UNESCO's latest report finds many hurdles to better education worldwide. As we seek an Education 4.0 environment, can AI make a difference?

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UNESCO’s latest report finds many hurdles to better education worldwide. As we seek an Education 4.0 environment, can AI make a difference?

In the spring of 2024 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published The Global Report on Teachers. The report revealed 44 million additional primary and secondary teachers are needed to meet UNESCO’s 2030 goals of achieving inclusive, equitable, and quality education for everyone worldwide. They also found that staffing shortages are having other far-reaching effects such as increasing system costs, overburdening teachers, and jeopardizing the quality of education. But estimates suggest that funding the necessary teaching positions to achieve universal enrollment will cost around $120 billion annually.

To effectively address these challenges we must promote an Education 4.0 learning taxonomy — one that offers a comprehensive set of skills, attitudes, and values to prepare young learners for well-being in the economies of the future — and make sure we maximize new technologies as we do so.

Large classes impacting performance

A key issue impacting global education is large class size. It is presenting significant challenges for both educators and students. Studies have shown that larger classes can adversely affect teacher well-being and job satisfaction (OECD 2020g). Several factors influence teaching effectiveness and student learning outcomes, but class size and student-to-teacher ratios are crucial. Research shows that larger classes can affect teacher performance and student achievement (Leuven and Oosterbeek 2018; Education Endowment Foundation 2023).

Unfortunately, larger class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios are expected to become more common in the future due to increasing populations in low-income countries, the global teacher shortage, and limited funding for hiring and supporting educators.

If that wasn’t enough, teacher turnover has become especially high among new educators and those nearing retirement. This issue can worsen teacher shortages in nations where the average age of teachers is higher, such as in certain European countries, North America, and other wealthy nations.

Leveraging AI for Education 4.0

When used effectively, artificial intelligence applications (AI) can pave the way for improvements in global education systems, helping move us towards an Education 4.0 environment. Shortly after UNESCO published their findings, the World Economic Forum (WEF) also published an insight report, Shaping the Future of Learning: The Role of AI in Education 4.0. The report succinctly outlines the issues brought forth by UNESCO, while providing strategies to address them with the use of AI:

Integrating AI into education provides the opportunity to simplify a wide range of administrative tasks for teachers, freeing them up to engage more with students.
AI can help teachers assess learners more quickly, allowing for immediate feedback.
AI can enable students to develop skills in digital literacy, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.
AI can personalize the learning experience with support from teachers, enhancing academic performance and accommodating diverse learning needs.

You can watch their public discussion here. In all these areas, AI serves as a complementary tool that enhances the educational experience while preserving vital human elements of teaching and learning. Learning about AI and digital skills will help students prepare for future careers.

How Cisco can help move Education 4.0 forward

Sitting on my desk is a bronze coin given to me at a company event many years ago. It reminds me of the obligation those in my position hold to serve our customers during times of uncertainty and major transition. We are in one such transition now. Perhaps, the biggest in my lifetime. It is my job, the job of a Cisco Solutions Engineer (SE), to help guide you and your organization through these uncharted waters.

Cisco specializes in creating AI-ready infrastructure to support, secure, and connect your organization’s AI applications. While we don’t develop educational AI apps directly, our focus is on providing a robust framework that ensures network reliability, data integrity, and comprehensive security. As you navigate towards an Education 4.0 model, consider Cisco as your foundational partner in this transformative journey.

It is our privilege to be your trusted advisors, working with you to address the multitude of today’s educational and technological challenges. Every day, a majority of Fortune 500 companies the world over trust our solutions for their needs. We would love to help you as well.

Here are some samples of the solutions we can offer to assist you in your journey:

Meraki: Streamline AI network deployment with cloud-managed solutions, providing centralized control, visibility, and optimization for seamless AI and compute operations.
Nexus Switches, Intersight & Nexus Dashboard: Offer high-performance, low-latency network connectivity ideal for AI and compute-intensive workloads, the software to pro-actively monitor and manage it, and enabling efficient data transfers w/RoCEv2 support.
Catalyst 9K Switches & Catalyst 9100 Access Points: Provide robust and scalable network infrastructure for AI deployments, ensuring secure and efficient communication between your users and the AI applications they rely on.
Catalyst Center (formerly DNA Center): Simplifies network management for IT through automated provisioning, optimization, and monitoring, ensuring a seamless and secure network environment.
Cisco HyperShield: Enhances AI compute workloads by providing comprehensive security features to safeguard sensitive data during processing. Look for more at Cisco Live! 2024.
Webex w/Webex AI Assistant: Elevate team collaboration by utilizing AI-powered features to streamline communication, boost productivity, and facilitate efficient project management.

What’s your plan to prepare for Education 4.0? I encourage you to reach out to your Cisco account team today! Set up time to discuss your next move. Your students and faculty will be glad you did.

Next steps for Education 4.0

Cisco solutions for K12 Education
Transform the future of education
Maximize your share of E-rate funding for K12 schools and libraries

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For Cisco, the first few weeks of summer often bring exciting new announcements delivered at Cisco Live. This year has been no different with the multiple investments made to integrate AI into our solutions, partnerships with Microsoft and Google, and simplification across the architectures.

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The start of summer is always filled with excitement, fun, and for most, a change in schedule. My children have all grown, but I carry the memories of these exciting months with vacations, lots of time in the water, and picnics.

Cisco Live 2024

Similarly at Cisco for the past few years, the first few weeks of summer often bring exciting new announcements delivered at Cisco Live. This year has been no different with the multiple investments made to integrate AI into our solutions, partnerships with Microsoft and Google, and simplification across the architectures.

You can read all about these changes across the many thought-leaders at Cisco, but one has caught my attention. Jeetu Patel, EVP and General Manager, Security & Collaboration, shared his thoughts on Innovating at Scale. I am encouraged by Jeetu’s guidance on how we can accelerate the latest Cisco innovation to help our partners scale to meet the protection and digital resilience demands of our customers. With added partnerships with Microsoft and Google, I am expecting to see this collaboration drive greater platform interoperability and simplify security on browsers through the cloud.

If you were not able to attend in person or the live recordings, I highly encourage you to watch those and catch up on all the incredible things that were announced via the many blogs available.

Q4 Quarterly Partner Insights

Just before Cisco Live, Americas Distribution held our Quarterly Insights event for VAR Partners. It was another great event, and we explored these interesting topics:

Unlocking new Enterprise Agreement (EA) growth opportunities by utilizing EA Data Packs and the enhanced functionalities within PXP to accelerate EA sales by converting ALC subscriptions to EAs, securing EA renewals, and pursuing EA expansion.
Understanding how specializations and certifications can help you drive more business, profitability, and differentiation and show you how to accelerate transformation to drive greater alignment to customer’s changing consumption behaviors.
Learning how to uncover new growth opportunities, optimize practices, maximize incentives, and drive simplicity through your organization utilizing Cisco Partner Experience Platform (PXP) – the co-designed, AI and ML driven analytics platform.

We hope our partners can use these insights to pursue EA opportunities with greater confidence, see how specializations and certifications can make a difference in profitability, and utilize PXP to increase visibility into available opportunities.

You can find the recording and presentation on SalesConnect. As I mentioned during the event, we want our Distributors and Partners to meet on how to best utilize these resources to fuel mutual success.

Hybrid Cloud Specialization

Mentioned in the Partner Insights event in Q4, specializations can raise profitability, drive more business, and increase differentiation. These specializations are required for partners to access EA sales and Lifecycle incentives. To continue receiving these rebates in the Hybrid Cloud space, partners must complete one or all three of the modules before July 27, 2024. Although these modules do move you quickly through the content, your team will need to dedicate enough time to complete it successfully before this date.

You can learn more about the Hybrid Cloud Specialization on this at-a-glance here.

I am looking forward to seeing how these insights will help you fuel success. Hope you all have a great summer!

Check out the Quarterly Partner Insights

presentation and recording!

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

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners X/Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

"}]]  For Cisco, the first few weeks of summer often bring exciting new announcements delivered at Cisco Live. This year has been no different with the multiple investments made to integrate AI into our solutions, partnerships with Microsoft and Google, and simplification across the architectures.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The SEAT Conference is fast approaching, and it promises to be an invaluable event for professionals in sports, media, and entertainment. We are excited to announce that Cisco will be in attendance, bringing our expertise and innovations to the forefront.

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The SEAT Conference is fast approaching, and it promises to be an invaluable event for professionals in sports, media, and entertainment, as well as venue owners and operators. This gathering will be a prime opportunity to gain insights from industry leaders and engage with cutting-edge topics such as venue technology and security, data and business intelligence, digital sponsorship, ticketing, and fan experience.

Speaking sessions

We are excited to announce that Cisco will be in attendance at the SEAT Conference, bringing our expertise and innovations to the forefront. Our participation aligns perfectly with the core themes of the conference and our own strategic pillars:

Driving Fan Experience: Enhancing the overall fan experience is at the heart of what we do. Through innovative technology, we aim to create immersive, engaging, and seamless experiences for fans.
Creating Better Operational Efficiencies: Efficiency is key to successful venue management. Cisco’s solutions streamline operations, ensuring that venues run smoothly and effectively.
Generating New Revenue Streams: Leveraging advanced technology solutions, we help venues and organizations open new avenues for revenue generation, ensuring sustained growth and profitability.

In addition to our presence, we are thrilled to highlight two key presentations that align with these pillars:

I will be hosting a session to discuss “The Impact of AI on the Future of Sports” on June 24 at 11:00 AM. This presentation will explore how AI is transforming the sports industry, from enhancing game strategies to improving fan engagement.

Our Director for Retail, Hospitality and Sports, Media and Entertainment, Bryan Bedford, will present on “The Rise of Multi-Use Facilities and Entertainment Districts” on June 25 at 4:00 PM. This session will dive into the evolving landscape of multi-use facilities, a topic that aligns with Cisco’s new sports media, entertainment, hospitality, and retail team.

These sessions will provide valuable insights into how technology is revolutionizing the sports and entertainment sectors. They will also showcase Cisco’s end-to-end stadium platform solutions, which are designed to enhance every aspect of the stadium experience, from security and operations, to fan engagement and revenue generation.

Explore the latest technology

The SEAT Conference is an opportunity to learn about the latest industry trends and see where the future of sports is headed. We are excited to engage with industry peers, share our knowledge, and explore new possibilities together.

Join us at the SEAT Conference and be part of the conversation that is shaping the future of sports, media, and entertainment. If you plan to be there, join us for the Copa America game, Ecuador vs Jamaica, taking place on June 26th starting at 2:30PM. For more information check out the SEAT registration page and explore our Portfolio Explorer that features the use cases and architectures that are making a difference in this industry. We look forward to seeing you there!

"}]]  The SEAT Conference is fast approaching, and it promises to be an invaluable event for professionals in sports, media, and entertainment. We are excited to announce that Cisco will be in attendance, bringing our expertise and innovations to the forefront.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Whether enabling the season’s biggest tournaments with top-tier technology or supporting the sport’s biggest stars like Nelly Korda, 2024 has seen Cisco continue to tee up opportunity across golf.

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With the 124th U.S. Open about to begin at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina this week, it’s hard not to get nostalgic about the game as it returns to one of the most iconic venues in the country. And while golf is a game steeped in history and tradition, it’s amazing to reflect on the impact that our technology has had in advancing the sport through Cisco’s partnership with the United States Golf Association (USGA).

Now in our sixth season as an Official Partner of the USGA, Cisco’s presence in and around the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Open continues to serve as a shining example of what technology can bring to the game. From debuting the first-ever “Connected Course” at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links, to seamlessly and securely deploying virtual connectivity solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic with Webex by Cisco, to powering the use of 4D technology as part of the broadcast experience of USGA Championships, we have been laser-focused on generating meaningful outcomes for the USGA that ultimately benefit all of us who watch and enjoy the game.

But don’t take my word for it – hear from the USGA on how Cisco helps them stay connected and protected during their Championships and to support their business 365 days a year:

As we look ahead to what the future holds for our partnership and for the sport, it’s impossible to ignore the impact that AI will have. Already we are seeing that come to life this year with our deployment of Wi-Fi 6 at the US Open. Our Meraki access points utilize AI-powered technology that minimizes radio interference and maximizes performance automatically, to help ensure fans, partners and event organizers have reliable, high-performance connectivity. While this is just the beginning, we expect to see exponential transformation in the coming years across all industries with the evolution of an AI-driven world, and that’s why just last week at Cisco Live, we launched AI-powered capabilities across the entire Cisco portfolio and a $1B AI fund to advance industry innovation and customer readiness.

In addition to our wireless network deployment at Pinehurst, Cisco will help fans following from far and wide engage with the action thanks to the USGA App which will include fan-favorite features like ShotCast Powered by Cisco. We will also connect millions to the action through Cisco’s role in helping to deliver the broadcast, thanks to our continuing partnership with NBC.

I’m also proud to say that Cisco has supported the opening of the brand-new Golf House Pinehurst – a USGA Experience and home to the World Golf Hall of Fame that opened this May. This versatile new space represents the pinnacle of modern golf facilities, and is ensuring that all aspects of Golf House Pinehurst from office spaces to performance testing centers are equipped with top-tier technological capabilities.

Driving a More Inclusive Sport

Equally as significant, this Championship season has seen us double down on the connection between golf and the Cisco Networking Academy, as students are having the opportunity to come on-site to both championship courses and work side-by-side with Cisco engineers. Seeing the continued emergence and presence of these young groups of distinguished Net Acad students – or “Dream Teams” as we call them – reminds me of why Cisco chooses to invest in golf, and how critical it is that this investment remains anchored in our company purpose to foster inclusivity. We’ve already seen this mission in golf come to life in 2024 when Cisco elevated its partnership with the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour, and our ongoing support of accessibility in golf through properties like the U.S. Adaptive Open will ensure that this mission stays at the forefront of our wider golf portfolio.

As the 2024 golf season rolls along with new storylines emerging and new champions crowned, arguably the story of the year thus far has been the success of Team Cisco ambassador and current Rolex World Ranking No.1 Nelly Korda. It’s been so incredible to watch what Nelly has done this year on-course, winning six titles in the span of seven events, including five straight from February through April capped off by her second career major victory at the 2024 Chevron Championship. And while her on-course play has been mesmerizing alone, it doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the greater impact Nelly’s play is having in inspiring female golfers around the world.

Seeing her historic momentum to start this year is one of the many reasons why I’m constantly reminded how special it is to be a fan of golf, and how grateful I am that Cisco can support some of the sport’s greatest stars. I’m also proud to share that we’ve recently added World No. 5 and former major champion Hannah Green of Australia to Team Cisco, and we look forward to supporting her bright future both on and off the course.

Our investment in the sport of golf continues to be an incredible avenue to not only further our company commitment to powering a more inclusive future, but also serves as a fantastic proof point to showcase why our customers trust Cisco. The ability to deliver across dynamic environments, help achieve tangible outcomes and significantly impact the USGA through our ongoing collaboration highlights how Cisco gives organizations of all shapes and sizes the confidence and resiliency needed to operate seamlessly and securely in a constantly-evolving, digital environment.

"}]]  Whether enabling the season’s biggest tournaments with top-tier technology or supporting the sport’s biggest stars like Nelly Korda, 2024 has seen Cisco continue to tee up opportunity across golf.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Learn more about Cisco ISE 3.4 announcement and Common Policy.

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June has always been one of my favorite times of the year. When I was younger, it always meant that school was finally ending. Now that I’m a little older, the latter reason doesn’t matter as much, but I still love the season. Plus, there’s a yearly June occurrence that has taken the place of the last days of school.

That’s Cisco Live, and the launching of the next version of Identity Services Engine (ISE)!

Every year there’s a host of new features and functionalities that I’m very excited to talk about, and 2024 is no exception, as we are announcing a strategy called Common Policy that is going to be a true game changer.

Common Policy = Common language

It’s still in Beta release now, but the first iteration of Common Policy is expected to be available to the general public in the Fall. So now you know when you’ll be able to get it, but what is Common Policy?

It’s important to set the scene first before we get into exactly what Common Policy does. Access patterns have changed, and users are logging in from different locations every day, accessing application that are running in the cloud or the local data center. For an organization that is serious about a strong zero trust solution, an administrator must make sure that the security policies for all devices, users and application workloads are consistent over the entirety of the network and other products such as Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI). The issue is that depending on where the administrator enforces policy, each domain has its own structure for implementing access and segmentation policy and not all of them are speaking the same language.

This is where Common Policy steps in as it provides administrators with the ability to send each domain the same user, endpoint, and application workload context so that they have the flexibility to enforce policies on the domain of their choice. Common Policy makes sure that everything is speaking the same language.

Cisco ISE as Exchange Hub

Make no mistake, Common Policy is not a new pane of glass solution. Cisco ISE sits in the middle of the strategy as an exchange hub that integrates with both the network and the security domains. As you know, identity—it’s the first word in the ISE acronym—is what’s used to enforce policies across domains and that’s because identifiers such as location, posture, amongst others are embedded inside context.

Context information is created closer to the domain where it resides, in the access layer for users and devices, and in the data center or cloud for application workloads. We normalize this context to a group construct—such as a security group tag (SGT)—that is understood across the domains. The normalized user, device, and app workload context is sent to each domain using Cisco ISE as the exchange hub. This enables security administrators to create consistent access and segmentation policy irrespective of which domain they choose to enforce policy.

It’s a snap for ISE to get that information because it already has pxGrid—one of the industry’s largest ecosystems for context sharing—ISE can raise visibility by sharing the data with other products it gathers from end devices on the network. Not to mention that pxGrid consumes information learned from other products. All of that data allows for more detailed, targeted policies to be built.

With Common Policy the network becomes more modern and more holistic. An administrator can provide certain users with access to certain workloads as well as enterprise and corporate assets on their sites. Not only that but sending context and enforcing polices on ACI has improved too. Security group tags (SGT) can be translated into External Endpoint Groups (EEPG) and be assigned contracts all from within Cisco ISE.

Common Policy is allowing the ecosystem to expand so that application workloads can be brought in from external on premises and cloud providers with VMware, AWS, Azure and application workload identity information. Within Cisco ISE customers can assign these workloads to SGTs and then send them out to other domains—including ACI, Cisco Secure Access, SD-WAN and more—to use in segmentation building and access policies.

Cisco ISE 3.4 Enhancements

But while Common Policy certainly takes the headline for this year’s release, there’s plenty of other great features that will be beneficial to all our customers. Another benefit is that finally everyone is speaking the same language. Oftentimes—especially in large organizations—there are multiple administrators working on different areas of the network. Each administrator, through no fault of their own, is often in charge of their fiefdom and are creating policies with different languages. Common Policy helps these administrators all speak the same language.

Cisco ISE Reboot reduction time

It doesn’t happen very frequently but when Cisco ISE reboots, it can take a little bit of time. Now that time has been reduced by up to 40%. On the one hand, it’s great that your network is up and running lickety-split. But on the other hand, your coffee break may need to shorten too.

Dynamic Reauthentication

If you work in an organization where it’s common for guests to stay an extended amount of time, providing them with full access to your network might not be the best idea. But at the same time, they need more than the guest network. With Dynamic Reauthentication, your problem is solved. This is a temporary policy where a group of devices are placed in a bucket where parameters are defined, and access is provided for a determined amount of time. Once that time is complete, the devices are automatically dumped from the bucket.

For example, if a retail store has to disconnect all of the endpoints, or a specific endpoint, at the end of the day. So once the store is closed and the devices are not needed, they automatically disconnect from the network. The next day as the owner returns to their store to get ready for their day, the devices all automatically connect. Aside from the initial parameter definition, the administrator does not have to worry about this day-to-day task again.

pxGrid Direct enhancements

The already-strong synergy between Cisco ISE and pxGrid grows even stronger thanks to these new features.

The first enhancement, called pxGrid Direct Sync Now, will allow customers to immediately synchronize data from pxGrid Direct Connectors. Currently Cisco ISE can synchronize a full data base update once a week or less (minimum once every 12 hours), with incremental updates every day (incremental updates minimum once every hour). With immediate synchronization, there is no longer a need to wait for large changes in the network to be made.

The second enhancement grants the ability to push updates immediately to Cisco ISE. This new feature is called pxGrid Direct URL Pusher and will allow ISE to directly integrate with Configuration Management Data Base (CMDB) servers that support JSON format. This will allow customers to skip the CMDB server, especially if they don’t have one, and push the JSON file directly to Cisco ISE.

Protected Access Credentials (PAC)-less communication

Cisco ISE uses a PAC file during the EAP-FAST authentication between ISE and a TrustSec Network Device. During the initial authentication process, a PAC file is generated. In some cases, some TrustSec devices may have issues with processing the PAC file. For these cases, starting Cisco ISE 3.4 it is now possible to use PAC-less communication between ISE and the TrustSec devices and this results in a reduction of management overhead.

In all, there are 15 new features that Cisco ISE 3.4 premiered this month, but these are just a couple of the highlights.  So while school’s out for some, Cisco ISE 3.4 is in for all!

Learn  more about Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

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

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