Singapore a week ago, highlighting the changing digital landscape and sharing insights on how companies should be ready for the future.

Our senior executives were on hand to address topics and trends impacting organizations across the region, from strategies to migrate to 5G, the importance of IoT/M2M in this transition and learning how to orchestrate network services in the age of the cloud.

Friday 11 August 2017

Cisco’s 3-Phase Plan for your 5G success

It is generally accepted that revenues for mobile service providers are trending flat to down. A recent ARPU report from Informa provides this picture in detail by country. Some mobile service providers have acquired content services as a way to boost this trend, but they admit that this too will eventually trend to flat again. What is needed is a new business model that goes beyond connectivity and bandwidth. There are a number of studies on digital transformation and 5G in particular that note the services for enterprise are strong growth opportunities between now the 2025 (and beyond). There is an in-depth 2016 report from the European Commission with a catchy title of “Identification and quantification of key socio-economic data to support strategic planning for the introduction of 5G in Europe” that projects a large growth in enterprise business for mobile service providers 5G network services between now and the 2025.

Thursday 10 August 2017

Deep Dive into AMP and Threat Grid integration with Cisco Email Security

In this blog post, we are going to dive deeper and explain the workflows of AMP and Threat Grid integration with Cisco Email Security (applies to both Cloud Email Security and on premise Email Security Appliance), as well as help administrators refine security posture in their organizations. Let’s start with a quick recap of how file reputation, file analysis and file retrospection work together in general.

Wednesday 9 August 2017

Replace your AV with Next Generation Endpoint Security

If you’ve been to a security conference in the last year you’ve probably seen more than 20 different vendors all talking about endpoint security. Some might be talking about next generation anti-virus, endpoint detection and response, and even the much lauded machine learning. How do you cut through the clutter and noise to find what you are looking for?

Tuesday 8 August 2017

Capturing the Opportunity of Digital Transformation

Information is the fuel for the continuing transformation of healthcare, enabling a care system that can address the growing challenges of quality, equity and cost.  But as health systems and hospitals digitally transform, as they increase their ability to acquire and process clinical information, the question is how effectively are they using that information to drive improved care processes.  Are they fully leveraging the information opportunity that is before them?

Sunday 6 August 2017

Shifting Perceptions in Technology to Drive Change in Learning

The cloud and mobility in our devices have caused industries the world over to rethink how they conduct business. Education is no exception to this shift in culture. How does a public service industry tasked with the education of minors and often an extremely limited budget create access to the technological revolution for their students?

Addressing access requires a two-pronged approach of technical and cultural change. Both of these require a new mindset where we question our preconceived notions, adapt our perceptions, and reexamine our biases.

Saturday 5 August 2017

School’s In: Flexible Radio Assignment

If you are in IT, you’re being asked to support more wireless devices – both end user and non-user – as well as the ever growing applications they use. These applications, such as video and collaboration, are far more bandwidth intensive and add large amounts of traffic to the network. This high-density environment could create a bottleneck on your network. Users may carry three or more devices and will come and go at various times, creating an unpredicted high density scenario your network may not be ready for.

Wednesday 2 August 2017

Network Security in the Age of Hyperconnectivity: Pervasive, Proactive, and Persistent Protection is Essential to Thwart Cyberattacks

Securing today’s digital content has become more challenging, as there are more endpoints and wide area networks (WAN) to protect than ever before. There will be 27.1 billion networked devices/connections by 2021, up from 17.1 billion in 2016 globally (according to the latest Cisco Visual Networking Index).  The majority (51%) of those endpoints will be machine-to-machine (M2M) modules by 2021. As the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape continues to expand, digital domains and demands for access to applications and data by people and things will continue to increase.