The RSA Conference is here again, and I am thrilled about the opportunity to connect with our #CiscoPartners, customers, and colleagues old and new. The theme for RSAC this week is ‘The Art of… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The RSA Conference is here again, and I am thrilled about the opportunity to connect with our #CiscoPartners, customers, and colleagues old and new. The theme for RSAC this week is ‘The Art of Possible’, and it really resonates with me because together with our valued partners—we enable what’s possible for our customers to achieve their business outcomes.

Cisco at RSA Conference 2024

As in past years, Cisco has an extensive presence at #RSAC24. If you are here onsite, we would love to connect with you. Stop by our main Cisco booth in the North Expo Hall at the Moscone Center, Booth #5845 or visit us at Booth #926 in the South Hall. Across both booths, you can chat with security experts, see live demos, and listen to many in-booth theater sessions. Sign up for a tour of the RSA Conference Security Operations Center secured by Cisco.

Across RSA Conference this week, AI is a key topic across many of the sessions, and for good reason. According to our latest Cybersecurity Readiness Index, 90% of organizations say that talent shortage continues to be a key issue. There’s an opportunity for our partners to close these gaps with their security expertise and services, leveraging the capabilities of AI.

Jeetu Patel, Executive Vice President of Security & Collaboration and Tom Gillis, Vice President & General Manager of Cisco Security Business Group will have a keynote session, “The Time is Now: Redefining Security in the Age of AI” today, May 6th at 4:10p.m. PT.

Cisco + Splunk, Better Together

I know Splunk has been a top of mind for our partners since the announcement of the acquisition and even more so since the acquisition closed just a couple of months ago.

As part of our activation this week, we are sharing the benefits of our two organizations coming together. Partners will hear more about how we are helping customers accelerate their journey towards a Security Operations Center (SOC) of the future with the integration of Cisco XDR and Splunk Enterprise Security (ES). This integration will speed investigation and remediation capabilities, improving digital resilience.

We have also announced Cisco AI Assistant for XDR, which helps security analysts make faster, more informed decisions about security threats. These innovations deliver enhanced services capabilities for Cisco Partners and bolster managed services offerings built on Cisco XDR.

Building on our Security Innovation

By now, I hope all Cisco Partners are aware of Cisco Hypershield which we announced on April 18th (if not, please check out our partner blog and review our Partner FAQ). Hypershield is a revolutionary new innovation with AI built in from the beginning to secure data centers and clouds.

This week at RSAC, we are sharing additional capabilities for Hypershield. Many attacks derive from unknown vulnerabilities, with Distributed Exploit Protection, Hypershield will be able to identify and block those attacks within runtime workload environments. Partners who want to learn more and are onsite please stop by our booths in the North and South Hall for a demo of Cisco Hypershield.

The Difference Between “Can” vs. “Should”

In February at Cisco Live EMEA we introduced Cisco Identity Intelligence. Announced at RSAC this week, in limited availability, customers will be able to leverage Cisco Identity Intelligence in Duo to protect against identity-based attacks. Additionally, we are making the user experience more frictionless with Duo Passport. All these capabilities are part of our User Protection Suite.

You can learn more about what these announcements include by reading our press release and access additional resources by visiting the Launches & Announcements partner community page.

Promises Kept, Simplifying Your Experience

Our partners’ profitability and experience is critical to us at Cisco. You can position these innovations along with our compelling profitability programs and offers like Security Deal Registration to maximize your margins. Take advantage of the discounts that can be achieved when selling Cisco’s Security Suites.

We also shared at Partner Summit that we are focused on simplifying the security deal registration process. We now have our Cisco Security Concierge Support in place to make it even easier for you to take advantage of the discount differentials available when registering your security deals.

Partners can leverage the new streamlined Cisco Core Security specialization as an easy way to get trained and enabled on Cisco Security. As we head into Cisco Live US, we will have much more to share in terms of new enablement resources—so stay tuned.

Our hope is that our innovation at #RSAC will enable #CiscoPartners to continue to have outcome-focused conversations leveraging the capabilities that are realized with the Cisco Security Cloud.

Learn more about Cisco at RSA

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

"}]]  Get the download on everything you to know as a #CiscoPartner for #RSAC24. Learn how you can engage with us onsite as well as get the resources you need to learn all about the exciting innovations we will be announcing.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

State, local, and federal governments all play a pivotal role in maintaining critical infrastructures like water supply, electricity, transportation, and public health services. The public sector,… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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State, local, and federal governments all play a pivotal role in maintaining critical infrastructures like water supply, electricity, transportation, and public health services. The public sector, particularly, needs to ensure that their digital systems offer robust security measures to protect this infrastructure, as well as any sensitive information they contain. And as these systems increasingly rely on digital platforms, it becomes vital to implement advanced security measures to protect them from potential cyber threats. This means that cybersecurity is not only essential for guarding data integrity and sensitive information, but also for maintaining the uninterrupted functioning of these vital services.

How StateRAMP meets the urgent need for advanced security

To help governments address this concern and better understand its importance, a new standard has emerged – StateRAMP. And we’re excited that Cisco’s Duo Federal MFA, Duo Federal Access, and Umbrella for Government are now officially listed on the StateRAMP Authorized Product List! These advanced security offerings are crucial for the protection of critical infrastructures, maintaining their smooth operation and safeguarding public safety.

StateRAMP, or the State Risk and Authorization Management Program, is an independent body that represents shared interests of state and local governments, third-party assessment organizations, and service providers offering Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions. It functions with the following mandates:

To ensure that these service providers meet a certain standard of cybersecurity when offering cloud-based services. This gives state and local governments – and specifically their procurement officials – confidence in a service provider’s data security capabilities.
To verify that these service providers adhere to a certain level of cybersecurity when providing cloud-based services. This gives state and local governments and procurement officials ongoing trust in their service provider’s data security abilities.

Cisco’s commitment to secure cloud services

Cisco’s Duo Federal MFA, Duo Federal Access, and Umbrella for Government are now part of a select group of services listed on the StateRAMP Authorized Product List. This means they have undergone a rigorous assessment and have met the stringent data security standards set by StateRAMP.

Duo Federal MFA and Duo Federal Access are designed to provide modern, effective multi-factor authentication and secure access for all users, devices, and applications, thus avoiding security breaches. For example:

Duo Federal MFA protects against unauthorized access by requiring users to provide at least two forms of identification before logging in. This could be something they know (like a password), something they have (like a smartphone), or something they are (like a fingerprint).
Cisco Duo Federal Access ensures that every device used to access state and local systems is secure. It checks the security posture of the device before granting access, ensuring it meets the organization’s security policies. This includes checking for up-to-date operating systems, enabled firewalls, and other security measures. In essence, Duo Federal Access verifies the security status of the device before allowing access, ensuring that the device complies with the organization’s security policies.

Cisco Umbrella for Government is a cloud-based network security solution that combines secure web gateway, firewall, and cloud access security broker (CASB) features in one solution, offering multiple levels of protection. It defends users from internet threats wherever they go by preventing them from accessing malware, phishing, and command and control callbacks before a connection is even made.

Cisco Umbrella for Government also provides information about domains and IPs across the Internet, giving state and local governments visibility into emerging threats and helping to detect attacks before they start. It enforces acceptable use policies and blocks inappropriate or malicious web content for data loss prevention. Plus, our advanced threat intelligence and world-class security research teams continually work to stay ahead of cybercriminals.

It’s clear – StateRAMP adds value for government

Cisco’s commitment to offering safe and reliable cloud services for government organizations is reflected in our focus on StateRAMP Authorization. By obtaining these authorizations, we continue to strengthen our reputation as a reliable provider of secure cloud services and help government protect our critical infrastructures. Please reach out to me if you have any questions about StateRAMP. I’ll be glad to answer them. Until then, I encourage you to take a deeper dive into our cybersecurity solutions for government:

Introducing Duo’s Two Federal Additions
Umbrella for Government:  Enabling Advanced Public Sector Cybersecurity
Enhanced Cybersecurity for Government and Public Sector

"}]]  To help governments address growing cybersecurity threats, a new standard has emerged - StateRAMP. And we're excited that Cisco's Duo Federal MFA, Duo Federal Access, and Umbrella for Government are now officially listed on the StateRAMP Authorized Product List!  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The wait is over! The Cisco IOS XE Model Driven Telemetry White Paper has arrived!

What are the benefits of understanding this white paper?

The industry is shifting from using SNMP to using YANG… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The wait is over! The Cisco IOS XE Model Driven Telemetry White Paper has arrived!

What are the benefits of understanding this white paper?

The industry is shifting from using SNMP to using YANG Xpaths because the YANG approach provides more telemetry data at a faster rate than SNMP. Using YANG saves customers both time and resources.

The purpose of the Cisco IOS XE Model Driven Telemetry White Paper is to deep dive into how to configure telemetry subscriptions and visualize that telemetry data using tangible use cases and examples. The paper includes topics from Day 2 of the programmability and automation lifecycle pictured below. This white paper is designed to be read either as a whole or in individual topic areas of interest. This empowers you as the reader to select the highest priority areas for your network automation needs. The paper shares additional resources such as learning labs, sandboxes, documentation and blogs about these cutting-edge programmability and automation concepts, protocols, tools and technologies.

What’s included in the paper?

Learn about the various approaches to model driven telemetry from NETCONF and gNMI dial-in, gNMI over gRPC Tunnel and gRPC dial-out. Use tools such as YANG Suite, the Cisco Telemetry Broker or the Telegraf, Influx, and Grafana stack.

If you are curious to learn more about the topics mentioned above or within the programmability and automation lifecycle now is your chance to take the next step in your journey by reading and understanding the content within this new white paper!

Why should I read the white paper?

After reading this white paper you will be able to hit the ground running in your journey to becoming an IOS XE programmability and automation model driven telemetry power user. Whether you use telemetry every day or are interested in taking your first steps with telemetry, this white paper is for you! Cisco experts provide detailed explanations of programmability and automation topics throughout the white paper to help as you explore telemetry with Cisco IOS XE. For example, this white paper will explore how to build dashboards to collect sustainability data like Power over Ethernet (PoE) and where to find the YANG models used to create the telemetry subscriptions for those models.

Whatever your telemetry use case may be, this white paper will help you understand YANG Xpaths and creating telemetry subscriptions.

Why are you still reading this blog…? Head to the white paper–your telemetry adventure awaits!

Keep Learning with these resources

Model Driven Telemetry White Paper
Catalyst Programmability and Automation White Paper
Which YANG model to Use
IOS XE Automation
Model Driven Telemetry
SNMP to MDT

"}]]  Whatever your telemetry use case may be, the new Cisco IOS XE Model-Driven Telemetry White Paper will help you understand YANG Xpaths and creating telemetry subscriptions.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Today, Cisco’s Catalyst family includes switches that are officially ENERGY STAR® certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We are among the first to achieve this in the Large Network Eq… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Today, Cisco’s Catalyst family includes switches that are officially ENERGY STAR® certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We are among the first to achieve this in the Large Network Equipment category.

This certification is yet another step in our sustainability journey, which we’ve been making progress on for over two decades. These commitments are essential because sustainability is top of mind for everyone I speak to, from investors to colleagues to customers and even my children.

Our modern society relies on digital experiences and technology to function. This dependency directly correlates to the surging energy consumption across all aspects of business infrastructure. Studies show that IT accounts for 2 to 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. Even more, according to the Electricity 2024 report from the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption from data centers, AI and the cryptocurrency sector could double by 2026.

Switching to Sustainability

We must innovate to reduce the IT footprint. That’s why Cisco Networking has a dedicated engineering sustainability office under Denise Lee. The work this team manages helps customers tackle long-term sustainability challenges while achieving quick wins for energy efficiency today—like earning the ENERGY STAR ecolabel for Cisco products.

The Cisco Catalyst Switches with ENERGY STAR certification offer customers:

Energy-efficient features
Active power management and monitoring capabilities
Power supply efficiency
Products that embody circular design principles

ENERGY STAR certification can prove to be a huge benefit, especially for smaller organizations where cost savings from energy can go a long way.

For example, Wrexham County Borough Council (WCBC) in North Wales has pledged to be carbon-net zero by 2050—quite an audacious task. They have already made inroads using Meraki devices and a custom-built application through APIs. They’ve cut energy usage by 52%, amounting to a potential savings of more than 23,000 dollars in fiscal year 2024 alone.

Now with ecolabel certifications like ENERGY STAR, organizations like WCBC can confidentially identify “environmentally preferable” products to help maximize energy efficiency, reduce GHG emissions, and lower energy costs. WCBC is just one small example…imagine this progress in every community around the world. Ecolabels simplify what could otherwise be a difficult task of measuring and evaluating the energy consumption of potential choices.

While Cisco is one of the first to achieve ENERGY STAR certification, we hope this will soon be the norm rather than the exception. Cisco strongly supports the work of the ENERGY STAR program and other industry ecolabels and standards. Using standardized methodologies and metrics helps to ensure generational improvements in all aspects of energy use, including the foundational data network.

"}]]  Three Cisco Catalyst switches — C9200-L, C9300-48P, and C9300-48UXM — are now officially ENERGY STAR® certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This certification is yet another step in Cisco's sustainability journey, which we've been making progress on for over two decades.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Get AI-ready with sessions on the latest solution advancements
 Visit the DevNet Zone at Cisco Live
Register for sessions

With the advent of multi-cloud architectures, microservices, and AI supported … Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Get AI-ready with sessions on the latest solution advancements Visit the DevNet Zone at Cisco LiveRegister for sessions

With the advent of multi-cloud architectures, microservices, and AI supported programming, the modern technology landscape requires engineers to iterate and curate skills more quickly than ever before. This challenge is exactly why we have expanded our offerings at this year’s Cisco Live AMER 2024 DevNet Zone, now located in the Up-Skill Hub with Cisco U.

Exclusively at Cisco Live this year, Cisco U and DevNet are joining forces to introduce a new end-to-end experience, located in the Skills Stage. From ClickOps to Automation, step into a guided technical journey that will transform your workflows from command line, GUI, and dashboards into the world of IDE, APIs and automation, helping you optimize and scale your deployments.

Sessions on the Skills Stage will be paired and each are scheduled one after the other. The first session will cover a specific Cisco platform with specific focus on technical feature and function usage as it pertains to configuration, provisioning, and observability. The second session will then follow on with an automation or programmability focus that directly correlates to the features and functions covered in the previous session.

Each individual presentation will be 45-minutes with tons of demos and built in time for Q&A with the experts leading both sessions. The sessions will cover a number of popular Cisco platforms, including Catalyst Center, Thousand Eyes, Meraki, and IOS XE. Limited seating is available, so register today!

Enrich your developer skills with DevNet at Cisco Live in Las Vegas

Whether you’re looking to adopt AI to help optimize your existing systems, curious about sustainable coding best-practices, tightening your security processes, or simply getting started with automation, the DevNet Zone gives you direct hands-on access to the tools and resources to improve your entire tech stack.

The DevNet Zone will feature how-to sessions, hands-on workshops, a DevNet Sandbox arcade, and the space to share your feedback in real-time on Cisco’s products and solutions. Collaborate with technical experts through design thinking exercises and live Q&A.

We encourage you to dive right into automation and programmability and work out how to design and build solutions for your organization. But should you need help working out an idea, our Developer Advocates are readily available to assist you. Our aim is for you to depart the DevNet Zone by week’s end filled with enthusiasm for automation and programmability using the tools, knowledge, and resources necessary to build a solution tailored to your organization.

We invite you to join us in the following session formats:

Classroom Learning: Att end classroom sessions to skill up on technically rich best practices, process, and key resources to help build solutions with Cisco products. Check out our learning maps to help provide guidance in specific areas: Sustainability and AI, Security, Infrastructure Automation and Programmability, Layer 1 to Layer 7, and From Manual to Automated.
Hands-on skills practice: As you learn about best-practices on APIs, automation, and programmability, you can practically hone these skills within our DevNet and Red Hat workshops. In these sessions, you’ll implement solutions to real-world challenges before you bring them to your production environment.
Continued education post-event: This year, we invite you to build with us beyond the event by sharing your product and solution feedback with our Share Your Experience activation. With this activation, you can share real-time feedback about DevNet, Cisco products, and future plans to help us evolve our content stack to best suit your needs.

Most importantly, DevNet is here to support your growth as an engineer. We’ve handcrafted sessions that align to the care-abouts of our community. As a further thank-you, we’ve integrated opportunities to earn rewards such as a pair of Sony Headphones, Waterproof Blue Tooth Speakers, a Pickleball Set and so much more!

Here’s how to prepare for the DevNet Zone at Cisco Live

You can find the Cisco DevNet Zone in the Hub from June 3-6, 2024. Start preparing now by taking the following actions:

Register for the event. If you’re not sure you can attend, we’ve crafted a budget request for your manager.
Browse the DevNet “Learning Maps” to view recommended sessions based on this year’s themes, then build your journey by signing up for sessions online (don’t hesitate — sessions sell out fast!).
Connect with other developers heading to Cisco Live by joining our DevNet Community Lounge Webex Space.

In the meantime, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, X  Facebook, YouTube, and GitHub  for the latest information! We look forward to seeing you at the event!

"}]]  The DevNet Zone at Cisco Live is a great place to cultivate the skills you need to take on today's opportunities with multi-cloud architectures, microservices, and AI supported programming.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

On behalf of Cisco, I am proud to announce the promotions of Gary DePreta to the role of Senior Vice President of U.S. Public Sector Sales and Mike Witzman to Senior Director of U.S. Public Sector… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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On behalf of Cisco, I am proud to announce the promotions of Gary DePreta to the role of Senior Vice President of U.S. Public Sector Sales and Mike Witzman to Senior Director of U.S. Public Sector Solutions Engineering. These strategic promotions come at a transformative time for Cisco as we reinforce our commitment to our Public Sector customers. Gary and Mike will head a team of over 900 leaders, sales people, and solutions engineers focused on the discovery of business and mission requirements, and the design of secure, intelligent platforms. Congratulations, Gary and Mike. I am confident in the great work you’ll continue to deliver for our Public Sector customers.

As an 18-year veteran of Cisco, Gary DePreta brings an extensive background in the Public Sector with a deep understanding of customers’ mission-critical objectives. Leveraging his expertise in government, technology, and innovation, he is well-positioned to facilitate the development and deployment of cutting-edge technology platforms that support the Public Sector’s digital transformation.

Additionally, Gary brings a remarkable 30-year tenure in the IT industry and has led virtually all Public Sector verticals throughout his career, including State & Local Government, Education, Healthcare, National Security, Department of Defense, Federal Civilian Agencies, and the Defense Industrial Base. His extensive leadership experience, coupled with prior roles at Splunk, International Network Services, and IBM, make him an ideal candidate. Gary is also a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy, having honorably served from 1983 to 1987.

Mike Witzman is also a Cisco veteran of 23 years, known for his genuine love for technology and innovation. His active engagement with customer and partner executives and passion for the solutions engineering organization sets a dynamic example for his team. As a respected mentor and coach, Mike is a steadfast advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion within the company.

His journey at Cisco has spanned multiple theaters, including Global Enterprise, US Commercial, and most recently, the State, Local, and Education (SLED) verticals, in solutions engineering. As an Enterprise Systems Engineer, he earned the prestigious CCIE #6907 certification in Routing and Switching (Emeritus). His deep involvement with the SLED customer communities over the past six years has been instrumental in the Public Sector engineering team’s evolution.

Previously, Mike served as a Communications Officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1994 to 1998, where he worked with the Air Force Communications Agency (AFCA) and interfaced with DISA, adds to his incredible experience and understanding of the Public Sector’s unique needs.

"}]]  We're pleased to announce the promotions of Gary DePreta and Mike Witzman to key senior leadership positions. Their new roles come at a transformative time for Cisco as we reinforce our commitment to our Public Sector customers across government and education.  Read More Cisco Blogs