Join us for AFCEA TechNet Augusta 2024 as we explore how people, processes, and technology shape the Cyber Domain. Be sure to visit our Solutions Review Session and Booth #105 as we propel Army Cyberspace Operations into the future.

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As the U.S. Army makes the network its top priority to enable operations, AFCEA TechNet Augusta 2024 offers a unique platform to delve into how people, processes, and technology shape cyberspace operations in the Cyber Domain. I am thrilled to contribute to this vital discussion and invite you to join me in the Engagement Theater during our Solutions Review Session on Thursday, August 22, 2024, at 0900. I will be presenting alongside Cisco Learning Partner, Current Technologies Computer Learning Centers, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

The future of Army networks

Picture a network so advanced that it serves as an AI-driven, secure, agile, and resilient medium of maneuver for data and applications. This is the essence of a Commander’s Intent-driven network platform. Leveraging the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, software-defined networking, analytics, automation, and orchestration – all aligned with the DoD Zero Trust security framework – this network platform is set to propel Army Cyberspace Operations into the future.

Why cyberspace operations matters

Data is no longer just information; it’s an operational asset. In today’s rapidly evolving digital battlefield, having a network that swiftly and securely connects data from the edge to hybrid multi-cloud environments is a game-changer. This isn’t merely about accelerating data sharing; it’s about equipping Commanders with the tools to guide, train, and execute operations more efficiently and effectively driven by data. And data is what runs the Cyberspace Platform of the future.

Acheiving advantage in cyberspace operations

Achieving operational advantage through accelerated data-driven decision cycles necessitates a cyber platform that integrates mission intent directly into the network platform and security operations. Embracing an operational approach to Zero Trust means operating a Commander’s Intent-based platform that thrives on data and uses data to command and control the entire cyber platform.

This includes seamless integration of data and analytics to provide commanders full visibility of their cyber key terrain, and then, using that data along with automation and orchestration, operate at machine speed to dynamically recognize and enforce the crucial relationships and policies between devices, users, environment, data, and applications.  The platform continually performs command and control functions by adjusting keys tasks with mission purpose and end state in mind – always striving for greater operational efficiencies and always informed by threat intelligence.

Technologies, processes, and people at the core

At the heart of this intelligent network lies Cisco’s AI/ML-enabled networking and security solutions. These technologies work together to build operationally sound processes that not only ensure the network meets real-time operational requirements but also dynamically defends against cyber threats. People are most critical to operate the cyber platform.

During our upcoming session, I will hand the microphone over to Alan Gardner, CCIE# 22758, from Current Technologies Computer Learning Centers, who will detail the available training resources that enable operators to deploy this advanced platform seamlessly.

Want to learn more about cyberspace operations, in person?

Don’t miss the opportunities to learn more and interact with us at AFCEA TechNet Augusta 2024.

Join our Solutions Review Session: “A Commander’s Intent-driven Network to Enable Cyberspace Operations from the Tactical Edge and Beyond” on Thursday, August 22nd at 0900.
Visit us at Booth #105 for further insights and discussions.

Also, I encourage you to check out Cisco DoD Approved Certifications – Cisco’s DoD 8140 training has met the mandate to unify the cyber workforce, establish a common data model with the DCWF to identify and track workforce requirements and capabilities, develop and advance cyber workforce capabilities.

Looking forward to seeing you there and exploring the future of U.S. Army networks together!

Comply-to-Connect and Cisco ISE: Revolutionizing the Department of Defense

"}]]  Join us for AFCEA TechNet Augusta 2024 as we explore how people, processes, and technology shape the Cyber Domain. Be sure to visit our Solutions Review Session and Booth #105 as we propel Army Cyberspace Operations into the future.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Explore all-new style guides and dive into the Cisco Store Tech Lab at Cisco Live.

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We are back with Volume 2 of our Retail Roundup: The Cisco Store’s Merchandise and Tech Digest!

Style guides

From staff picks and our trendy Summer in Paris Collection, to Cisco-sponsored fan favorites and the colorful Hatch Designed line, Volume 2 brings you a curated style guide with something for everyone.

The Cisco Store Tech Lab at Cisco Live

Fresh off the success of Cisco Live in Las Vegas this past June, the Cisco Store Tech Lab presents the newest innovations in the retail technology space. Take a tour of the Tech Lab, experience the show from a first-time visitor’s point-of-view, and check out how attendees customized their own merchandise using Webex Connect.

Read your region’s edition now!

AMER

EMEA

APJC

All past volumes are available on our Cisco Store Tech Lab SharePoint page (note: log in via SSO).

Be sure to keep up with our upcoming volumes to get your hands on the latest Cisco gear and stay ahead of trends in retail technology. Subscribe to our mailing list at merchandise.cisco.com.

The Cisco Store Tech Lab is open for customer tours during CXC visits. Account managers can schedule with us today, and customers can reach out to our team to take a tour.

Want to demonstrate your own technology at the Tech Lab? We’re always on the lookout for new partners: reach out today!

"}]]  Explore all-new style guides and dive into the Cisco Store Tech Lab at Cisco Live.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Learn about how the User Protection Suite uses secure protocols to stop Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) attacks.

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In the blog, Understanding & Defending Against Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) Attacks, we reviewed the basics of an AiTM attack and how Duo can protect against it. To recap, in an AiTM attack, the attacker sits in between the user and the real web page and steals a user’s valid session cookies. This means that they can bypass traditional authentication controls.

Talos, Cisco’s Threat Intelligence Group, reported on AiTM attacks back in 2019 as a method to steal user credentials and most recently in the blog, ‘How are attackers trying to bypass MFA?’ AiTM attacks are a real concern for many organizations as they are difficult to prevent and on the rise. Microsoft also found that domains associated AiTM phishing quadrupled from 2022 to 2023.

The strongest Duo protection against AiTM attacks is to use phishing–resistant authentication based on WebAuthn standards, paired with Duo’s Trusted Endpoints device trust policy. When the user authenticates using passwordless, it creates a keypair where the private key to unlock application access is stored in the device itself (and cannot be intercepted). Additionally, Trusted Endpoints, which prevents unknown or unmanaged devices from accessing applications, stores the trusted user’s registration in the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for Windows devices, or Secure Enclave for Mac. By utilizing security on the device itself, this protects the user from an AiTM attack.

Secure Access: Secure Protocols

While Duo is a good first step in protecting against AiTM attacks, it’s important to take a layered approach to user protection. This means using a consolidated authentication and access solution to protect against attackers. Cisco’s Security Service Edge (SSE) solution, Secure Access, provides that extra layer.

Secure Access was built on a new protocol, MASQUE, which enables users to access resources through a stream session, rather than a tunnel. In traditional protocols, a user would use Transport Layer Security (TLS) to access resources. While this provides some level of encryption (and security), it does not fully separate the endpoint from the corporate network.

MASQUE, on the other hand, uses the QUIC protocol based on http/3 (although it can seamlessly fall back to http/2 and TLS if QUIC is not supported). When QUIC brokers the connection between a user and an application, the user is routed through an identity aware proxy. This removes the IP address of the application and makes it blind to the endpoint. Instead, QUIC randomly assigns the application IP address to establish the connection to the MASQUE proxy. This address assignment is per app and per connection completely obfuscating the IP network that the application is on from the user.

Secure Access vs. AiTM

So, how does this new protocol protect against AiTM? When a user enrolls in Secure Access, a certificate is issued to that device for that user. It also generates a private key, stored in the TPM or Secure Enclave. This private key will never leave the hardware bubble and will always be associated with that user on that device.

The user is re-issued a new certificate every few weeks, which rotates the private key on the device. In addition, the mechanism called Demonstration of Proof of Possession (DPoP) helps tie the user identity to device.

When a user logs into Duo Single Sign-On and does a SAML authentication, that user gets a cookie to enable the user session. DPoP creates a private keypair on the device and then binds the cookie with the device bound credential. Every time the user presents the cookie, they have to present the DPoP public key. That means that no attacker in the middle can intercept the trusted user’s cookie and reuse it for malicious purposes.

Essentially, both Duo and Secure Access utilize the most secure part of the device to broker trust between you and the sensitive applications you are accessing, thwarting traditional AiTM attacks. This demonstrates the value of a layered approach, to protect your organization’s resources and provide tools to secure users without getting in the way of business.

Partner with Cisco: User Protection Suite

With Cisco’s User Protection Suite, users gain access to both Duo and Secure Access through one central console, the Security Cloud Control. This makes it easy to begin your security journey and better protect end users. The User Protection Suite also includes Email Threat Defense to protect against attackers in your inbox, and Secure Endpoint to protect users on their devices. To learn more, connect with an expert today.

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Security on social!

Cisco Security Social Channels

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"}]]  Learn about how the User Protection Suite uses secure protocols to stop Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) attacks.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco Defense Orchestrator is designed to simplify the management of secure firewalls. With the introduction of Cisco CDO APIs, we enable Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) to unlock unprecedented levels of operational efficiency.

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In today’s hyper-connected world, businesses are perpetually exposed to digital threats. Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) play a pivotal role in safeguarding organizations against these evolving cybersecurity challenges. However, MSSPs themselves face significant hurdles, including operational complexity and escalating costs. To thrive in this competitive landscape, MSSPs must leverage cutting-edge technologies to drive business growth, enhance productivity, and reduce expenses.

Enter Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO), a cloud-based management platform designed to simplify the management of Cisco secure firewalls across various form factors, from cloud to hardware. Building on this robust foundation, Cisco has introduced new CDO RESTful APIs, empowering MSSPs to programmatically interact with CDO and unlock unprecedented levels of operational efficiency.

Six Easy Ways MSSPs Can Harness the Power of CDO APIs

1. API endpoints for MSSPs

CDO now provides MSP-specific APIs to simplify tenant management.  The initial suite of CDO MSP API endpoints includes capabilities for onboarding new CDO tenants, adding tenants to the CDO MSSP Portal, assigning admin users to CDO tenants, and integrating Active Directory groups with tenants.  These endpoints enable MSSPs to automate and streamline their operations, ensuring efficient and seamless management of multiple tenants.

2. Full Stack Interaction Using APIs

Streamline firewall management with CDO APIs, which offer extensive endpoints to interact with CDO, Cloud-delivered FMC (cdFMC), and managed FTDs. This integration significantly simplifies programmability, eliminating the need for DevSecOps teams to switch between FTD and FMC APIs. CDO’s Proxy Request endpoints to cdFMC automate workflows, while the RESTful nature of CDO APIs reduces the learning curve for partners.

Proxy Request to Cloud-Delivered FMC in CDO

3. Automate Workflows for Enhanced MTTR

CDO APIs enable the automation of incident responses, improving Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) for alert triage, investigation activities, and response times. Automated systems can monitor security events, conduct near real-time threat analysis, and execute predefined playbooks around the clock, minimizing the need for manual intervention and enhancing MTTR.

4. Integration with Third-Party Systems

APIs serve as bridges between different systems. MSSPs can leverage CDO APIs to integrate with their customers’ security and management systems, creating a cohesive ecosystem. This integration facilitates seamless collaboration between MSSPs and their customers’ IT teams, enhancing threat investigation and triaging capabilities.

5. Lifecycle Management of Firewalls

Centralized management of multiple firewalls from a single location empowers MSSPs to scale effortlessly. CDO APIs cover a wide range of firewall management use cases, including onboarding new devices, bulk configuration changes, and updating and upgrading images. Robust reporting and auditing processes can be automated to meet various use cases, further streamlining operations.

6. Reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Automation of repetitive tasks enhances workflow efficiency and reduces human errors. By freeing up security analysts from mundane tasks, MSSPs can allocate valuable human resources to higher-level tasks that require critical thinking and strategic decision-making. This shift not only improves operational efficiency but also reduces TCO.

Seize the Opportunity

The Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) market is poised for significant growth, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.3% from 2023 to 2030. Gartner predicts that over 35% of in-house IT teams managing branch office firewalls will transition to FWaaS by 2027. To capitalize on this burgeoning market, MSSPs can reduce operational expenses (OPEX) and enhance effectiveness by leveraging Cisco CDO APIs for firewall lifecycle management, third-party system integration, and incident response automation.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to revolutionize your MSSP operations. Embrace the power of Cisco CDO APIs and position your business for success in the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape.

Get hands-on experience with a

Free Trial of Cisco Defense Orchestrator

Additional Resources

Overview – CDO API Documentation – Cisco DevNet
GitHub – CiscoDevNet/ansible-cisco-cdo
Module Overview – Automating Cisco Defense Orchestrator – Cisco DevNet Learning Labs Center

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with #CiscoPartners on social!

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

"}]]  Cisco Defense Orchestrator is designed to simplify the management of secure firewalls. With the introduction of Cisco CDO APIs, we enable Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) to unlock unprecedented levels of operational efficiency.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Making AI a force for good for our people, and not a threat — A new report provides practical suggestions for targeted training programs and skills for 47 different information and communication technology roles.

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AI represents a never-before-seen opportunity for technology to benefit humankind in every way. It’s changing everything – especially the way we work. Preparing the global workforce for the advancements of AI technology is not just a business objective at Cisco. It’s arguably one of the most impactful ways to power an inclusive future for all. It’s why our Cisco Networking Academy work is so crucial – 20.5 million students trained worldwide and counting! It’s also why I’m so proud of our leadership role with the AI-Enabled Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Workforce Consortium (the Consortium). Every customer and world leader I meet is seeking to understand, “How can we make AI a force for good for our people, and not a threat?” Today, the Consortium released its inaugural report to start addressing this crucial question. 

The AI-Enabled ICT Consortium

Launched in April 2024, the formation of the Consortium was a bold and determined move to shape and secure the future of our industry and people. The Consortium is a voluntary, coordinated effort led by Cisco in collaboration with industry leaders Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft and SAP. We’re guided by advisors from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, CHAIN5, Communications Workers of America, DIGITALEUROPE, the European Vocational Training Association, Khan Academy, and SMEUnited and our shared goal is to proactively plan for the transformational impact of AI on ICT jobs, employees and employers.

Every Job Becomes an AI-Influenced Job

The Consortium’s report, “The Transformational Opportunity of AI on ICT Jobs,” is a first-of-its-kind look at how AI intersects with our global ICT workforce, focused on practical suggestions for targeted training programs and skills for 47 different ICT roles. Here are some of the top takeaways from the report:

92 percent of ICT jobs analyzed are expected to undergo either high or moderate transformation due to advancements in AI.
Entry-level and mid-level ICT professionals are at the forefront of AI transformation with 40 percent of mid-level positions and 37 percent of entry level positions expected to have high levels of transformation.
As AI continues to redefine job functions, certain skills will rise in importance (AI ethics, responsible AI, prompt engineering, AI literacy, Large Language Models architecture and agile methodologies, etc.), while others may become less relevant (traditional data management, content creation, documentation maintenance, basic programming and languages, and research information).

The promise of AI is extraordinary, and the Consortium is committed to helping workers across ICT roles benefit from its potential. This work begins with identifying and enabling the new skills and training needed for AI preparedness.

Access to the AI-fueled World Through Training

By investing in a long-term roadmap for an inclusive and skilled workforce, we can help all populations participate and thrive in the era of AI. Through their individual organizations’ commitments, the combined Consortium will train and upskill 95 million people over the next 10 years. With AI-driven educational tools, we can create learning experiences that cater to individual needs and learning styles. We can also help democratize learning – making reskilling and upskilling more efficient, personalized, and productive.

Elevating the Human Experience

Today’s report is the first milestone in our work to empower professionals to flourish in an AI-driven landscape. It’s a practical guide for giving global populations access to the skills and training they need to secure family- and community-sustaining jobs. But it’s also filled with vision and inspirational research about the opportunity to unlock human potential with AI adoption, through:

Innovative solutions that automate repetitive tasks, freeing human expertise for higher-level analysis, creativity and innovation while improving productivity and job satisfaction.
Inclusivity and economic upward mobility as AI democratize data access in the workplace, creating opportunity for workers to contribute and advance regardless of their background.
Learning agility as AI-powered tutors help maximize upskilling with seamless, real-time access to knowledge and resources
Economic growth by providing opportunity for innovation, productivity and streamlined processes.

The Risk of Inaction

Preparing the global workforce for the AI-driven future is essential for fostering economic growth, social equity, and technological innovation. The risks of an under skilled and unprepared workforce range from economic wage gaps to trade imbalances, technological stagnation, social and ethical issues, and national security threats. Even with that as a backdrop, Cisco’s AI Readiness Index shows that only 14% of organizations are fully prepared to leverage AI-powered technologies, with more than half admitting serious concerns if they fail to act soon.

The Consortium’s report about the impact of AI on ICT jobs is a unique and differentiated piece of work that gives companies and workers a useful guide to the exact skills needed to not just circumvent risks, but to flourish. The AI training recommendations couldn’t be clearer, timelier or more urgent.

Today’s report is more than an analysis, it’s also an “ask.” As AI transforms job functions, there is a pressing need for a coordinated effort by governments, educational institutions, and industries to invest in AI education, training, and lifelong learning programs. The AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium calls for organizations to proactively lean into this transition and support those at risk of being left behind. The “Transformational Opportunity of AI on ICT Jobs” report is now available to all as a roadmap for our collective journey to an inclusive – and elevated – future for all.

Read the full report:

The Impact of Generative AI

Learn More

AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium Expands to G7 Countries – Cisco Blogs
2024 press release AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium

"}]]  Making AI a force for good for our people, and not a threat — A new report provides practical suggestions for targeted training programs and skills for 47 different information and communication technology roles.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The Cisco Live debut of the all-new Patching Station, a memorable personalization experience powered by Webex Connect.

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The Cisco Store leverages Cisco and Cisco partner technology to power its retail environment. Most recently, we expanded our usage of Webex Connect to power an engaging customer experience at Cisco Live Americas in Las Vegas this past June.

A more efficient retail experience

Webex Connect, an enterprise-grade Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), enhances shopping experiences by enabling customers to resolve issues swiftly through seamless interactions. With Webex Connect, you can integrate or develop responsive chatbots, crafting a user-friendly and unique shopping experience that simultaneously frees employees to handle more complex inquiries.

The Patching Station

At Cisco Live in Las Vegas this past June, the Cisco Store took the unique capabilities of Webex Connect to another level. Customers had the chance to take a piece of the event home with them by personalizing their new Cisco merchandise with Cisco Live patches.

The customization process was quick, easy, and accessible from attendees’ mobile phones. By scanning a QR code, attendees could initiate a conversation using Apple Messages for Business or Google Business Messages to choose their Cisco merchandise and indicate exactly which patch(es) they wanted and where they wanted them placed. Shoppers would then receive their order numbers and an estimated wait time via text after they dropped off their items at the Patching Station.

On the back end, the Patching Station staff would immediately receive the order details via Webex Connect and could mark order statuses and update wait times. Shoppers could even watch their orders being created at the station! Once their items were finished, shoppers would receive a text alert for pick-up.

By building this seamless customer journey with Webex Connect, attendees were able to experience forward-thinking retail technology in action and receive a keepsake to commemorate their time at Cisco Live. The Cisco Store strives to create these unique moments for customers to demonstrate the power of Cisco’s technology integrations in retail.

Curious to see the Patching Station in action? Check it out on the Cisco Store Tech Lab YouTube channel now!

Interested in demonstrating your technology? Please reach out to set up an activation with us!

If you would like to bring your customers through the Cisco Store Tech Lab as a stop on your CXC Tour, you can also schedule your visit now – we’ll have the Tech Lab personalized just for you!

You can also learn more about Webex Connect via the retail solutions page or by connecting with an expert now.

"}]]  The Cisco Live debut of the all-new Patching Station, a memorable personalization experience powered by Webex Connect.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Explore AI's impact on network engineering and the steps IT professionals can take to build the skills to support AI workloads.

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Since OpenAI’s mic-drop moment at the end of last year, it seems that AI—and generative AI in particular—is suddenly everywhere. For network engineers, we see two big areas of change. The first is AI in the network: By integrating AI into networks, we can make those networks more secure, resilient, and higher-performing. The second is AI on the network. The networks that run AI workloads and support the training of generative AI models need to be highly scalable, highly resilient, and capable of pushing vast amounts of data at tremendous speed.

AI on the network, in particular, will require new skills on the part of network engineers. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. Various forms of AI will permeate our lives in ways we can only guess at today. Even before the current boom in generative AI, other forms of artificial intelligence were being used in everything from criminal justice to supply chain optimization. If the networks that run AI are not robust and secure, and if the models running on them are not similarly protected, the opportunities for identity theft, misinformation, and bias—already concerning—will only multiply.

Existing networks are already feeling the strain. In our most recent survey of expert-level certification holders, 25% of respondents said that AI demands were having a  “significant” or “transformative” effect on their networks. That’s especially notable because the Cisco AI Readiness Index shows that most organizations are still in the early stages of generative AI deployment.

To better prepare IT professionals to build, run, and secure the networks that support AI, we announced a new area of expertise within the CCDE certification, called CCDE-AI Infrastructure, at Cisco Live. The process of designing this certification started with an extensive job role analysis, which helped us better understand which skills are most needed. Then we consulted with partners across the AI ecosystem to understand their needs as this exciting technology matures and AI use cases continue to multiply. While most organizations will not need networks that can support the training of large language models, the vast majority will need to consider the privacy, security, and cost implications—at the very least—of running generative AI applications.

Here are just some of the factors we considered and how we considered them when designing the blueprint, tutorials, hands-on exercises, and the test.

Networking

Fast, reliable ethernet, enabled with new protocols such as RoCEv2, is key to accessing data quickly and consistently enough to train large language models. Memory needed for in-process computation is often distributed when working with generative AI, but RoCEv2 is designed to provide direct memory access, allowing data to be delivered as if it were on the mainboard. Without this access, information is copied repeatedly, increasing latency.

Security

From a data security point of view, many of the challenges inherent in running AI workloads are qualitatively similar to the challenges of running other workloads. The concepts of data at rest and data in motion remain the same. The difference lies in the sheer volume and variety of data that is accessed and moved, especially when training a model. Some data may not need to be encrypted – anonymization might be an efficient alternative. Obviously, this is a choice that needs to be made carefully; and one that depends greatly on the specific use case.

Generative AI adds another consideration: the model itself needs to be secured. OWASP has compiled a top ten list of vulnerability types for AI applications built on large language models. The CCDE-AI Infrastructure exam will include a task on protection against malicious use cases. We want candidates to be proactive about security and understand the signs that a model may have been compromised.

Data gravity

Data gravity is intertwined with security, resilience, and speed. As data sets become larger and more complex, they acquire gravity—they tend to attract other applications and services, in an effort to decrease latency. And they become increasingly difficult to copy or move. With AI, we don’t yet have the ability to do training and processing in the cloud while the data is on-premises. In some cases, the data may be so sensitive or so difficult to move that it makes sense to bring the model to the data. In other cases, it may make sense to run the model in the cloud, and send the data to the model.

Again, these choices will vary greatly by use case, because some use cases won’t require massive amounts of data to be moved quickly. To build an online medical portal, for instance, it might not be necessary to have all the data in a centralized store, because the algorithm can fetch the data as it needs it.

In the CCDE-AI Infrastructure certification, we cover hosting implications with respect to security. When do you need a connected AI data center? When could training take place in an air-gapped environment? Like other exam questions, these are asked in the context of  hypothetical scenarios. All of the answers might be “right,” but only one will fit the environment and constraints of the scenario.

Accelerators

High-speed networks increase the demands on CPUs. These networks can boost processing loads significantly, decreasing the number of cycles available for application processing. Luckily, there are a wide variety of specialized hardware components designed to relieve some of the pressure on CPUs: GPUs, DPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs all can offload specific tasks from CPUs and get these tasks accomplished quickly and efficiently.

For IT professionals, it’s not enough to be able to describe each of these alternatives and know their capabilities. Those who are building, running, and securing the networks that support AI need to be able to balance each of these potential choices against business constraints such as cost, power, and physical space.

Sustainability

The technology industry is broadly aware of the sustainability challenges – with regard to both power and water—raised by AI, but a reckoning is yet to take place. Sustainability makes up just a small part of the current exam, but we believe these concerns will only become more important over time.

Hopefully, this discussion has also helped to answer another common question: Why is this new certification positioned at the expert level? There are a few reasons. One is that this area of expertise specifically addresses network design, so it fits neatly into the CCDE certification. Another is that the optimal design for an AI infrastructure is tightly bound to the business context in which that infrastructure exists.

We’re not asking candidates to show they can design a secure, fast, resilient network by starting from scratch in a perfect world. Instead, the exam lays out hypothetical scenarios and asks candidates to address them. After all, that’s closer to the environment our certification holders are likely to walk into: there’s an existing network in place, and the job is to make it better support AI workloads or training. There isn’t an unlimited budget and unlimited power, and the network may already be using equipment and software that, in another context, wouldn’t be the first choice.

That’s also why this certification is vendor-agnostic. A professional at the expert level has to be able to walk into any environment and, frankly, make a difference. We know that’s a big ask, as do hiring managers. We also know that historically, Cisco Certified Experts have been up to the task—and then some.

We’re excited to see that continue as we work together to find the best use cases and build the best networks for this exciting new technology. Get started with one of our free AI tutorials at Cisco U.

Sign up for Cisco U. | Join the  Cisco Learning Network today for free.

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Read next:

Cisco Helps Build AI Workforce With New Skills Certification

From “Hello World” to “Hi AI”

"}]]  Explore AI's impact on network engineering and the steps IT professionals can take to build the skills to support AI workloads.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco partnered with BBC StoryWorks’ Human Component series to showcase three of our nonprofit partners who are using technology to create human connections. Read—and watch—to be inspired by their impact.

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Nearly 40 years ago, Cisco set out to connect the world through technology – to deliver innovation to our customers – and to shape the future through a deeply held commitment to the greater good.

Over the decades, we’ve continued to explore the role emerging technologies can play in breaking through longstanding social challenges – from food insecurity and extreme poverty to lack of access to educational and employment opportunities.

Now – in an age defined by AI and constant change, we continue to believe the most important connections we can make are the human connections.

Cisco invests in organizations around the world who are creating and delivering  tech-enabled solutions that we believe can be scaled to drive significant social impact, and that can be sustained over the long-term.  Our partners are proximate, embedded in and working hand-in-hand with the communities they are supporting. Cisco brings strategic guidance, catalytic funding, technology donations, and the support of the broader Cisco community.

Together, we work to promote a healthy planet and create a world where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential and thrive.

The Human Component

BBC StoryWorks is shining a light on the power of our global non-profit partnerships and the social impact we’ve created together in a series of videos aptly named, The Human Component.

Take a few minutes and see how each of these compelling stories will move and inspire you, spark new ideas, and leave you connected.

Discover how Replate is solving the challenge of global food waste through a tech-enabled platform that facilitates food donations by connecting organizations with surplus food to communities facing food insecurity.

Travel to Uganda to experience the incredible impact of our partner Bridges to Prosperity. Together, we’re leveraging new mapping technology to build bridges to end rural isolation and poverty.

Immerse yourself in Code.org’s powerful programs for giving every student an opportunity to learn the language of code—and the ethical use of technology.

Tech-enabled solutions for a better world

These beautifully crafted stories help us transcend distance and difference – understand longstanding challenges from a new perspective – and witness what’s possible through tech-enabled solutions designed to break down barriers to opportunity, forge human connections, and create communities that thrive.

For Cisco, these are the stories that must be told as we continue to explore new ways to go further, faster — accelerating solutions by partnering with organizations whose strengths and commitment to a better world complement our own.

Together – we can continue to connect the world – to make it better – and to power an inclusive future for all. Let’s also continue to share our stories of connection and impact – and share our ideas for leveraging technology to solve the world’s greatest challenges.

For more information:

Read more about Cisco’s partnerships to positively impact One Billion Lives

"}]]  Cisco partnered with BBC StoryWorks’ Human Component series to showcase three of our nonprofit partners who are using technology to create human connections. Read—and watch—to be inspired by their impact.  Read More Cisco Blogs