Cisco Full-Stack Observability Platform: Rapid Development and Partner Collaboration

Collaboration was key in the development of the platform

In June 2022, Cisco announced plans to develop Cisco Full-Stack Observability (FSO) platform, expanding upon the foundations set by AppDynamics Cloud. By February 2023, during Cisco Live Europe, we introduced the tech preview of Cisco FSO Platform. In just six more months, our promise of general availability was fulfilled by Cisco Live US, and we exceeded initial expectations by releasing six innovative modules.

A significant aspect of this achievement was our collaboration with external partners. Rather than solely do the development in-house, many of these modules were built by partners trained on the FSO platform. They utilized its tools and SDKs to create these modules, which were then published on our App Exchange. Rather than having a platform land with a thud, Cisco FSO Platform launched with enthusiastic partners who helped battle test it, and whose modules offered very real, market leading value from the outset.

The modules, available now on Cisco FSO Platform App Exchange, introduce features ranging from real-time cost insights to machine learning-based Kubernetes performance optimizers.

Being open, extensible and programmable makes the platform powerful

At its core, the platform incorporates a comprehensive MELT fabric — Metrics, Events, Logs, and Traces. This system is designed to efficiently process vast amounts of data from diverse digital systems. But the real power of the platform doesn’t just stem from MELT storage and query. It derives from seven powerful features that can be programmed collectively, or individually, and a unique application packaging system for deploying these solutions to the Cisco FSO Platform exchange. From the customer point of view, this manifests in the form of subscription solutions that can provide diverse feature sets, ranging from small enhancements to full-blown applications with a specific industry focus. From a competitive point of view we can confidently say that the platform offers the most sophisticated and comprehensive approach to building cloud native full stack observability solutions.

Before we dig into the pieces of the platform and the development model, consider for a moment the challenge of what it even means to define this new category of application – the MELT app. Perhaps the best analogy for what the platform provides, is that it acts as a distributed operating system that governs the complete lifecycle of MELT data, from collection and ingestion to processing, storage, and query. This means that a MELT app is a distributed application, and the complexity could easily spiral out of control.

Consider distributed microservices based “applications.” They are themselves so complex and so distributed that in many ways they are the raison d’etre for monitoring platforms such as Cisco FSO Platform. When we approached the problem of how to enable this “MELT app” we knew that we had to embrace the concept of declarative versus imperative, applications. We had to provide a very clear framework versus a low-level free-for-all. That is to say, a Cisco FSO MELT app is a set of declarations, each declaration telling a particular piece of the platform how it should behave.

How Cisco FSO Platform works

A winning, customer-centric governance model from the get-go

We also knew that the platform had to provide solid isolation primitives that would guarantee that App A and App B could safely co-exist. We took to heart the idea that the data flowing into the platform is absolutely owned by the customer, and that applications are guests that a customer grants revocable privileges to. We heard arguments that “applications ingest data” and “apps own the data.” We soundly rejected these ideas. The customer ingests their data. The customer owns their data. An application is a guest that a customer invites and allows to perform clearly articulated, non-destructive, actions on the MELT stream.

With that preamble out of the way let’s dig into the primitives that the platform exposes to solutions.

1. Dashboards and Microsites – MELT UI may be the most important and front-facing component of the platform. Dashboards are not just a way to throw charts onto a page. They are a comprehensive framework that applications can leverage to build fully interactive experiences on MELT data. When we took on the challenge of data driven visualization, we knew we couldn’t just coexist with Grafana dashboards. We had to do something game-changing and raise the bar. We aspire to be nothing less than the best MELT dashboarding platform in the industry. While we can’t explain it all in this summary, the nutshell is that we embrace an emerging standard called JSONata for the manipulation of JSON data that puts the dashboard builder radically in control of how data is transformed and manipulated so that virtually any data source can be paired with any visualization. On top of that, microsites allow our solution developers to provide containers that serve their application experiences from the backend frameworks and languages of their choice, while maintaining a consistent authn/z experiences for the user. This comprehensive approach to UI provides partners with an unequaled set of capabilities.
2. Extensible Access Control – In a dynamic digital environment, one-size-fits-all access controls are too restrictive. Our platform’s extensible access control adapts to varying application domains. Developers can easily create domain-specific roles, ensuring precise and secure access over features that they themselves provide. Customers benefit from robust, customizable roles ensuring their data is only accessed by the right personnel. Developers are unlocked to create new roles that make sense for their own verticals vs generic “admin” roles that may be too broadly scoped.
3. Cloud Collectors and Custom APIs – It would quite literally be impossible to predict the shape and variety of APIs that partners and solution developers want to integrate. The platform’s support for custom data gatherers, or “cloud collectors” allows the developer self-service over their integrations. Developers can gather data from diverse endpoints using any programming language with containerized collectors. For businesses, this means unparalleled flexibility in data integration and the capability to extend the platform’s API for unique needs.
4. Knowledge Store – The knowledge store, acting as the platform’s distributed brain, stores non-MELT related information. This can be anything from an investigation workflow, to a dashboard. The knowledge store is internally globally replicated and layered but presents as a simple store. This vastly simplifies the developer’s lifestyle. Developers can create “knowledge models” that extend the knowledge store with new types. For example, if a developer wanted to create a solution that allowed an investigation to be linked to a health rule violation, the developer is empowered to totally define the concept of an investigation through Knowledge modeling. The global, multi-region nature of the knowledge store means that developers don’t have to worry about, or even know that customers reside in multiple cells across multiple regions globally. Just push a simple knowledge model to the platform and you are good to go, regardless of how many customers around the globe subscribe to your app.
5. Serverless Workflow – Observability pipelines can be notoriously hard to wrangle. By implementing the CNCF Serverless Workflows and Cloud Events standards, Cisco FSO Platform allows third-party developers to inject both simple and intricate behaviors into the observability pipeline. This allows domain specific transformations, and even the derivation of new data off the arriving stream.
6. Entity Modeling – With roots in AppDynamics’ Application Performance Monitoring, our enhanced entity modeling organizes complex signals into intelligible insights. Developers can model domains with the Flexible MELT Modeling language, correlating signals across domains. Customers get a layered view, enabling precise problem pinpointing and resolution. The key to entity modeling is that it provides a domain specific, organizational scheme for the vast quantities of data that customers ingest. Without entity modeling, most tasks begin with just figuring out where and what a particular error came from. With deep support for entity modeling, domains can provide full stack correlation of data immediately. For example, supposing you are a metropolitan European transit agency tasked with providing on-time performance reporting in compliance with EU regulations. Entity modeling allows you to create entities representing both real physical assets such as vehicles reporting live telemetry, as well as roll-up entities such as cities and regions that monitor large-scale aggregate performance. Errors affecting turnstiles and card readers can immediately be correlated up the stack to the station and regions effected, as well as down the stack to clusters, nodes, and processes. This is full stack observability.
7. Health Rules – Health rules are a critical part of providing a full stack experience for customers. Developers can provide health rules that are integrally aware of the entity models and domains provided in the developer’s solution. Returning to the example of stations and vehicles, the definition of a station’s health depends on factors that are likely understood in great detail by the developer of the full stack transit monitoring solution. By including custom health rules, in the solution, behaviors such as linking health to on-time-performance of arriving trains and rider wait times becomes possible. By providing these out-of-the-box, the solution developer is able to provide the customer with a wealth of domain experience that wouldn’t practically be feasible to ask the customer to ‘figure out themselves’.

Source: cisco.com

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Cisco Drives Full-Stack Observability with Telemetry

Telemetry data holds the key to flawless, secure, and performant digital experiences

Organizations need to build complete customer-centric environments that deliver superb, secure, personalized digital experiences every time, or risk losing out in the race for competitive advantage. Prioritizing both internal- and external-facing applications and ensuring they are running optimally is the engine behind every successful modern business.

The complexity of cloud native and distributed systems has risen in lockstep with the expectations of customers and end users. This rachets up the pressure on the teams responsible for applications. They need to aggregate petabytes of incoming data from applications, services, infrastructure, and the internet and connect it to business outcomes.

This telemetry data — called MELT or metrics, events, logs, and traces — contains the information needed to keep digital experiences running at peak performance. Understanding, remediating, and fixing any current or potential breakdown of the digital experience depends on this collective data to isolate the root cause.

Given our dependence on performant, real-time applications, even a minor disruption can be costly. A recent global survey by IDC reveals the cost of a single hour’s downtime averages a quarter of a million dollars — so it’s vital that teams can find, triage, and resolve issues proactively or as quickly as possible.

The answers lie in telemetry, but there are two hurdles to clear

The first is sorting through vast volumes of siloed telemetry in a workable timeframe. While solutions on the market can identify anomalies, or issues out of baseline, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are a meaningful tool for cross-domain resolution. In fact, only 17% of IDC’s survey respondents said current monitoring and visibility options are meeting their needs, though they are running multiple solutions.

The second is that some data may not even be captured by some monitoring solutions because they see only parts of the technology stack. Today’s applications and workloads are so distributed that solutions lacking visibility into the full stack — application to infrastructure and security, up to the cloud and out to the internet where the user is connected — are missing some vital telemetry altogether.

Effective observability requires a clear line of sight to every possible touchpoint that could impact the business and affect the way its applications and associated dependencies perform, and how they are used. Getting it right involves receiving and interpreting a massive stream of incoming telemetry from networks, applications and cloud services, security devices, and more, used to gain insights as a basis for action.

Cisco occupies a commanding position with access to billions upon billions of data points

Surfacing 630 billion observability metrics daily and absorbing 400 billion security events every 24 hours, Cisco has long been sourcing telemetry data from elements that are deeply embedded in networks, such as routers, switches, access points and firewalls, all of which hold a wealth of intelligence. Further performance insights, uptime records and even logs are sourced from hyperscalers, application security solutions, the internet, and business applications.

This wide range of telemetry sources is even more critical because the distributed reality of today’s workforce means that end-to-end connectivity, application performance and end-user experience are closely correlated. In fact, rapid problem resolution is only possible if available MELT signals represent connectivity, performance, and security, as well as dependencies, quality of code, end-user journey, and more.

To assess this telemetry, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are essential for predictive data models that can reliably point the way to performance-impacting issues, using multiple integration points to collect different pieces of data, analyze behavior and root causes, and match patterns to predict incidents and outcomes.

Cisco plays a leading role in the OpenTelemetry movement, and in making systems observable

As one of the leading contributors to the OpenTelemetry project, Cisco is committed to ensuring that different types of data can be captured and collected from traditional and cloud native applications and services as well as from the associated infrastructure, without dependence on any tool or vendor.

While OpenTelemetry involves metrics, events/logs and traces, all four types of telemetry data are essential. Uniquely, Cisco Full-Stack Observability has leveraged the power of traces to surface issues and insights throughout the full stack rather than within a single domain. Critically, these insights are connected to business context to provide actionable recommendations.

For instance, the c-suite can visualize the business impact of a poor mobile application end-user experience while their site reliability engineers (SREs) see the automated action required to address the cause.

By tapping into billions of points of telemetry data across multiple sources, Cisco is leading the way in making systems observable so teams can deliver quality digital experiences that help them achieve their business objectives.

Source: cisco.com

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Inside the Cisco Modeling Labs 2.6 Workbench Revamp

Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) 2.6, the latest version of our premier network virtualization platform, is finally here. CML 2.6 offers quite a list of useful tools, with additions like Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud deployment and a new Maintenance mode for system admins.

However, I’m here to discuss the feature I’m most excited about:

CML 2.6 includes a revamped Workbench that allows users to see multiple devices, tools, and configs in the same view.

New features within revamped Workbench include:

• a menu to add nodes to your workplace.
• a sidebar hub to modify lab elements.
• multi-select and right-click action menus.
• keyboard shortcuts.
• lab actions.
• a panes panel for a more flexible workspace.

Continue reading for an in-depth look inside the Workbench revamp available in Cisco Modeling Labs’ latest feature release.

Inside the CML 2.6 Workbench revamp

CML 2.6’s revamped Workbench includes UI enhancements that allow its users to contain multiple devices, tools, and configs in a single, integrated view. (Pictured: [1] Toolbar [2] Sidebar [3] Panes panel showing two open panes.)

Adding nodes with—or without—a mouse 

Incorporating new nodes into your workspace is still a straightforward process, whereby you can drag and drop your chosen type of node onto the canvas. But prior to CML 2.6, the interactive drag menu was on the right-side menu. Now, it’s activated by selecting the Add Nodes icon in the Workbench toolbar. 

Select the “Add Nodes” icon (1) in the Workbench toolbar to activate the interactive drag menu.

In addition to this traditional method of adding nodes, we’ve introduced a brand-new feature called Bulk Add. It is designed with accessibility in mind, so you can add as many nodes as you need—using only your keyboard, eliminating the need for a mouse.  

Now you can add nodes in bulk, mouse-free. Available in CML 2.6’s revamped Workbench.

Editing elements in the Sidebar 

We have redesigned the user interface to provide a more streamlined and unified experience for users as they edit elements within a lab. Now, in CML 2.6, the Sidebar serves as the single, consolidated hub for changing all your lab elements. Whether you want to edit a node, link, or annotation, simply select it, and the Sidebar will display the relevant editing options. 

Select an element within your lab to instantly activate the Sidebar, a single, consolidated hub that offers a convenient menu of relevant editing options. (Pictured: [1] Node has been selected; [2] Sidebar appears with tabs categorized by property: SETTINGS, CONNECTIVITY, CONFIG, INTERFACES.) 

This streamlined way to manage your lab elements eliminates the need for the bottom panel to shift in response to the Workbench state. In turn, you benefit from a more focused experience. With this setup, you can keep your attention on the bottom pane while simultaneously editing the properties of a lab element using the Sidebar. 

Using the Multi-select Action menu 

You can activate the Multi-Select action menu by selecting multiple elements and right-clicking anywhere on the canvas. This action opens a Context-sensitive menu with a distinct section for each element type. 

Select multiple elements and right-click anywhere on the canvas to activate the multi-action menu in the CML Workbench.

Within each section, you can perform actions on the corresponding element type. Please note: the system currently does not verify the validity of an action. Also, when you select multiple nodes, an Alignment section becomes available in the menu, providing options to align the selected nodes. 

Using the Right-click Context menu 

The Right-Click Context menu displays when you right-click a type of element: annotation, node, or link. This menu presents a list of actions specifically tailored to the selected element type. 

Pictured above is an example of the Right-click Context menu for a link.

Note: the Right-click Context menu typically provides more actions for each element type compared to the Multi-select Action menu.

Keyboard shortcuts 

Lab Actions menu 

You can find the Lab Actions menu in the toolbar under the “LAB” section. You can also activate this menu by right-clicking the canvas while no elements are selected. 

Panes panel 

The Panes panel is a versatile tool designed to give you a flexible workspace. For one, the Panes panel allows you to open multiple tabs, each hosting a Console, VNC, or PCAP session. You can also choose how you want to host tabs: in only one pane or across multiple. For instance, you can have one pane containing an open console session while another runs a packet capture.

What to keep in mind when using the Panes panel:

• One single pane is set by default, but you can add others by selecting the “+” icon.
• If you have more than one pane, you will see one pane highlighted with a blue square, which indicates it will be the target for any new sessions you open. (You can change this by clicking in a different pane, which sets it as the new target.) 

To open a tab, simply right-click a running link or node, and open the corresponding session for VNC, Console, or PCAP. As an added convenience, you also have the option to select multiple nodes and simultaneously launch multiple sessions, streamlining your workflow. 

Once you have a tab open, you can easily reposition it by dragging it from one pane to another. This drag-and-drop functionality provides a straightforward way to organize your workspace according to your preference or need. 

The panes and their respective tabs are designed to retain their state on a per-browser and per-lab basis. This means your arrangement of panes and tabs, as well as the content within them, will remain as you set them (even if you navigate away or close your browser), providing a persistent working environment. 

Each pane tab is equipped with a context menu, which you can access by right-clicking the tab. This context menu contains options and actions that pertain specifically to the type of tab, giving you a set of relevant controls right at your fingertips. 

If you have more than one pane, you will see one pane highlighted with a blue square (pictured above). This blue square indicates the target for any new sessions you open. You can change this by clicking in a different pane, which sets it as the new target.

To make your workspace even more customizable, you can rename tabs to reflect their content or purpose. You can either double-click on the tab, which will allow you to edit the name directly, or right-click on the tab and choose the Rename option from the context menu. 

The Carrot Down icon associated with each pane (see below) serves as a gateway to a menu. This menu displays a searchable list of all currently open sessions, making it easy for you to navigate directly to the session you need. 

Using the Carrot Down menu option (1), you can quickly view all open sessions at a glance.

To help you track the relationship between your tabs and their associated elements, you can select a tab to view its corresponding node (or link) on the canvas. This means you can instantly see which parts of your lab you are currently interacting with via your session. 

If you need more canvas space temporarily, you can hide and show the Panes panel by clicking the “PANES” toolbar option.

Source: cisco.com

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Enhance operational performance and agility through your network

The network has never been more important to running mission-critical IT applications and solving business needs. To drive business advantage, an organization’s network must support hybrid work and cloud-centric models, stay ahead of cybersecurity threats, while providing automation capabilities and network insights from real-time analytics.

This is further complicated by managing across multiple sites, meeting compliance standards, and monitoring a range of technologies from multiple vendors. Rearchitecting the campus network to accommodate these challenges can increase the burden on IT teams already struggling with skill shortages and staffing constraints.

The criticality of the network to the business underscores the importance of working with leading networking and IT services companies to overcome these challenges and provide the managed solutions and expertise enterprises require. That’s where NTT’s Managed Network Service for Cisco Catalyst Center, underpinned by NTT’s Spektra platform, comes in. NTT’s Managed Catalyst Center offer helps customers enhance network performance to meet the demands of the digital organization.

Improve network performance with NTT and Cisco

NTT’s Managed Network Services with Cisco Catalyst Center provides a cloud-based network automation, advanced monitoring and management solution. Cisco Catalyst Center becomes the brain of the network – monitoring and automating network management and providing event correlation, real-time analytics and insights. Catalyst Center is underpinned by AI-enabled network management that can streamline configuration, troubleshooting and operational functions by making recommendations based on Machine Reasoning Analytics.  NTT’s network transformation platform, SPEKTRA, delivers an additional layer of AI-enabled automation, predictive analytics and event correlation techniques.

This integrated solution uses advanced AIOps to deliver innovation and intelligent workplace features by using Cisco Catalyst Center DevOps API services layer. Monitoring, event correlation, automation and real-time analytics provide the insights that network administrators need to manage the IT ecosystem more efficiently. End-to-end managed services encompass design, support, delivery, and lifecycle services with a single, unified services portal.

Benefits of true integration and managed solutions

NTT’s technical expertise brings the full range of Catalyst Center features into its Managed Networks solution to provide numerous advantages, including:

• Real-time analytics helps administrators quickly identify and resolve network and security issues before they become major problems.
• Automation of up to 90 percent of network management tasks reduces the workload and lowers downtimecaused by manual configuration errors and troubleshooting.
• Simplified network management with a single dashboard view covers the entire network.
• Proactive management and operations by using advanced monitoring and event management keep the network running smoothly, 24x7x365.
• Access to technical expertise for managing and supporting the solution reduces the pressure on in-house IT staff.

This solution can be adapted to meet infrastructure needs across a range of situations: large, complex networks that require automation, segmentation, and real-time analytics; network management for multisite organizations; and migrations to the cloud with automation and real-time analytics that support cloud-based services.  Additionally, NTT helps customers meet compliance requirements with policy-based access control and network segmentation.

Unlock the potential of advanced functionality

“Our Managed Cisco Catalyst Center offering is another example of how we combine innovation in AI with our network management expertise to help our clients improve their network performance and find operational efficiencies while simplifying management requirements,” said Amit Dhingra,Executive Vice President: Managed Network Services at NTT in his blog, Introducing NTT’s Managed Cisco Catalyst Center. 

NTT’s Managed Catalyst Center offering uses a framework of platform, people, and process to redesign the network and deliver operational excellence.

Source: cisco.com

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Mining innovation: Underground mining visibility, locating assets and protecting people

Enabling autonomous operations and understanding the location of people and assets in real time are necessary for realizing fully operational smart mines. Smart mines require the ability to make good decisions based on large volumes of data, specifically within tunnels. This capability requires enhanced network availability and corresponding visualization tools to provide an intuitive understanding of the large amount of information generated.

The drive to digitize and automate underground operations requires the gathering of real-time data. Underground smart mines deal with complexities such as operations occurring in three dimensions over hundreds to thousands of kilometres; power, ventilation, and airflow considerations; potential for personal safety concerns with ambient temperatures sometimes over 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit); and airborne pollutants that can impact worker health. It is imperative for both safety and efficiency that an underground mine be able to locate people and assets as close to real time as possible.

Improving workforce productivity while increasing safety and optimizing fleet productivity and payload are key objectives in underground mining. Visualizing worker and asset locations and producing useful metrics from the increasingly digitized operational technology (OT) edge has been shown to be helpful in achieving these goals. These metrics provide inputs into both environmental management and cultural heritage protection systems, which show proximity to protected areas and prevent operations on impinging via alerts or geofencing.

Cisco’s forward thinking and commitment to the future of mining aims at digitization, automation, and net-zero emissions outcomes in mines. These objectives require network and communication reliability in order for customers to achieve high levels of visibility over their operations. To deliver on this goal, Cisco collaborates with ecosystem partners that deliver complementary solutions like GeoMoby. GeoMoby provide blueprints for reliable operational environment network infrastructure combined with a sensor-driven visualization layer that brings real-time insight into mining operations.

Solutions and benefits

• Underground mining benefits from ecosystem-based, end-to-end solutions to fulfill specific requirements for sensor-driven connectivity and augmentation such as last-mile connectivity, temporary coverage, and low-bandwidth coverage for areas without Wi-Fi.
• Cisco Spaces provides location and telemetry data for indoor and outdoor use cases. This data produces connectivity, environmental, and location-based insights for ecosystem-based solutions.

 

Opportunity with GeoMoby

• Reduction or elimination of gaps in network connectivity and communication
• All-in-one 3D map and real-time location, including existing Cisco tags and infrastructure
• Convergence between OT/IT: traffic management, ventilation automation, IoT sensors, data collection, etc.
• New solution blueprint that extends value for customers using Cisco solutions and specialist ecosystem partners such as GeoMoby

The common goal of GeoMoby and Cisco is to accelerate the digitalization of the mining industry. GeoMoby uses, extends, and enhances Cisco technology within mining operations. The result is a readily implementable mining platform that enables continual optimization of operations and safety in underground mining.

Use cases

Objective	Description	Use Cases
Improve workforce productivity	Monitor employee and contractor movements and record any delays in order to provide insightful data that can help identify areas for improvement. Enhance visibility into operations in order to optimize decision-making and increase productivity.	Contractor management Workforce management Automatic check-in and check-out Idle time detection Ventilation on demand
Increase operational efficiency of assets	Monitor vehicle movements and record any speed excess in order to identify where and when vehicles are being underutilized or overutilized. Increase efficiency by reducing fuel consumption and overall costs. Promote compliance with safety regulations.	Predictive maintenance Driver management Maintenance management Speed management Ventilation on demand
Increase worker health and safety	Monitor critical health metrics, such as temperature and blood oxygen (Spo2) levels, in real time. Enable proactive intervention by sending instant notifications in case of emergency, enabling prompt action to mitigate potential health issues and risks. Provide insightful data that can be used to evaluate the overall health of operations and make informed decisions for improved safety and productivity.	Health and safety management Collection of health metrics Enhanced compliance with regulation
Increase fleet productivity and payload	Track and analyze the payload of every asset with time stamps, distance travelled, and in-use time, enabling informed decisions on resource allocation and waste reduction. Help to increase productivity and efficiency by reducing cycle times and optimizing truck utilization.	Payload management Fleet management Payload budgeting Performance tracking
Visualize people and assets with an electronic tag board	Display real-time location data for both people and vehicles on a map and a table. Enable optimization of operations by improving safety, productivity, and efficiency. In emergency situations, help to locate personnel and assets and facilitate a prompt response by visualizing people inside the refuge room and the closest refuge room for people in danger.	Electronic tag board Emergency response management Historic location data of people and assets Offline navigation to refuge chambers or fresh air bases
Environmental management system	Provide real-time environmental data and quickly identify potential environmental risks and hazards. Send alerts for anomalies and safety risks. Provide historical data on environmental performance, enabling tracking performance over time and making data-driven decisions about operations.	Air quality management Temperature management Gas monitoring system Historical data management
Cultural heritage protection system	Track people and assets and sends alerts when they are nearing or inside protected areas. Improve compliance with regulations in order to prevent potential abuses and disruptions. Help to ensure that only authorized individuals are granted access to protected areas.	Environmental, social and governance framework (ESG) reporting Compliance with regulations

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Expanding data security around the globe

In an ongoing effort to prioritize data security and privacy for Secure Email Threat Defense customers, we’re excited to announce the opening of two data centers in the Asia Pacific region: one in Australia and one in India.

There are now 4 Secure Email Threat Defense locations, with existing regions in the US and Europe. These new sites will have all the security features present in our existing locations and will receive feature enhancements at the same cadence as the existing locations.

Acknowledging the escalating demand for our product and the imperative to accommodate customers in varied geographical locations, we have meticulously designated Australia and India as our upcoming deployment regions. Our expansion into Australia and India not only broadens our global footprint but also reinforces our dedication to meeting the unique needs of customers in these regions. By localizing our product, users in the new region can expect faster response times and reduced latency, resulting in a more seamless and efficient user experience.

This expansion not only showcases our dedication to meeting the unique requirements of customers in different regions but also highlights our ability to swiftly deliver deployments. We are excited to bring the benefits of our product to Australia and India, enabling businesses in these regions to thrive in a secure and compliant manner.

These environments are built to the same high-level security, service resiliency, and data management practice standards we exhibit across all our global regions. They, too, will meet SOC2 and ISO 27001 standards and will be supported by our Data Privacy policy.

As we look to further expand our data security footprint, our next location is expected to be in the United Arab Emirates. Coverage in these new geographies is a clear indicator of our commitment to, and investment in, the data security of our customers around the globe.

Source: cisco.com

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Introducing Black Belt Academy’s New Flexible Validation Criteria

The goal of Cisco’s Black Belt Academy is to provide our partners with an efficient and effective role-based learning journey, which is presented in two or three sequential Stages. There is a strong correlation between partners’ revenue growth and the number of their employees who earn Stage 2 and 3 certifications, which require a deeper understanding of the subject matter, so progress requires validation.

However, we received feedback from partners that our validation criteria aren’t always appropriate for some roles. We listened. The result: more flexible validation criteria.

What’s changed – New flexible validation criteria for Presales and Deployment Roles

In the Black Belt Academy, as learners progress on their journeys from Stage 2 to Stage 3, new options are available depending on the role and the technology. We have provided alternatives other than the Deal ID submission for Stage 2 Learning Plan completion.

Alternative criteria include:

• Completing a “Capture the Flag” mission
• Creating a Perfect Pitch video of how you would present to a customer
• Proof of concept document of a test environment setup for a customer
• High-level design document of a customer solution

These details, which are built into the Learning Plans, will be available as the learner’s progress on their journeys.

Solution specialization tracks like SASE, FSO, Hybrid Cloud and Hybrid WFH will still require a Sales Order number from learners who are planning to apply for solution specialization at the partner (company) level. Partner admins should refer to program guidelines here.

Overall Impact

• More learners are progressing to Stage 2, which increases the number of those eligible for Stage 3 and certification.
• More options will make this validation process less complicated.
• A more streamlined learning journey, including automated ‘Capture the Flag’ missions.
• An overall improvement in user experience.

These changes represent our direction towards making the learning experience better for our partners. We are working on future improvements for you. Stay tuned!

Source: cisco.com

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