Change the economics of your network in your favor with a simplified architecture that converges services on a unified, automated infrastructure for maximum scalability and agility to support the AI/ML era as well as 5G and beyond.

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In the evolving service provider scene where new user demands are constantly emerging, we know that transport needs an efficient, cohesive network architecture. Our Converged SDN Transport solution is a simplified, trustworthy, programmable network architecture that changes the economics of networks to deliver connected experiences at massive scale. The solution is an integral part of the Cisco Networking Cloud platform.

We can help you transform your network’s economic landscape so you can streamline your network architecture and unify services on an automated infrastructure designed for scalability and flexibility. This will prime your network for the demands of AI/ML, 5G, and future technologies. Leverage our cutting-edge advancements in silicon, optics, software, automation, and assurance to help your business thrive. Exciting changes to our Mobility Services Platform will make it even easier for you to make the most of your 5G networks and pave the way for engaging enterprise experiences.

So, grab a cup of coffee and read on to learn about our latest offerings that can help to further simplify your network, as well as unify and deliver broadband, mobile, and business services of exceptional quality.

Innovations that simplify operations and improve user experiences and network efficiency

Let’s talk about building the internet for what comes next. Our portfolio is expanding to include two new Cisco 8000 Series Routers, two new line cards, as well as extending the proven value and simplicity of Cisco Routed Optical Networking (RON) to the access network with Cisco Routed Passive Optical Networking (PON). We’re enhancing Cisco Crosswork Network Automation to further simplify network operations with predictive AI. It unifies the management of the multivendor, multidomain IP and optical network. The Crosswork suite automates the whole lifecycle of network and service operations, including service provisioning and assurance, visibility, workflow automation, network planning, and advanced, real-time optimization.

New resource-optimized platforms

In 2019, we introduced our “Internet for the Future” strategy along with the Cisco Silicon One ASIC, a unique networking chip that powers Cisco 8000 Series Routers. Our market-leading routing portfolio offers solutions for every part of the network with systems that provide energy efficiency, high capacity, and performance scalability.

Expanding further, we’ve added the Cisco 8212 and Cisco 8711 for deployment at the core, peering, or aggregation to our lineup. These are high-performance 1 RU platforms, based on Silicon One and designed to support speeds up to 400G routing in space- and power-constrained environments.

Solution portfolio expansion

Routed PON, released last quarter, extends the proven value and simplicity of RON to the access network. Routed PON now supports real-time performance monitoring through integration with Accedian Skylight Sensors, which give a crystal-clear view of performance anomalies. With pluggable optical line terminals (OLTs) the Routed PON solution lets you expand and/or upgrade without changing the existing setup. Think plug-and-play modules that let broadband networks deliver top-notch, secure, and fast services to homes and businesses. Plus, it’s ready for the internet speeds of tomorrow, from 10G today to 25G and beyond in the future. Whether it’s for greenfield networks such as those driven by government-funded broadband connectivity initiatives or for brownfield networks that need upgrades, Routed PON offers a simple and scalable solution.

AI-enabled operations to scale services quickly and precisely

Contending with the unpredictable nature of network behavior, traffic patterns, and service demands requires quick adaptability. Capacity planning and knowing precisely where to invest can directly impact the user experience. Crosswork Network Automation incorporates predictive AI to help effectively mitigate these challenges. Our latest enhancements include the following:

Accurate capacity planner and real-time congestion mitigation. Crosswork Planning can help you proactively analyze what-if scenarios and more accurately map future growth and traffic demands. Optimize network planning, capacity management, and resource allocation. Crosswork Network Controller provides AI-enabled automatic path optimization to address traffic congestion in real time.
Fast issue identification. Crosswork tightly integrates with Accedian Skylight to provide AI and machine learning capabilities to quickly identify service-impacting anomalies—before SLA violations happen. The solution responds to anomalies within milliseconds, performs microsecond latency measurements, and detects sub-1% packet loss. These market-leading metrics mean you can see and deeply understand every user’s experience at every moment. This combination of Skylight and Crosswork also helps you gain forward-looking insights so you can stay on top of your network’s health and keep your services running smoothly to meet SLAs and keep customers happy.
Easy provisioning, deep visibility. The Crosswork Network Controller provides unified operations across service and device lifecycle management, with views into network inventory, fault, and performance management. It also simplifies and accelerates service provisioning and provides granular services health monitoring.
Support for sustainability goals. Crosswork’s enhanced dashboards allow you to easily track and meet sustainability goals, helping to ramp up efforts to reduce carbon footprint and promote environmentally conscious business practices.

Monetize your network and accelerate growth

The latest update to the Cisco Mobility Services Platform is a game-changer, especially for car manufacturers and businesses looking to dive into new subscription services. It’s all about giving you more control with easy management of SIM cards and vehicle lifecycles, all while keeping things smooth with automated provisioning, adaptable policies, charging options, and managing usage limits.

Feature enhancements include:

Streamlined branch connectivity with zero-touch eSIM provisioning: Together, Cisco Catalyst, Meraki SD-WAN, 5G, and IoT Control Center provide enterprises with wireless high-speed broadband access to their network, streamlining enterprise connectivity, enhancing operational efficiency, and improving the customer experience. Zero-touch onboarding dramatically simplifies deployment for remote, branch, and home offices.
Dynamic policy and charging: Connected car OEMs can offer consumers prepaid subscription services (like Wi-Fi hotspots). This feature sets the stage for value-added services like onboard applications and can help boost your revenue diversification strategies.
Service assurance with on-demand network slicing: Now you can offer guaranteed (SLA-based) mission-critical voice and data connectivity as premium services, complete with real-time monitoring and assurance of the targeted performance metrics for those network slices. Your enterprise customers can create customized virtual 5G network “slices” within a private 5G deployment, each optimized for specific use cases with guaranteed quality of service.

Empowering service providers with Cisco Networking Cloud

As we wrap up another insightful session at Cisco Live 2024, the future of networking looks brighter and more dynamic than ever. With the Cisco Networking Cloud platform paving the way for unparalleled efficiency, security, and connectivity, you can be empowered to not just keep pace with the ever-evolving digital landscape, but to lead the charge. By embracing the innovations showcased here, from AI-driven automation and assurance to advanced routing and revenue-generating platforms, you’re not just preparing for the future—you’re shaping it. Use our powerful solutions to create a network that’s ready for tomorrow’s challenges and capable of unlocking new opportunities for growth and innovation.

Learn how we help service providers cut costs,
differentiate services, and boost customer experiences.

"}]]  Change the economics of your network in your favor with a simplified architecture that converges services on a unified, automated infrastructure for maximum scalability and agility to support the AI/ML era as well as 5G and beyond.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

No matter how reliable and performant your network is, it doesn’t matter if it’s not secure. To help make the world a safer place, we need to reimagine security.

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Every year I look forward to Cisco Live because it’s a chance to showcase all the incredible innovations our teams have been delivering and hear unfiltered feedback directly from our customers.

In security, we delivered more innovation in 2023 than in the previous decade. And in 2024 we will deliver multiples of last year. We’ve accelerated innovation to ensure we provide the scale of protection and digital resilience that our customers demand.

No matter how reliable and performant your network is, it doesn’t matter if it’s not secure. To help make the world a safer place, we need to reimagine security.

Why? Because security is critical infrastructure protecting critical infrastructure that keeps people safe.  And because security is still far too complex, with most organizations managing dozens of point solutions that don’t work well together. Also, because AI is changing everything, securing modern AI-scale data centers and clouds requires new approaches. Bad actors are using AI tools to mount increasingly sophisticated attacks and avoid detection. It’s because of this that AI is critical to helping protect our customers at machine scale, not just human scale. It’s what helps tip the scales in favor of the defenders.

And at Cisco Live this week our teams shared what we’re doing to help reimagine security.

Security Cloud innovations

Cisco Security Cloud is our integrated AI-powered security platform that minimizes the need for multiple point solutions for user protection, cloud protection, and breach protection. We’ve been innovating across our entire Security Cloud platform.  These aren’t just new features or enhancements. In many cases, they’re brand new product categories and architectures we’re bringing to the market, giving customers better security efficacy, better IT and user experiences, and better economics.

In April, we announced the most consequential new security product that Cisco has launched in 40 years – Cisco Hypershield. It infuses security into the fabric of the network –  giving you thousands of security enforcement points, across Kubernetes containers, virtual machines, and servers and network devices with hardware acceleration like digital processing units (DPUs). It places security wherever you need it, close to the workloads across your distributed multi-cloud environments. Learn more about how Hypershield delivers hyper-distributed security for the AI-scale data center.

And this week we announced how we’re taking Hypershield further, with support for AMD’s Pensando DPUs. With these DPUs, Hypershield will work on private cloud servers including Cisco UCS. We’ll also be supporting Intel infrastructure processing units (IPUs) with availability to be announced in the future. For  more information, read the press release: Cisco Security Cloud vision comes to life transforming enterprise defenses.

This week we also talked about how we’re bringing the Cisco Security and Networking Clouds closer together. An example of this is our new integration of Cisco XDR with Meraki MX. Now, Meraki MX can send its telemetry directly to Cisco XDR for analysis and correlation with other telemetry, and network teams can see XDR incidents right in the Meraki dashboard. It gives Meraki admins better visibility and a way to take immediate action on potential threats.

Because it’s a platform, Cisco Security Cloud is designed to take advantage of common elements – including a common management plane. And we took a big step in that direction this week by announcing Cisco Security Cloud Control. It will become the single unified management interface for the entire Security Cloud, which will dramatically simplify the security admin and IT experience. We’re targeting initial availability by October with support for our network security products, with more to be added in the months ahead.

Of course, a key aspect of the Cisco Security Cloud is AI. We’re using it pervasively across our platform.  One tangible manifestation of AI for our customers is the Cisco AI Assistant. What’s different about our approach is that it’s not multiple assistants; it’s a single, common assistant that extends beyond security. That’s the benefit of a platform approach. We bring telemetry from across Cisco into our AI Assistant. And each of our products has a set of skills for different use cases, and they just plug seamlessly into our AI Assistant.

Firewall is a key foundation for the Security Cloud. And we announced our newest offering, the Secure Firewall 1200 Series. It combines advanced security and SD-WAN connectivity into a single appliance. It has up to 3X the performance of competitors’ firewalls. It’s a simpler solution for IT, with great price and performance.

Cisco + Splunk

We are only a few months into our acquisition of Splunk. This move cements us as one of the largest and most influential security companies in the world.  Our cultural and product alignment is clear.  We are truly going to be better together, accelerating innovation and delivering for our customers.

This week we talked about how we’re bringing Splunk together with the Cisco Security Cloud to change the game for threat detection and incident response. Last month at RSA, we announced Cisco XDR’s integration with Splunk. And this week, we announced that we’re integrating the rest of the Security Cloud with Splunk.

Together, we now have the security industry’s most comprehensive AI-powered tools for organizations of any size and maturity level, with the broadest set of telemetry and visibility. This is key because security is fundamentally a data problem. Our data advantage will power the SOC of the future and transform how they prevent, detect, and respond to increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Ecosystem and partnerships

At Cisco, we know that our customers will have products from other vendors too. We want to make sure that our platforms are open and that we work with a broad ecosystem of technology partners. Because in cybersecurity, we believe vendors need to work together, against our common adversaries.

One industry stalwart we’re aligning with is Microsoft. We want our platforms to work well together, and Microsoft’s Vasu Jakkal joined me on the Cisco Live main stage to talk about how we are working together in areas like AI and platform interoperability.

Another is Google. We announced a collaboration between Cisco Secure Access with Google Chrome Enterprise browser, bringing the best of our browser security and Google’s cloud security together to help simplify security for our customers.

We also announced our strategic investment in Scale AI. Scale has been working with most of the largest companies and governments in the world delivering AI innovation. Scale AI provides a data-centric, end-to-end platform providing training and validation for AI applications.  Initially our partnership will focus on developing AI models for real enterprise outcomes that you won’t get with models trained on the public internet. I can’t say more but there is a lot more to come from our partnership.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to watch our keynote on demand to learn more about everything we’re doing to reimagine security for our customers. And take a look at the links below for more details on our announcements from Cisco Live. I’m so proud of what our teams have been delivering, and even more excited about what’s ahead. It’s a privilege to play a small part in a global movement to help keep the world safe and secure.

Additional resources

Press release:  Cisco Launches $1B Global AI Investment Fund
Press release:  Cisco Security Cloud Vision comes to Life Transforming Enterprise Defenses
Cisco Hypershield

"}]]  No matter how reliable and performant your network is, it doesn’t matter if it’s not secure. To help make the world a safer place, we need to reimagine security.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The retail industry faces many challenges forcing retailers to adapt and innovate. The industry’s challenges, including tight margins, staff shortages, and evolving consumer expectations, necessitate… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The retail industry faces many challenges forcing retailers to adapt and innovate. The industry’s challenges, including tight margins, staff shortages, and evolving consumer expectations, necessitate a shift towards technology solutions that can optimize operations, prevent loss, and enhance the shopping experience. Retailers who successfully leverage technologies such as AI, IoT, and computer vision not only stand to gain operational efficiencies but also foster greater customer loyalty and increase their long-term value proposition.

In collaboration with our partners, retailers can unlock deeper insights into customer behaviors, store traffic dynamics, and precise inventory levels. The deployment of computer vision technology is transformative for shelf monitoring, ensuring that stock levels are diligently maintained and promptly signaling the need for restocking. Moreover, this technology can revolutionize the customer experience—enabling faster checkouts and delivering personalized shopping recommendations. By leveraging AI’s capacity to sift through and analyze copious amounts of data, retailers can pinpoint patterns and anomalies indicative of potential fraud, thereby dramatically enhancing their loss prevention strategies. The integration of AI with computer vision facilitates the real-time detection of suspicious activities, enabling loss prevention teams to be swiftly alerted. This proactive stance optimizes the use of time and resources by homing in on incidents that pose the highest risk.

The customer journey

Furthermore, today’s consumer is in pursuit of a shopping journey that is not only seamless across various platforms—be it online, on mobile devices, or within the physical retail space—but also one that is richly satisfying and personalized. Our partners’ technological offerings play a pivotal role in curating such customized shopping experiences. From loyalty programs that reward repeat business to personalized marketing strategies that resonate with individual preferences, and even the use of augmented reality (AR) to simulate the in-store try-on of products from the comfort of home, these innovations are instrumental in amplifying customer satisfaction and cementing brand loyalty. The provision of a consistent and integrated shopping experience across all retail channels is indispensable to fulfilling the expectations of today’s consumers, who often navigate between online and offline realms as part of their purchasing journey.

In essence, the retail sector stands at a critical point where embracing technological advancements is not merely an option, but an imperative for survival and success. By leveraging the synergy of AI, IoT, computer vision, and other digital innovations through strategic partnerships, retailers can not only navigate the current challenges but also position themselves to thrive in the future of commerce. This forward-thinking approach will invariably contribute to the enduring satisfaction and loyalty of their customer base, thereby ensuring a prosperous and sustainable retail ecosystem for years to come.

Join us for a webinar

Let’s continue the conversation – Join us for a fireside chat where the Global VP of Meraki Sales and industry experts from two of our partners will share their insights on how they are shaping the future of retail with rich analytics and enhanced guest experiences and how they have improved the experience for Cartier and The Coffee House. To learn more about these solutions and others that integrate into Cisco’s platform, check out the marketplace.

"}]]  The retail industry faces many challenges forcing retailers to adapt and innovate. The industry’s challenges, including tight margins, staff shortages, and evolving consumer expectations, necessitate… Read more on Cisco Blogs  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco's Customer Advocate Awards are back! Cisco Advocates are change makers and innovators, and we recognized the finalists at Cisco Live in Las Vegas. To wrap-up, we're celebrating our winners.

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Now in its fourth year, The Cisco Customer Advocate Awards: Americas 2024 honor exceptional Cisco customers who exemplify innovation through their use of Cisco products and solutions, as well as demonstrate industry thought leadership through customer stories, speaking engagements, product reviews, and more.

From executives to engineers, this years’ Cisco awards attracted an impressive mix of more than 100 customers from across the Americas. Yesterday, at a packed ceremony at Cisco Live, we recognized the exceptional shortlisted nominees before announcing winners in each category.

Here are the winners of the fourth-annual Cisco Customer Advocate Awards: Americas 2024!

Americas Customer Advocate of the Year: Mark Rodrigue, Room and Board

The award for Americas Customer Advocate of the Year went to Mark Rodrigue with Room and Board. Mark earned the title for his standout involvement, including sharing his expertise in customer stories for ThousandEyes and Cisco Networking, as well as for fueling AI innovation with his sharp feedback as a beta tester for a new Meraki RF AI feature. Plus, he’s shone in the security space, sharing his experience with powerhouse products like Duo and Umbrella through dynamic events and videos. Recognized for his outstanding ability to articulate the real-world benefits of technical solutions, Mark is truly a distinguished advocate for Cisco. Learn more here!

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:

Josh Beaver—T-Mobile

Marcus Labra—Carnival Corporation

Christopher Cavendish—Insight Global

Artificial Intelligence Pioneer: Georgia Department of Labor

Congratulations to Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson, Phyllis Kimber, and Denise Beckwith with the Georgia Department of Labor for earning the first-ever Artificial Intelligence Pioneer award. The team revolutionized their contact center with Webex Contact Center, integrating AI to achieve a 100-percent response rate and simplifying services through a single contact number. Using Google Contact Center AI (CCAI) streamlined service delivery and improved efficiency, allowing live agents to focus on complex queries. Plus, the addition of a virtual agent and a courtesy callback feature significantly enhanced customer interaction and satisfaction.

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominee:

Michael Verret—Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Industry Excellence Award: Central Ohio Transit Authority

The Industry Excellence Award recognizes organizations that are addressing and solving distinctive challenges inherent to their respective industry. Congratulations to the IT and Innovation Team with Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), which transformed public transit with Cisco’s IR1833 routers, boosting connectivity and security. Passengers now enjoy free Wi-Fi and enhanced safety, supporting digital equity and sustainability. The team has championed Cisco through diverse initiatives, including presenting at Cisco Live US 2022, crafting a success video and blog post, and sharing their experience with other Cisco customers. Learn more here.

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:

Max Hernandez—Toyota Motor North America

Jarrett Newberry and Robert Bibey—Burrell Behavioral Health

Mike (Mac) McNamara—Dish Network

Veronica Martinez Estrada—Grupo Xcaret

Sustainability Changemaker: Nicole Alderete-Ferrini, City of El Paso, Texas

Congratulations to Nicole Alderete-Ferrini from City of El Paso, Texas, for earning the first-ever Sustainability Changemaker award in the Americas. The City of El Paso leverages Cisco Webex and networking solutions to centralize and improve access to government services for at-risk residents. The city’s shift to virtual service delivery reduced travel-related carbon emissions and redirected law enforcement efforts, aligning with their sustainability targets. The El Paso Helps project, supported by Cisco technologies, has not only optimized resource allocation but also set a precedent for sustainable and efficient public service models. Learn more here!

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:

Tim Roberts—St. Anne Institute

Dani Stern—Honeywell International

Roger Loo—NetApp

Hybrid Work Hero: M&T Bank

Congratulations to Alex Pop, Bill Sheff, Justin Priebe, Katie Gilliland, and Lori Fellela with M&T Bank. M&T Bank earned the Hybrid Work Hero award for seamlessly transitioning 21,000 employees to a hybrid video infrastructure where they can collaborate in person and online. The team deployed Cisco’s Webex Suite, enhancing communication within their innovative hybrid spaces. The groundbreaking use of Cisco Spaces and headset technologies enhanced both flexibility and engagement. This strategic technological shift ensured secure, adaptable operations and maintained M&T’s commitment to personalized customer service.

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:

Nicole Alderete-Ferrini—City of El Paso, Texas

Dale Walters—State of Illinois

Steve Hilliard—Ford Motor Company

Wendy Williams—McKesson

Transformation Trailblazer: Ian Hyatt, Purdue University

Congratulations to Ian Hyatt with Purdue University for earning the Transformation Trailblazer award. Ian’s work with Purdue is evident through the overhauling of its network infrastructure with Cisco’s Meraki Wi-Fi 6 technology and Duo security, elevating campus Wi-Fi uptime to more than 99 percent and significantly reducing IT support tickets. The university’s successful transformation is evidenced by faster Wi-Fi speeds and streamlined device connectivity. Ian has shared this journey in a customer story, video, and discussions with industry press and analysts. Learn more here!

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:

Ron Grohman—Bush Brothers & Company

Jeanette Jaede and Arun Joshi—Amazon: Project Kuiper

Jeff Peterson—LPL Financial

Leandro César Lopes Evangelista—Arena MRV

Todd Stewart—Honeywell International

Reimagine Applications Visionary: T-Mobile

Congratulations to David Cornette and Jonathan Silberlicht from T-Mobile for earning the Reimagine Applications Visionary advocate award for their strategic deployment of Cisco’s AppDynamics and Cloud Observability. T-Mobile’s observability framework, crucial for their vast 5G network service quality, ensures full-stack visibility, facilitating AIOps and cloud security at scale. This partnership with Cisco has streamlined issue resolution and supported T-Mobile’s customer growth, setting new benchmarks in application monitoring and performance management. T-Mobile has actively advocated for their technological advancements, with David highlighting their collaboration at Cisco Live 2023 and engaging with the AppDynamics community through advisory boards and internal company events.  

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees: 

James Kluttz—Sutter Health 

Michael Verret—Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

Pat Spinler and Matt Dupay—Mayo Clinic 

Cybersecurity Defender of the Year: Dwayne Robinson, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park

Congratulations to Dwayne Robinson for earning Cybersecurity Defender of the Year. Dwayne is expertly leveraging comprehensive Cisco security technologies, which allow employees and guests of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park to have a reliable and secure experience. This strategic design and implementation of Cisco applications and tools ensures a secure, connected experience for the SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park campus. The partnership with Cisco continues to set high standards for cybersecurity in large venues. Dwayne has played a pivotal role in amplifying SoFi’s story, prominently featuring SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park’s state-of-the-art network and its impact on events held at the stadium each year. Learn more here!

Congratulations to our shortlisted nominees:

Raja Sambandam—State of New Mexico Office of Cybersecurity

Matthew Barczak and Paul Oyelakin—Marriott International

John Skaarup—Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)

Veronica Martinez Estrada—Grupo Xcaret

Congratulations to our Cisco Customer Advocate Awards: Americas 2024 winners,

and to all of our shortlisted nominees.

We applaud each of you for your passion, innovation, and leadership

within the technology industry!

"}]]  Cisco's Customer Advocate Awards are back! Cisco Advocates are change makers and innovators, and we recognized the finalists at Cisco Live in Las Vegas. To wrap-up, we're celebrating our winners.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Take a look at the 2024 Cisco Customer Experience Customer Hero Award winners from 2024!

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For the Customer Experience team, a highlight of Cisco Live is always celebrating our customers’ innovations. Today, we are thrilled to announce our eight most recent Cisco CX Customer Hero Award winners.

These customers have demonstrated excellence in their respective categories. They were selected from nominations received from across industries and the Americas region and we are honored to showcase them today- congratulations to all our winners!

World Class Cybersecurity: Defense Intelligence Agency

The World Class Cybersecurity award is presented to a customer who has partnered with Cisco Services to successfully strengthen security and proactively operate, protect, and defend its IT infrastructure. The winner is Defense Intelligence Agency, a Department of Defense combat support agency. Dr. Jay Phipps and his team collaborated with Cisco Services to enhance security measures and operational efficiencies which contributed to a strengthened cybersecurity posture, ensuring their ability to maintain secure and reliable network operations in the face of evolving cyber threats. They also achieved the distinction of being the first government agency to pass the new compliance and enhanced security framework, showcasing the effectiveness of the collaborative efforts and modernization initiatives.

Please join us in congratulating the Defense Intelligence Agency!

Exceptional Innovation: Michigan Medicine

The Exceptional Innovation award recognizes a customer that has achieved amazing innovations through collaboration with Cisco CX.  The winner is Michigan Medicine, a leading medical facility that has been on a quest to transform the future of health care through leading-edge medical education, groundbreaking discoveries, and extraordinary care since 1848. Ben Crissman and his team worked with Cisco CX to revolutionize the connectivity landscape in multiple facilities with Open Roaming technology. Now, devices truly connect “seamlessly” without user intervention. As a result of the implementation, 400,000 devices are now connected, enabling cellular service for all users, greatly improving the patient and employee experience, and enhancing operational efficiency. Clinicians and staff members no longer have to worry about setting up connections in the middle of critical tasks or procedures. Care remains uninterrupted and clinicians can focus on what matters most. The change has also enhanced ROI of existing infrastructure, improved scalability with Wifi 6E, and strengthened security measures.

Please join us in congratulating Michigan Medicine!

Outstanding Automation: Dish Wireless

The Outstanding Automation Award is presented to a customer who partnered with Cisco CX and dramatically transformed operations by using automation. The winner is Dish Wireless. Mike (Mac) McNamara, VP Head of Network Engineering, and his team partnered with Cisco CX to implement automation solutions such as Intelligent Test Automation Framework (CXTAF), resulting in the rapid deployment of a greenfield, cloud-native, 5G network, connecting 70% of the United States population. Using CX automation solutions and CXTAF, Dish can now generate test cases in just minutes instead of what previously took days to accomplish. The Dish Network Operations team can now perform health checks and troubleshooting across tens of thousands of devices in just minutes, using automation to reduce truck rolls and constant use of field technicians. Now, maintenance windows have been significantly reduced, sometimes by up to 50 percent. Furthermore, CXTAF intelligently identifies patterns of failure, helping to quickly pinpoint the root cause.

Please join us in congratulating Mac and the Dish Wireless team!

Digital Transformation Luminary: Gilead

The Digital Transformation Luminary award highlights a customer that has successfully accomplished an impressive digital transformation through a partnership with Cisco CX. The winner of this award is Gilead, a global biopharmaceutical leader. The company aims to be the biotech employer of choice as they work toward their vision of a healthier world for all people. Transformation for Gilead focused on moving to a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) model to provide a world-class end user experience through a wireless-first strategy. Through collaboration with Cisco CX, Jim Prass, Senior Director Worldwide Infrastructure & Operations, and his team at Gilead are able to commit to a Service Level Agreement of 99.99% uptime at critical sites. The more secure, more sustainable network environment has streamlined IT operations and optimized efficiencies. In addition, they have enabled secure hybrid work for 18,000 employees across 130 locations in 34 countries. As a result of the transformation initiative, they are also projecting power consumption savings of approximately 20% in support of Gilead’s sustainability goals.

Please join us in congratulating Gilead!

Operational Excellence: BlackRock

This award recognizes a customer that is realizing tangible and compelling outcomes through Success Tracks and CX Cloud. BlackRock is one of the world’s leading providers of investment, advisory, and risk management solutions. This fast-growing company strives to inspire innovation and challenge the norm. A secure and stable network and reliable network operations are critical for BlackRock’s success. Visibility into the network helps provide that stability and avoid downtime. When BlackRock was opening a new headquarters in New York, Harpreet Chadha, Global Network Operations Manager at BlackRock, and his team collaborated with Cisco CX to develop a comprehensive adoption plan to onboard CX Cloud and connect telemetry for immediate insights and risk visibility. Now, 85% of their network devices are visible in CX Cloud, enhancing visibility and optimizing operations without incurring additional costs. They also aligned with Cisco product management to provide crucial feedback requests and secured their early access to new features, enabling them to continuously improve network visibility and accelerate ROI.

Please join us in congratulating BlackRock!

AI Trailblazer: Mass General Brigham

The AI Trailblazer award goes to a customer that has demonstrated success in preparing its infrastructure to be an industry leader in AI, in collaboration with Cisco CX. Mass General Brigham is a world-renowned integrated healthcare system, built on the legacy of two leading academic medical centers. The organization has embarked on an initiative using Cisco CX with goals to modernize their network, develop sustainable digital operations that meet the current and future needs of patients, and help optimize efficiency and efficacy for researchers who consume and use large amounts of clinical and other data. The desired results of this initiative will be to drive operational efficiencies, optimize system connectivity, and reimagine the digital user experience. Through the use of AI-powered tools like ambient documentation, Mass General Brigham is enabling doctors to enhance the patient experience end-to-end and is also supporting researchers who conduct deep research with AI to better diagnose and treat diseases. Mass General Brigham’s leadership in the AI space will continue to support the provision of a superior patient, care team, employee, and researcher experience overall.

Please join us in congratulating Mass General Brigham!

Sustainability Leader Award: T-Mobile

This award recognizes a customer that is achieving their sustainability goals through collaboration with Cisco CX. T-Mobile is the first & largest nationwide 5G network. They have the goal of net-zero emissions by 2040 by boosting operational efficiency through reduction in maintenance, power, and space costs while meeting the growing need for 5G and home internet to enhance customer experience. Lori Ames, Vice President of Cloud, IP and Transport Development, and her team partnered with Cisco CX to accelerate the deployment and refresh of the network. The CX engagement accelerated the deployment for T-Mobile, helping accomplish the refresh in half the original predicted time. This migration time savings accelerated the achievement of their Net-Zero emissions goal, through a significant reduction in power consumption and space, resulting in significant cost savings. For their customers, this improved 5G experience with no service disruptions provides the additional benefit of an enhanced customer experience improving customer acquisition and loyalty.

Please join us in congratulating T-Mobile!

Americas CX Customer Hero of the Year: Lowe’s

The CX Customer Hero of the Year award is our pinnacle award, for the customer with the strongest overall outcomes through collaborating with Cisco CX.

Lowe’s is one of the largest home improvement retailers in the world. Shad Aul, Senior Manager of Network Engineering, and his team at Lowe’s strive to put the customer at the forefront of everything they do by supporting the foundational Infrastructure to address the needs of the business and meet customers’ expectations. Toward that end, Lowe’s has leveraged Cisco CX and collaboration services to modernize its technology to improve customer satisfaction with a seamless omnichannel experience, increase online sales, and to attract top tech talent. The revamp focuses on the contact center, reducing costly downtime and lowering maintenance costs. Lowe’s seamlessly moved 25 business units and 8,781 agents from a legacy on-prem solution to one consolidated SaaS platform, Cisco Webex Contact Center Enterprise, without any interruption. This move is saving Lowe’s millions in legacy license fees and cutting IT support costs. The new system has handled 1 million calls in Q1 2024, improving scalability, reliability, and integration with existing Cisco infrastructure, setting the stage for expanded customer engagement, and future enhancements using AI. Now, post-migration, Cisco Lifecycle Services is accelerating time-to-value targeting AI use cases and their corresponding outcomes, while delivering services centered around those outcomes.

Please join us in congratulating Lowe’s!

Explore our Cisco CX Superheroes Today

To learn more about our customer heroes and their stories, visit our Customer Stories Index – a catalog of stories highlighting how Cisco services customers are transforming and innovating to drive impact in their organizations and across the world.

See some of our most recent stories here:

ANZ Bank- Enhancing employee and customer experience with network availability at one of Australia’s largest banks
Deutsche Bank– Enhancing the customer experience through automation at Germany’s leading financial services provider
Telecom Egypt– Successfully helping to ensure a stable, proactive, and sustainable network environment

If you are interested in sharing your own customer story, connect with us at cxcustomerstories@cisco.com. We’d love to hear from you! Stay tuned for more CX updates!

Don’t have a story to tell just yet? We can help you build it, right along with your network!

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As you consider how to leverage SLCGP grants for a whole of state approach, here are five things Cisco account managers and partners should be aware of.

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Have you heard about the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP)? It’s part of the federal government’s broader effort to enhance the cybersecurity capabilities of state and local governments. The nascent “whole of state” approach to cybersecurity that is becoming a key topic in government is being fueled by the program’s $1 Billion/4-years of “free money” from the Federal government.

The funds are incentivizing states to provide cybersecurity services to local governments rather than the usual method (passing-through cash). At present, at least thirty states are providing cybersecurity services to local and Tribal governments with more states expected to announce the rollout of whole of state cybersecurity.

As you consider how to leverage SLCGP grants for a whole of state approach, there are five things I suggest Cisco account managers and partners should be aware of.

1. Understanding SLCGP funding

Cisco customers, account managers, and partners should be familiar with how the SLCGP allocates funding to states and how states distribute funds or services to local governments. The “whole of state” approach aims to ensure that cybersecurity funding is not just allocated to states for state use; instead, at least 80% of funds must benefit local governments and rural communities. Local government cost-share or matching funds begin at 10% in year one and rises to 40% in year four. SLCGP funds must supplement existing cybersecurity expenditures and may never supplant or replace approved and budgeted expenditures.

2. States select the vendors and cybersecurity services provided to local governments

Cisco account managers and partners should communicate to state customers why Cisco products and services ought to be available to local and rural governments. If a state creates a list of SLCGP-funded products and services for local governments, Cisco customers benefit most if Cisco products and services are on the list. States are not publishing the names of local governments awarded subgrants, nor details of cybersecurity services provided to named local governments.

3. Customer Cybersecurity Planning and Strategy

Development of comprehensive cybersecurity plans that include risk assessments, resource allocation, and incident response strategies is an eligible expense for state and local governments. Cisco account managers and partners should be prepared to contribute to these plans by offering their expertise in cybersecurity and by understanding the specific needs and challenges faced by their public sector clients.

4. Compliance and Best Practices

Recipients of SLCGP funds will be required to adhere to specified cybersecurity best practices and standards. Cisco account managers and partners need to be well-versed in these requirements, which may include frameworks like NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), to ensure that the solutions they are offering are compliant and can be funded by the grant.

5. Educational and Workforce Development

A portion of the grants may be allocated to cybersecurity education of the customer’s workforce. Cisco account managers and partners should be aware of Cisco’s own training and certification programs, such as the Cisco Networking Academy, which can be integrated into broader educational initiatives.

As you research funding for whole of state and other needs, it’s also important to stay updated on the latest announcements by state governments of state grant programs, competitive subgrants, and application deadlines. For the most current information, Cisco account managers and partners should reach out to your Cisco Public Funding Advisor. They’ll be glad to help answer any questions you may have about whole of state or other funding opportunities.

Additional resources for whole of state and public funding

Whole of State: Leveraging Security Platforms in Government
eBook: The Guide to Modern, Efficient Cybersecurity for Government
StateRAMP: Understanding Authorization of Cisco’s Security Solutions

"}]]  As you consider how to leverage SLCGP grants for a whole of state approach, here are five things Cisco account managers and partners should be aware of.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

In the spirit of World Bicycle Day on June 3rd, let's explore how the lessons of this iconic race, Giro d'Italia, align with our evolving partner strategy and illuminate the path to success in the ecosystem era.

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As the cycling world catches its breath after the thrilling conclusion of the Giro d’Italia, one of the most prestigious and challenging races on the calendar, I find myself reflecting on the remarkable parallels between the strategies and dynamics that unfolded on the roads of Italy and the principles that guide our partner ecosystem strategy.

Just as the Giro showcases the evolution of cycling from a simple test of individual endurance to a complex, multi-faceted battle of tactics, teamwork, and technology, our approach to partnering continues to undergo a similar transformation.

In the spirit of World Bicycle Day on June 3rd, let’s explore how the lessons of this iconic race align with our evolving partner strategy and illuminate the path to success in the ecosystem era.

But first, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the more than 150 partners and exhibitors who support us this year at Cisco Live. Their presence and contributions, especially in the World of Solutions sponsored by CDW, which includes the captivating Cisco AI Hub, the innovative DevNet Zone, and the inspiring Purpose Pavilion, are integral to the event’s success and the advancement of our shared goals.

1. Ecosystem Perspective and Transformational Value Exchange

The Giro is not just a collection of individual riders, but a complex ecosystem of teams, sponsors, organizers, and fans, each playing a vital role in the success of the event. Similarly, our partner ecosystem thrives on a diverse range of roles and the seamless exchange of value, knowledge, and capabilities among its members.

Just as the success of the winning team in the Giro depends on the domestiques who shelter their leader from the wind and the climbers who initiate a breakaway on the toughest mountain stages, our success in the partner ecosystem relies on our ability to co-create solutions, co-innovate, and co-deliver value to our customers. By adopting a holistic view and recognizing that our success is interdependent, we can work together to create value that is greater than the sum of its parts, ultimately providing our customers with the most innovative, comprehensive, and impactful solutions possible.

2. Collaborative Innovation

From aerodynamic helmets to lightweight carbon fiber frames, the most groundbreaking advancements in cycling often emerge from the collective ingenuity of riders, coaches, and technologists. In the same way, our work as an ecosystem must foster a culture of collaborative innovation, harnessing the diverse perspectives and expertise of our partners to co-create solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers.

3. Frictionless Simplicity

Just as the best cycling teams in the Giro streamline their operations and remove barriers to performance, we must prioritize frictionless simplicity in our By simplifying processes, leveraging automation and analytics, and creating seamless experiences for our partners and customers, we can unlock greater efficiency, agility, and value creation.

4. Winning Hearts and Minds

The teams that inspires the most passionate support in the Giro are those that connect with fans on an emotional level, through compelling stories, charismatic personalities, and a shared sense of purpose. Similarly, in our partner ecosystem, we must focus on winning the hearts and minds of our customers by delivering exceptional experiences, building long-term relationships, and creating shared value.

As we reflect on the incredible performances and lessons of the Giro d’Italia, let’s draw inspiration from the power of cycling to unite, inspire, and transform. Let’s embrace the principles of the peloton as we pedal towards the future, creating a partner ecosystem that is resilient, adaptive, and relentlessly focused on delivering value with each other and to our customers.

Happy World Bicycle Day! 

Visit the Cisco Partner Launch Experience
for the most recent Cisco news and updates!

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

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"}]]  In the spirit of World Bicycle Day on June 3rd, let's explore how the lessons of this iconic race, Giro d'Italia, align with our evolving partner strategy and illuminate the path to success in the ecosystem era.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco's industrial networking creates a converged architecture for simplicity, security and cost savings. Discover the built-in security for IT and OT with our Catalyst Industrial Routers and Catalyst SD-WAN Manager.

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It all starts here at Cisco Live! Getting a glimpse into new announcements that define the future of networking technology is exhilarating. We provide advanced networking and security solutions that are not only robust and secure but also integral to the success of Industry 4.0. As organizations leverage Industrial IoT, AI, and more and more data, the need for secure, high-performance networks has never been greater.

For long, organizations have relied on air gapped networks that were restricted to the physical space. Modern industrial processes need seamless connectivity to external networks and cloud applications. However, as organizations adopted more cloud services and became increasingly decentralized, the threat landscape has expanded and has become more intense. A single perimeter security approach used previously quickly proves to be ineffective. Taking industrial networks out of their silos to unlock new IT innovations in OT requires advanced industrial security capabilities to protect operations and maintain production uptime. In the Cisco 2024 State of Industrial Networking Customer Survey, 89% respondents described the importance of cybersecurity compliance in their operational networks as highly important. Point security solutions that organizations may deploy increase the cost and complexity of securing overall operations.

Modern industrial operations require a layered approach for comprehensive security. Because it connects all systems and devices, the network is in the best position to help protect operations. Cisco industrial networking acts as a fabric that helps build a converged architecture bringing simplicity, ease of deployment, and cost savings to help scale industrial security and protect operations.

Built-in advanced security for IT and OT with Catalyst Industrial Routers

Cisco Catalyst industrial routers offer a highly modular portfolio that provides not only the scalability and flexibility to connect the industrial network edge but also a host of security capabilities, including OT/ICS visibility with Cisco Cyber Vision, zero trust remote access with Cisco Secure Equipment Access, and next generation firewall (NGFW) features that enable consolidation of networking and security functions to securely connect critical industrial assets modern networks.

Cisco Industrial Routers with next-generation firewall

Our Catalyst industrial routers can become rugged next generation firewalls (NGFW) and pave the way for even more advanced cybersecurity features in industrial networks, such as integrating with a security service edge (SSE).

Firewall with application awareness and control: All Cisco industrial routers offer stateful firewall inspection with application recognition for creating localized security policies based on industrial protocols to limit traffic between assets.
Integrated intrusion detection and prevention system: When managed by Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, Cisco industrial routers offer more advanced capabilities such as an intrusion detection and prevention system (IDS/IPS) by using Cisco Snort powered by threat intelligence from Cisco Talos, the world’s largest threat detection network that works as an early-warning system that constantly updates with new threats and helps keep your infrastructure safe.
Advanced Malware Protection: Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) integrated into Cisco industrial routers equips the platform to provide protection and visibility from malware.
URL filtering: Use cases such as predictive maintenance or IoT applications often require connections to trusted cloud resources. URL filtering in the Cisco industrial routers enables security administrators to provide controlled access to trusted cloud resources by configuring domain-based or URL-based policies.

Security and WAN management go hand in hand

Consider the example of connecting a few hundred intersections across a region where IT and operations teams are tasked with configuring, and managing (including pushing policy and security updates) thousands of field assets. Manually configuring and maintaining security for large-scale WAN’s means that any configuration mistake is a security vulnerability. Our industrial customers can now deploy their distributed networks with ease using Catalyst SD-WAN Manager and unify security policies across all sites by centralizing policy definition. Catalyst SD-WAN Manager provides common unified management for onboarding, access, and security​ for IT and OT networks. In the Cisco 2024 State of Industrial Networking Customer Survey, 34 % respondents deemed that solutions designed for both types of networks would most accelerate IT and OT collaboration.

While we recommend deploying with a controller to harness the full capabilities of SD-WAN, if you wish to keep your routers in autonomous mode, you can still benefit from advanced cybersecurity features in Cisco Catalyst industrial routers, including next generation firewall capabilities and simplified OT network management by using automation and templates to secure, deploy and maintain your networks.

“We have deployed Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager to securely control and manage connectivity at various distributed sites. SD-WAN’s auto VPN capabilities has saved us significant deployment time and data transport costs for customers. Additionally, the application aware routing capabilities allow our customers to load balance between FirstNet and other cellular networks, ensuring seamless, resilient access.”–  Jeremy Sanders, Director of Emerging Technology and Development, C-Spire

New Catalyst Industrial Ethernet Switching innovations

Space is at a premium in many industrial settings such as roadside cabinets and inside robots. The Cisco Catalyst IE3100 Rugged Series industrial switches are ultra-compact designed to provide fast, secure connectivity in such confined, space-constrained settings. We are happy to announce addition of new switches in the Catalyst IE3100 series that can now supply PoE to connected assets as well. To help maintain uninterrupted operations, innovations in our PoE technology ensures continuous power supply even with low input voltage, and during switch restarts. Another addition to the Catalyst IE3100 features conformal coating to maximize product lifetime, and offer added protection against moisture, dust, and other contaminants.

Further, to enable remote workers manage and troubleshoot industrial assets, Catalyst IE3100 can host Cisco Secure Equipment Access gateway that provides a simple, scalable, and zero-trust secure access solution, avoiding the need for complex VPNs and cellular gateways. With these innovations, our customers can achieve smarter, more reliable, and more secure networks, optimizing their operations.

 “We rely on Cisco industrial solutions to secure our AGVs. As a leading manufacturer of Autonomous Guided Vehicles, as well as robotic and warehouse solutions for factories and distribution centers, it is our responsibility to ensure the safe operation of our products. By leveraging the hosted and built-in defense-in-depth security features of Cisco Industrial Ethernet switches, we gain the visibility, segmentation, and device authentication necessary to detect and contain malware before it can compromise the security and safety of our deployments.”–  Fabio Oleari, Manager of OT Cybersecurity, E80 Group

We have so much valuable content we want to share with you at the event. Attend our Center Stage Talk, Technical Breakouts, Product and Strategy Overviews, Technical Seminars and other sessions that we have lined up for you. If you are at Cisco Live Vegas, come and find the Cisco Industrial IoT Team at the World of Solutions to experience live demos showcasing our latest portfolio. I look forward to seeing you there!

"}]]  Cisco's industrial networking creates a converged architecture for simplicity, security and cost savings. Discover the built-in security for IT and OT with our Catalyst Industrial Routers and Catalyst SD-WAN Manager.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Discover how Cisco XDR redefines security with integrated tools, AI-driven threat detection, and rapid response to solve real-world problems for the SOC

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Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is an emerging security category with a lot of hype, and a lot of differing opinions on what outcomes it will deliver. New market categories emerge when there are inherent, unmet needs, which cannot be achieved with the existing technology or toolsets. At Cisco, we believe XDR must solve real-world problems in the SOC, many of which have plagued teams for decades. It’s a new category and a new acronym because a new approach is needed by our customers.

Some vendors, and even some industry analysts, seem to believe that XDR is a replacement for SIEM, or simply a new set of features built upon an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution. We see it differently…

The True Promise of XDR

XDR solutions need to embrace a customer’s current complex ecosystem of security tools, streamline processes in the SOC, identify the threats that matter most, and provide automation and orchestration capabilities to facilitate a rapid response.

XDR should ingest telemetry and security findings from multiple sources: network, cloud, endpoint, identity, email, and applications.
XDR should treat all of these sources as critical context, analyzing these data sets with ML and AI in order to find threats earlier in the lifecycle with higher confidence.
XDR should correlate and chain these findings together to demonstrate the pattern of the attack as it unfolds, and provide meaningful prioritization based on potential business impact.
XDR should guide a security analyst through the investigation and response using progressive disclosure (show your work – we security pros are skeptics – we need to see what you’ve put together as an incident, and why!).
XDR should provide automation that’s agnostic of the underlying security stack so users can respond quickly and confidently from a single console.

Next-Gen SIEM and EDR++

XDR, SIEM, and EDR are complimentary. First, XDR platforms are not intended to be large data warehouses used for threat hunting, complex queries, observability, long-term storage, or compliance. XDR consumes the precise telemetry it needs to find threat activity as quickly as possible. To be both fast and cost effective, while applying the most advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, you must be selective about the data you ingest, and be restrictive on the additional queries you let the user run. The good news is: SIEM is perfectly poised to allow to robust queries against comprehensive data sets. At Cisco, our SOC of the Future vision marries the market leading capabilities of Splunk’s Enterprise Security SIEM to our innovative XDR solution, providing an end-to-end security operations platform that can meet an organization where they are today, and grow with them to meet their needs in the future.

XDR also isn’t simply an evolution of EDR solutions. Identity, email, network, cloud, and application telemetry are all critical vantage points, especially if you want to detect and respond to an adversary before they’ve compromised a managed endpoint. EDR provides tremendous visibility for managed endpoints and is a critical capability that XDR must leverage, but a great XDR can be agnostic to the endpoint solution, instead of requiring another agent competing on your end user systems.

Market Validation and Shared Viewpoints

In the 10 months since Cisco XDR GA, we’ve acquired more than 450 customers who are excited about our XDR capabilities and vision, and product adoption continues to accelerate! We talk to our customers and prospects every single day, and we incorporate their ideas and new ways to deliver on the outcomes they need.

In the “GigaOm Radar for Extended Detection and Response,”  you’ll find a comprehensive overview of the XDR market and GigaOm’s view on the role of XDR in the security ecosystem. We don’t just agree with GigaOm’s research because we’re a Notable Leader… we simply agree on the most important use cases and opportunities that XDR can and should solve!

XDR as a category is still being defined, but we’re positively optimistic that it changes the game for the Security Operations Center. Advancements in AI and ML allow us to accelerate threat detection and response like never before, and we must, because the adversaries aren’t slowing down either.

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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Join us as we shed some light on the status and processes involved for achieving FedRAMP® Authorization for Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO).

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As an industry leader in security and building trusted systems, Cisco continues to make progress on our commitment to deliver SaaS solutions to the government. Today I’d like to shed some light on the status and processes involved for one of these solutions as it moves forward on achieving FedRAMP® Authorization—Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO).

Cisco Defense Orchestrator is a cloud-based multi-device manager that enables consistent policy implementation across highly distributed environments. CDO’s centralized management allows rapid deployment of policy changes when minutes matter, and reusing policy objects across all firewall form factors reduces both administrative effort and organizational risk. Security teams that adopt CDO spend less time deploying and maintaining their firewalls and more time optimizing policies and managing threats.

Moving forward on FedRAMP

Cisco has made great progress in moving a variety of our solutions through the FedRAMP process. Created to encourage use of cloud computing, FedRAMP serves to streamline the exchange of information and accelerate services within federal agencies, plus improve their interaction with the public. In 2023, the FedRAMP Authorization Act was passed, codifying the FedRAMP program as the authoritative standardized approach to security assessment and authorization for cloud products and offerings.

With FedRAMP, federal agencies are provided a uniform framework for evaluating, approving, and continually overseeing cloud services. This includes procedures for security assessments, authorizations, and ongoing surveillance of cloud services utilized by federal entities. In addition, you should understand the following:

The US General Services Administration (GSA) administers FedRAMP in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DoD).
The compliance parameters set by FedRAMP are in alignment with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-53, which outlines technical standards for cloud computing.
FedRAMP also promotes adherence to the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and the OMB Circular A-130 by federal agencies.

The FedRAMP process and Cisco Defense Orchestrator

FedRAMP Authorization can be pursued with an individual agency sponsor or multi-agency authorization. For CDO, Cisco is working with the United States National Institute of Health (NIH) as the individual agency sponsor.

Preparation Phase

The initial phase with individual agency sponsorship is known as the Preparation Phase. It consists of two key steps if no sponsor agency is available: conducting a Readiness Assessment and engaging in Pre-Authorization activities.

Preparation Step 1: Readiness Assessment

The Readiness Assessment is an optional stage aimed at helping cloud offerings obtain a sponsor. Readiness assessments are performed by certified Third-Party Assessment Organizations (3PAOs), who produce a Readiness Assessment Report (RAR) that shows potential sponsoring agencies that the solution is ready to meet the federal government’s security standards.

Preparation Step 2: Pre-Authorization

If sponsoring agency is available, you can go straight to Pre-Authorization, skipping the Readiness Assessment stage. Cisco has completed Pre-Authorization with NIH. This means the CDO team has implemented the requisite technical and procedural requirements and compiled the security documentation necessary for the authorization process.

During this phase, Cisco accomplished the following tasks:

Demonstrated that the CDO for government solution is fully built and functional.
Completed a CSP Information Form.
Determined the security categorization of the data that will be placed within the system utilizing the FIPS 199 categorization template along with the appropriate guidance of FIPS 199 and NIST Special Publication 800-60 Volume 2 Revision 1 to correctly categorize the CDO system based on the types of information processed, stored, and transmitted.

After the successful completion of a kickoff meeting with NIH on February 22, 2024, CDO achieved the In Process status on the FedRAMP Marketplace.

Authorization Phase

The next step is the Authorization Phase, which has two parts: Full Security Assessment and Agency Authorization Process.

Authorization Step 1: Full Security Assessment

The first authorization step is a full security assessment by a certified 3PAO. Before this assessment, Cisco completed the Site Security Plan (SSP) and reviewed it with NIH. Schellman Compliance, LLC is the 3PAO responsible for the Security Assessment Plan (SAP) for CDO and the Security Assessment Report (SAR) that will document test findings and suggestions relevant to attaining FedRAMP Authorization.

Once the 3PAO assessment is finished, Cisco develops a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) outlining the plan to address the test findings in the SAR.

Authorization Step 2: Agency Authorization Process

The second authorization step is Agency Authorization, in which NIH will review the complete authorization package and may hold a SAR debrief with the FedRAMP Project Management Office. NIH will also implement, test, and document the customer-responsible controls during this phase. Then the NIH will perform a risk analysis and issue an Approval to Operate (ATO) when identified risks are sufficiently addressed.

At this point, CDO will have agency authorization to operate but still require review by the FedRAMP PMO to be included in the FedRAMP Marketplace. When finished, the FedRAMP PMO will update the Marketplace listing to reflect FedRAMP Authorized Status and the date of Authorization. The security package will then be made available to agency information security personnel, who can issue subsequent ATOs, by completing the FedRAMP Package Access Request Form.

Post-Authorization

Once CDO receives Authorization status in the FedRAMP Marketplace, it will enter a continuous monitoring phase to ensure ongoing protection of the system and government data. In this phase, Cisco submits regular security documentation—including vulnerability scans, refreshed Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&M), yearly security evaluations, reports on incidents, and requests for significant changes—to each of their agency clients. Cisco will make use of the FedRAMP secure repository to upload continuous monitoring content for all agencies that deploy CDO to review.

Leveraging the Cisco Federal Ops Stack

Cisco is leveraging the Cisco Federal Operational Security Stack (Fed Ops Stack) as a core component of the CDO FedRAMP process to speed future FedRAMP development and assessments. The Cisco Fed Ops Stack is a centralized set of tools and services that cover approximately 50% of FedRAMP Moderate requirements. Once Fed Ops Stack has received authorization to operate, along with CDO, Cisco can leverage these shared services in future SaaS products to make audits and continuous monitoring simpler for Cisco and federal agencies.

Pushing forward on CDO FedRAMP compliance

Our team at Cisco is fully committed to getting CDO FedRAMP compliant, so federal agencies can simplify their management of distributed security policies. We are pleased to have completed the Agency Review with our agency sponsor NIH and achieved In Process status. Watch for more updates as we get closer to full FedRAMP Authorization for CDO, the Cisco Fed Ops Stack, and additional SaaS offers from Cisco.

For additional details on the FedRAMP process, I encourage you to read Will Ash’s blog on mapping the FedRAMP journey for Cisco Umbrella for Government.

Learn more about Cisco Defense Orchestrator and FedRAMP

Cisco Defense Orchestrator
Explore Cisco Solutions for FedRAMP
Visit FedRAMP online

"}]]  Join us as we shed some light on the status and processes involved for achieving FedRAMP® Authorization for Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO).  Read More Cisco Blogs