Melbourne’s weather in December makes it an especially lovely time to visit. The festive period arrives in Melbourne in December and the city is bedecked in lights and alive with celebrations all o… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Melbourne’s weather in December makes it an especially lovely time to visit. The festive period arrives in Melbourne in December and the city is bedecked in lights and alive with celebrations all over. For me, the special draw is Cisco Live Melbourne, 2023 and the opportunity to meet, learn and collaborate with industry experts across Data Center and Cloud Networking.

In just less than a week, Cisco Live Melbourne 2023 will be ready to sizzle at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center. From a Cisco Data Center Networking standpoint, Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco ACI, and latest Nexus 9000 Series switches and many more related Data center technologies will be featured in a big way.

Read on to learn what you can expect and experience at this buzzing event, and a tour of how Cisco Data Center Networking and DevNet Zone is ready to engage and enrich you.

1. Can’t miss keynotes and innovation sessions

At the outset, I would recommend that you attend all keynotes to gather insights and strategies from Cisco Executives. Keynotes and Innovation showcase provide insight into our latest innovations and strategic direction. With compelling innovation, the power of IT, and a focus on meaningful impact for our communities, businesses can drive change and leave a lasting impact for generations to come.

Innovation Talks highlight new innovations and best practices on solutions and services. I strongly recommend innovation session INTGRN-1008, featuring Cisco executive leaders Yousuf Khan, Denise Lee, Jeremy Foster, on topic “Accelerating your journey to Net Zero with Sustainable Solutions” to learn how Cisco’s portfolio integrates with a comprehensive ecosystem to deliver innovative solutions to support a reduction in energy consumption while meeting regulatory standards. Do not miss Innovation session INTCLD-1100 by Rebecca Stone, SVP, Cisco Customer Solutions Marketing (CSM) on Dec 6, 2.45 PM AEDT, to learn how Cisco platforms deliver simple, unified experiences that can accelerate your journey to a cloud operating model.

We also have innovation sessions featuring Security, IoT, Enterprise Networking and many other hot topics. Make sure to check them out.

2. Take a DevNet deep dive

Get hands on with Cisco Data Center and Cloud Networking at this year’s Cisco DevNet Zone. We’re hosting multiple sessions, workshops, demos and learning labs featuring Data Center Networking (DCN) platform Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco ACI, NX-OS, Cisco Nexus, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Cisco DevNet Zone is a beehive of excitement at all Cisco Live events and many attendees find it very compelling given its appeal to everyone from beginners to API experts. Over the years, our DevNet community has grown to 500,000+ members and offers software certifications starting with this edition of Cisco Live. DevNet certifications are designed for both network engineers and software developers and provides Associate, Specialist, Professional and Expert level paths to specialize.

The top draw in the DevNet Zone is the special DevNet Spotlight Session (DEVNET-1687) on Tuesday, Dec 5, 2.30 PM AEDT. Cisco Exec Camillo Rossi will introduce an open API approach with Data Center Networking.

In this session you will learn how Cisco is tackling the IT challenge of managing hyper-distributed workloads with illustrations on the new capabilities designed to bring operational simplicity to network operations, changing the way customers configure, operate, and analyze cloud networking. Themes covered include cisco’s infrastructure automation strategy, sustainable energy networking etc., and interspersed with demo-based illustrations. We also have a Demo Pod in DevNet Zone where Cisco’s latest Cloud Networking innovations will be featured during the entire course of the Cisco Live event. A full hour of giveaways, happy hour and fun awaits you. Be sure to reserve this session slot in your calendar.

Additionally, we have insightful DevNet zone sessions featuring Cisco ACI, HashiCorp Terraform and RedHat Ansible, and do not miss Shreyas Srish’s DEVWKS-2302 to learn how to easily manage and translate a large Ansible based ACI infrastructure configuration to a Terraform configuration with associated state.

Cisco Live distinguished champion Quinn Snyder is a prominent feature in the DevNet zone and his session DEVNET-1174 adds more excitement to Terraform enthusiasts. Quinn is ready to enlighten attendees about how Cisco Modeling Labs (CML), Terraform, and some open tooling can help you build a continuous-delivery (CI/CD) pipeline right from your source code manager of choice, with full change records as part of our pull-request (PR) workflows. And there are many more on the menu around programmability and automation in DevNet zone this year. Check the session catalog for your specific interests.

3. Get hands on at the World of Solutions (WOS)

The World of Solutions (WOS) is your opportunity to explore the broader Cisco Partner Ecosystem, find answers to your specific networking challenges, and hear the unique perspective of Cisco engineers and partners. Get into the center of the Cisco Live action! Here’s what you’ll find in the World of Solutions: Join us for our welcome reception on Tuesday, Dec 5, at 5.30 PM, and connect with fellow attendees and Cisco partners to help us celebrate the opening day of the World of Solutions with music, food, and drinks. We hope to see you there!

The WOS enables you to immerse yourself in the Cisco Showcase  where you can embark on a journey to discover Cisco’s cutting-edge innovations across various domains, with more than 100+ demos. Our goal is to let you discover the latest Cisco software solutions that provide the visibility and management that IT managers need to transform business. Dive deeper and learn even more about specific products, industry solutions, services, and hardware. Explore the Cisco Show Case for demo specifics.

We have stacked a rich technology demo solutions menu featuring Full-Stack Observability, Hybrid Cloud, IoT, Data Center Networking, Software Services, Security, among major ones. Specifically, on the Data Center Networking front, we have demos featuring Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights, Cisco ACI among major ones to showcase how we can solve customer challenges around operational simplicity, AI/ML networking and greater data center sustainability.

We also are showcasing a special Cisco Networking stand in the WoS this year, with Cisco Partner Ecosystem demos (Data Center Networking and Cisco Meraki), Cisco Networking Cloud, Cloud Managed Catalyst, among highlights. The list of WoS demos is vast and the best way for you to experience them all is to stop by at our demo booths.

4. Choose your own adventure with breakout sessions

To your heart’s delight is how I will describe Cisco technical breakout sessions. Yes, we have hundreds of breakout sessions from industry recognized experts at the show. Cisco ACI, Nexus Dashboard, infrastructure-as-code and other Data center Networking breakouts feature prominently.

With the growing emphasis on DevOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automation toolchains like Terraform and Ansible, we offer more sessions this year, and mark IaC expert Shreyas Srish’s session DEVWKS-2302 on your calendar. Another technical advocate and IaC expert Quinn Snyder, is hosting DEVNET-1174 and a few others featuring Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes technologies.

5. Connect with your peers

As a Cisco Live attendee, you benefit from the opportunity to interact with your peers, Cisco staff and partner technical experts in both structured and informal settings. Our Welcome Reception and Customer Appreciation Event are the highlights of the week’s social calendar. Get ready to be entertained at the Melbourne Convention Center on Dec 7, 7 PM at our annual celebration event! Step right up and let’s go into an extraordinary experience like no other at the Carnival Extravaganza!

I can go on and on, but I would never be able to cover all the excitement in store. There is so much more you can explore on your own, and our Meet and Greet ambassadors will be happy to assist you at the show. Safe travels and a happy Cisco Live.

Related Links

Cisco Live Melbourne 2023
DevNet Zone technology track

  See what Cisco data center network automation technologies will be featured in the DevNet Zone including Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco ACI, and the latest Nexus 9000 Series switches.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

In my previous blog, The Rise and Rise of DevOps Adoption, I explored the remarkable rise in popularity of DevOps and the rapid adoption of DevOps practices across the tech industry. DevOps consists… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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In my previous blog, The Rise and Rise of DevOps Adoption, I explored the remarkable rise in popularity of DevOps and the rapid adoption of DevOps practices across the tech industry. DevOps consists of diverse tools and technologies, each vital in bringing a software product to life. However, this abundance of choices can be overwhelming for aspiring DevOps engineers.

In this blog, I will outline a comprehensive DevOps roadmap and delve into the roles of popular DevOps tools at each stage of the development and operational processes. 

Plan

The planning stage lays the foundation for any software product, defining the scope, objectives, requirements, and strategies.

Planning and Jira go hand in hand. Jira is a popular project management tool developed by Atlassian, and it is widely used in software development to plan, track, and manage projects. It supports various project management methodologies, including Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and more. 

Code

The coding phase involves writing and managing the source code.

As several developers collaborate on bringing software to life, we use a Version Control System (VCS) that helps track and manage changes to source code over time. Git is arguably the most widely used VCS that maintains a source code repository and offers branching and merging capabilities. 

Developers follow design patterns to translate requirements into programming code. This code can be written in various programming languages depending on the project’s requirements. Some popular programming languages across the industry are Java, JavaScript, C++, Python, and Go. 

Build 

Next, we need to convert our high-level code to binary, since computers only understand the language of ones and zeros. The build phase automates compiling source code, linking libraries, and creating executables from the source code.

Maven, Bazel, Ant, and Gradle are popular build tools. 

Test

Testing is a critical phase to meet quality and reliability standards. There are several testing strategies to ensure the product meets user expectations and performs as intended. A few popular strategies are unit testing, integration testing, white box testing, and regression testing.

Testers use tools that automate testing, including popular ones such as Selenium, SonarQube, PyTest, and Cucumber. 

Release

At this stage, software is prepared for deployment and released to customers. The integration and deployment process is automated and pipelined into a continuous integration and continuous delivery/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. CI/CD pipelines automate the build, test, and deployment processes, allowing seamless transitions between development and releases.

GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, and Travis CI are popular tools for automating software releases. 

Watch a hands-on CI/CD tutorial in Snack Minute Ep. 114, available on the Cisco U. by Learning and Certifications YouTube Channel.

Deploy

In this phase, the software goes live in a production environment. Container technology has taken the software industry by storm. It is a lightweight form of virtualization that offers a way to package an application and its dependencies into a single unit. From there, it can be easily distributed and executed consistently across different computing environments. Docker is one of the most popular containerization platforms. 

Modern deployments are also carried out through cloud providers using IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS offerings. Cloud deployments help organizations access a large volume of storage and disc space while reducing operational costs. AWS is a popular choice for hosting applications, services, and resources.  

Discover Cisco Multicloud Specialist certifications

Read “Up, Up, and Away to the Clouds” by Hank Preston. Read now

Operate

This phase involves the administration of the infrastructure hosting the deployed application. The popular choice for managing containers is Kubernetes (K8). It helps automate containerized applications’ deployment, scaling, management, and operation. 

Several infrastructure automation tools, such as Terraform and Ansible, also come into action at this stage. Terraform provides and manages infrastructure resources, while Ansible focuses on configuration management, application deployment, and task automation. 

New to Terraform? Read “Making your first Terraform doesn’t have to be scary” by Quinn Snyder. Read now

Watch Ansible for Network Automation | Snack Minute Ep 97 to learn how Ansible streamlines automation and drives efficiency across various network devices and operating systems, such as IOS/IOS-XE, NX-OS, and IOS-XR.

Monitor

This phase involves continuous monitoring and analysis of various applications, services, and infrastructure aspects. Monitoring includes tracking application-specific metrics, resource utilization, and errors.

ELK Stack and Prometheus are popular tools to monitor deployed applications.  

Start your DevOps journey 

Cisco offers a Cisco Certified Specialist – DevOps certification. You earn the DevOps Specialist certification by passing one exam, designed to assess your DevOps skills; 300-910 DEVOPS: Implementing DevOps Solutions and Practices using Cisco Platforms. Earning this Professional-level Cisco certification can be a valuable asset in showcasing your expertise in DevOps and enhancing your career opportunities in tech.

Get started by visiting the Cisco Learning Network to download the 300-910 DEVOPS exam topics join the DevNet Certifications Community. Then, head to Cisco U., to explore 240+ DEVOPS learning resources, including Learning Paths, individual courses, free tutorials, and more.

Read next: Exploring Default Docker Networking Part 1 by Hank Preston

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  The world of DevOps is abundant with tools and technologies, which can create confusion for novices. This blog charts out a DevOps roadmap, discussing the various phases of DevOps and popular tools that come in handy at each stage.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

I’m thrilled to announce that Cisco has been recognized as the AWS Global ISV Partner of the Year for 2023, a testament to our outstanding ability to collaborate and innovate. Let’s delve into the… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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I’m thrilled to announce that Cisco has been recognized as the AWS Global ISV Partner of the Year for 2023, a testament to our outstanding ability to collaborate and innovate. Let’s delve into the three key attributes that have set Cisco apart from others and enabled us to earn this prestigious award.

Our software portfolio available through AWS marketplace

Cisco’s selection as the winner of the AWS Global ISV Partner of the Year award is attributed to significant progress in making our software available on the AWS Marketplace. In the last fiscal year alone, we experienced robust double-digit sales growth in the marketplace for Cisco software. This achievement aligns with Cisco’s strategy of offering our customers a choice of where they purchase Cisco software.

In fact, the full range of Cisco software—security, observability, networking, and collaboration—is globally available through the AWS Marketplace. This includes Cisco Enterprise Agreements (EAs), enabling consumption across our comprehensive portfolio of software.

Purchasing through the AWS Marketplace offers numerous advantages to our customers. These benefits include increased speed and agility, enabling customers to quickly and easily procure the software they need to run their businesses. The marketplace also simplifies the procurement process by serving as a centralized platform for managing software purchases and consolidated billing on AWS. Strategically, it makes possible the decrement of Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) commitments, because customers can apply their purchases of Cisco software, dollar for dollar, toward these commitments.

Better together: Cisco, its partners, and AWS

In addition to offering our software on AWS Marketplace, Cisco is deeply engaged in collaborative co-selling initiatives with our partners and AWS. This collaboration is dedicated to optimally and securely deploying and operating our customers’ hybrid cloud environments. Functioning as “one team,” we leverage our extensive range of technologies and services to help ensure that our mutual customers enjoy outstanding experiences that not only meet but also surpass their desired outcomes.

By focusing on our partner-led approach, we’ve seen a greater than 300 percent increase in the number of our channel partners selling Cisco software on AWS marketplace during the past year. This surge exemplifies our dedication to accelerating the growth of our Tier 1 and 2 partner community and our distributors. This commitment has helped foster triple-digit co-sell growth with our partners and AWS.

Increasing agility and innovating faster for our customers

Finally, our strategy of making all Cisco software available through AWS Marketplace; our commitment to our partner community; and co-selling as “one team,” which brings our impressive array of capabilities together, ultimately leads to faster value realization and improved customer outcomes. At the end of the day, it’s these tangible improvements in customer experience and success that truly capture the essence of why we do what we do.

In summary, Cisco is dedicated to being where our customers are—today and in the future. I’ve had the privilege of leading the Cisco and AWS partnership since it began five years ago this month. Happy Fifth Anniversary! Being named the AWS Global ISV Partner of the Year is a fantastic way to celebrate this milestone. The journey, partnership, and transformation have been remarkable so far, and we’re just getting started. Here’s to continuing onward and upward!

Learn more:

Build your foundation with AWS and Cisco

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  I'm thrilled to announce that Cisco has been recognized as the AWS Global ISV Partner of the Year for 2023, a testament to our outstanding ability to collaborate and innovate. Let's delve into the three key attributes that have set Cisco apart from others and enabled us to earn this prestigious award.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Today at AWS re:Invent, we’re excited to announce new innovations from the Cisco Network Assurance and Cisco Full-Stack Observability teams that empower our customers with end-to-end visibility into d… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Today at AWS re:Invent, we’re excited to announce new innovations from the Cisco Network Assurance and Cisco Full-Stack Observability teams that empower our customers with end-to-end visibility into digital experience delivery and business outcomes for applications leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS). The announcements include:

A new integration between ThousandEyes and Amazon CloudWatch Internet Monitor (CWIM)
By leveraging insights from CWIM within the ThousandEyes platform, customers will gain custom recommendations on optimal placement of AWS instances and monitoring coverage based on user traffic profiles. ThousandEyes’ end-to-end cloud and Internet visibility combined with AWS’s Internet health and performance insights will allow a complete view of an application’s entire service delivery path, across private environments, the public Internet and into AWS’s network.
AWS service expansion and new business metrics with APM correlation in Cisco Cloud ObservabilityThis provides enhanced business context for AWS-hosted applications. New business metrics for a business transaction enrich and expand the business transaction monitoring capabilities of Cisco Cloud Observability to enable our customers to connect digital experiences to business outcomes and make faster decisions and prioritizations for applications running on AWS. We are also expanding the number of AWS services supported in Cisco Cloud Observability for deeper infrastructure monitoring.

Applications are the front door to every modern organization, and when application experience suffers, so does brand reputation and, ultimately, revenue. The first step for businesses to ensure flawless digital experiences is simplifying their complex cloud native environments and applications. Then, the challenge becomes the ability to tie performance to business objectives.

Delivering flawless digital experiences

With today’s news, we are further delivering on our promise to provide comprehensive visibility and enhanced business context into every domain that impacts digital experience. Whether it’s deep within the application itself or anywhere along the digital supply chain that delivers that application experience to users across home, enterprise, Internet, or cloud environments. Cisco customers are now equipped with the visibility, insights, and actionability they need to deliver exceptional digital experiences, keeping their customers happy and employees productive.

Our customers leverage the power of AWS in different ways. Many host an application they own or elements of it on AWS or use third-party applications that sit beyond their ownership but have AWS services built in. With the advancements we’re making with AWS and within our product portfolios, we’re able to bolster visibility and business-metric insights in each of these use cases. With modern application monitoring (delivered via Cisco Cloud Observability) and end-to-end network assurance (delivered via Cisco ThousandEyes), Cisco offers comprehensive visibility and insights into all aspects of digital experience.

Modern Application Monitoring (Cisco Cloud Observability) delivers deep visibility of cloud native architectures with business context to help technology teams align application performance with end-user expectations and deliver business outcomes.
End-to-End Network Assurance (Cisco ThousandEyes) is grounded in understanding and assuring the delivery of any application (whether you own it or not) over any network (whether you own it or not), ensuring customers have a true end-to-end view of the entire service delivery chain of every single application their business relies on.

We know that many of our customers rely on both AWS services and hybrid architectures to securely deliver business-critical services and optimal application experiences to their employees and end-users. From users, the expectation is that these experiences can be consumed flawlessly. Business owners expect these services to be exceptionally competitive and deliver Business KPI results.

Cisco’s combined approach provides a powerful way for customers to correlate business issues from end-user experience to application transactions and their dependencies, including the complete network path and Internet routing.

For more information and live demos visit us at

AWS re:Invent

Cisco ThousandEyes @ Booth #1621  |  Cisco Full-Stack Observability @ Booth #680

  New innovations from the Cisco Network Assurance and Cisco Full-Stack Observability empower customers with end-to-end visibility into digital experience delivery and business outcomes for applications leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS).  Read More Cisco Blogs 

When it comes to cables, less is more. With power over ethernet (PoE), ethernet cables do double duty, carrying DC power as well as data. PoE saves the costs of power supplies, cables, and outlets… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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When it comes to cables, less is more. With power over ethernet (PoE), ethernet cables do double duty, carrying DC power as well as data. PoE saves the costs of power supplies, cables, and outlets for devices like access points, cameras, desk phones, digital signage, lighting systems, and now, increasingly desktops and laptops. PoE reduces OpEx by simplifying and centralizing low voltage management as well as reducing the effort needed for installation and powering of powered devices. It also helps conserve energy—for example, by automatically turning off lights when not needed. Evidence of its appeal: the global PoE market is projected to grow 13% annually from 2024-2032.

PoE brings even more benefits in industrial environments like factories, distribution centers, parking structures, roadways and intersections, and smart cities. Fewer high-voltage wires increase workplace safety. Reducing copper and steel usage is more sustainable. Supplying PoE through industrial switches reduces cooling costs. And PoE helps conserve energy for DC devices by avoiding AC-DC conversion losses that could be as high as 20%.

Selecting the right PoE switch for your environment

Cisco offers a variety of industrial networking equipment to suit use case requirements. All of them are built to withstand harsh conditions like extreme temperatures, moisture, dust, vibration, and even in extreme hazardous locations. Cisco Industrial Ethernet switches offer PoE designed to deliver power reliably in these conditions. But there are significant differences in the maximum power budget, number of PoE ports, port bandwidths, and other features, that each switch offers, and hence it is important that you carefully consider your options before selecting the right switch for you.

To select the best PoE switch for your needs, ask yourself these questions.

What are my power requirements? Industrial cameras and access points typically require more power than similar devices designed for enterprise environments. Devices that consume up to 15.4W can connect to PoE (IEEE 802.3af) ports. For up to 30W you’ll want PoE+ (802.3at). And for 60W or 90W—for LiDAR equipment, digital displays, smart lighting, or even computing devices on factory floors, for instance—look for a switch that supports PoE++, also called 4PPoE (802.3bt). Be aware that higher temperatures can reduce power delivery capacity, so factor that into your power budget. For a large PoE power budget consider the Cisco Catalyst IE9300 Rugged Series. Models in this series can deliver up to 720 watts of PoE from a single rack unit switch and can power up to 24 devices at the same time.

Figure 1: Examples of PoE powered devices at various power levels

Am I connecting devices that need both high power and high bandwidth? Examples are Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e access points. If you are, we’ve got you covered. Ports on certain models of the Catalyst IE9300 can deliver up to 90 watts and multigigabit ethernet bandwidth (2.5Gbps)—an industry first.

Figure 2: Catalyst IE9320-16P8U4X offers mGig ports, 90W 4PPoE, and up to 720W power budget in 1RU form factor

In case of partial power loss, do I want some devices to remain powered on? All our industrial switches can be equipped with dual power supplies. If one fails, the switch can continue to power devices you’ve prioritized. For example, lights placed on the tip of wind turbine blades for air traffic guidance need to be on all the time, or video cameras used for manufacturing quality monitoring are usually more critical than signs displaying the week’s schedule.
Do I have critical devices that need power while the switch reboots? All switches need to be rebooted occasionally for firmware or software updates. If it’s important for connected devices to remain on during the reboot—as it might be for lights that need to be powered all the time but don’t need data connectivity or for compute systems that could corrupt data if power is suddenly interrupted—select a switch that supports Perpetual PoE or Fast PoE. When you turn on Fast PoE, power to devices is restored as soon as the switch itself receives power, without waiting for the operating system to load. With Perpetual PoE, power continues without interruption while the switch reboots.
How will I manage a large scale PoE deployment? A detailed view of PoE usage in your environment helps you spot emerging equipment problems, conserve energy, and plan for growth. We show you all relevant data and charts in one place—the PoE Analytics dashboard in Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly Cisco DNA Center). Put it to work to identify and troubleshoot power delivery issues, monitor power allocation and usage, view available PoE ports to add new devices, detect gaps in Wi-Fi coverage because of power delivery issues to access points, and more.

Cisco Catalyst Industrial Ethernet switches check all the boxes

Comprehensive support for PoE makes a very compelling reason to select Cisco Industrial Ethernet switches. But it is their ability to help minimize downtime of industrial operations with features that ensure supply of power to critical devices in harsh conditions that sets them apart. Cisco Catalyst Center, the intelligent network management application, can help not only design and deploy large-scale industrial networks but also serves to monitor, troubleshoot, and remediate potential PoE issues.

Learn more

For more details on PoE, including IEEE standards, its benefits in sustainability and safety, how industrial PoE differs from enterprise PoE, and to select the best Cisco industrial switch for your PoE needs, please consult PoE for Industrial Automation solution brief. To calculate power supply requirements for your PoE deployment, please use the Cisco Power Calculator. For more information and to have your questions answered, please schedule a free no-obligation consultation with one our industrial switching experts.

  All PoE switches are not created equal. Carefully evaluate your options before you commit. Here are five considerations.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Helping our customers protect their brand and reputation with new business metrics insights and visibility for Cisco Cloud Observability, tied to the KPIs that matter the most.

Our customers are… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Helping our customers protect their brand and reputation with new business metrics insights and visibility for Cisco Cloud Observability, tied to the KPIs that matter the most.

Our customers are increasingly tasked with simplifying their businesses as the complexity that comes with managing applications and their performance continues to intensify. At Cisco we are constantly endeavoring to find new and improved ways to help our customers navigate these complexities with Cisco Full-Stack Observability. We provide real-time business context that enables teams to proactively identify, prioritize, and resolve issues to ensure they are delivering the best digital experiences. And today, I’m pleased to announce the introduction of new business metrics in Cisco Cloud Observability, powered by the Cisco Observability Platform, to enhance business context for modern applications running on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Having these new business metrics — and business context in general — can help teams connect their application performance with business outcomes and gives IT teams and business leaders a common language they can all understand. With business metrics, an IT practitioner will understand how issues affect business KPIs; IT leaders will see where they need to allocate budget to improve application experiences to drive better business outcomes; and CIOs will have proof points to showcase the value of IT investments to the broader C-Suite.

Application observability at the speed of business

Applications are the front door to every modern organization, and when application experience suffers, so does brand reputation and ultimately, revenue. The first step for businesses to ensure flawless digital experiences is to simplify their complex cloud native environments and applications, and then, the challenge becomes the ability to tie performance to business objectives.

Yet, teams often lack visibility into the specific business goals their cloud native applications support. They use multiple monitoring solutions that lead to siloed tools and teams, which in turn leads to obscured visibility, slowed response times, and breakdowns in communications.

Meanwhile, traditional monitoring tools only provide visibility of applications and infrastructure performance metrics, often neglecting the relationship between applications performance and vital business metrics like revenue, customer conversion rates and retention. And while other tools on the market may provide health checks, they don’t add business context. This leaves teams unable to make decisions based on real impacts to their business, and can result in hits on revenue, customer experience, and ultimately, brand reputation.

Enhanced business context for apps on AWS

Cisco Cloud Observability helps provide our customers with a deeper understanding of how application performance issues are connected to the broader IT environment and the business outcomes they support. This facilitates quicker identification, triage, and resolution of problems.

In our continued mission to help our customers simplify the noise and make decisions based on the business KPIs that matter most to them, the new business metric insights and visibility in Cisco Cloud Observability can help teams to easily troubleshoot for the business metrics that matter most and easily connect digital experiences to business outcomes to make faster, more informed decisions.

Our additional integrations with AWS services provide a unique depth of context by correlating cloud services to application and business performance, allowing teams to understand the services that matter most to their bottom line. As one key example, DevOps teams can also now observe AWS Lambda functions as an entity within Cisco Cloud Observability APM pages and now will have visibility into why AWS Lambda events are triggered, where the trigger occurs in the application flow, and dependencies that may trigger events.

“Cisco is a recognized leader in enterprise-grade observability solutions built on AWS,” said Nandini Ramani, Vice President, Monitoring & Observability at AWS. “We are delighted to see Cisco introduce business metrics to deliver enhanced business context for modern application workloads. These new capabilities, combined with expanded support for AWS services, will enable enterprises to experience the benefits of full-stack observability for their mission-critical workloads running on AWS.”

The enhanced visibility provided in this release will help teams to prioritize potential business-impacting issues like revenue, conversion, compliance. It expedites troubleshooting, identifies root causes, and resolves problems within minutes, reducing overall remediation costs and minimizing war room incidents and finger pointing.

In today’s digital landscape, where digital experiences drive organizations, any breakdown can result in a loss of customer retention and brand loyalty. Cisco Full-Stack Observability can help increase the agility of teams and ability to respond to issues — keeping their reputations intact.

Learn more about business metrics at our upcoming webinar:

From metrics to revenue: A deep dive into Cisco Cloud Observability

  Protect revenue, improve digital experiences and manage brand reputation with Cisco Cloud Observability new business performance insight and visibility metrics for modern applications on AWS.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Every business is looking to grow, but how they accomplish that, and differentiate themselves against competitors, depends on the journey that they create for their customers. While there is no good… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Every business is looking to grow, but how they accomplish that, and differentiate themselves against competitors, depends on the journey that they create for their customers. While there is no good or bad, there certainly is better and best. With the newly launched Lifecycle Practice Journey, we will help you achieve the latter!

For Cisco partners who want to become a better version of themself, build and optimize their practice, and earn higher customer loyalty, Cisco has the Cisco Lifecycle Model. This model is based on the industry standard Land, Adopt, Expand, Renew (LAER) approach. It goes a layer deeper though and details the 15 unique touchpoints throughout the customer lifecycle. It is thoughtfully designed to drive customers to business outcomes faster. Each stage throughout the journey comes with various tools, programs, and processes to drive customer success. At the core of this model are the people involved that hold distinct roles and responsibilities to move the customer from stage 1: Need, to Use, all the way to the final stages of Renew through Accelerate into the next opportunity.

To cut through complexity and reduce time spent to find the information you need, we have launched the Lifecycle Practice Journey on Cisco Partner Journeys. At Cisco Partner Summit we announced the availability of this new end-to-end digital experience that enables and equips Cisco partners throughout their Lifecycle transformation.

See it as your ‘Start Here’ to become better and more profitable in your business transformation. Within the 10 modules, you will be guided through Cisco tools, portfolio offerings, resources, and processes to equip you with the right knowledge to achieve outcomes faster. Taking this journey will help gain essential information to:

Understand the Cisco Lifecycle Model and baseline your Practice Maturity with Partner Experience Platform (PXP).
Build your customer segmentation strategy, and put the right people, processes, and tools in place.
Provide added value to customers by positioning the right services.
Maximize profitability by identifying and seizing upsell, cross-sell and renewal opportunities.

Are you ready to become better, or even the best? Leverage the Lifecycle Practice Journey, it is free and accessible to all Cisco Partners on Cisco Partner Journeys. This journey is for all partners that are looking to build their practice, whether you are at the start of your transformation, or a CX Specialized partner that is looking for ways to optimize and enhance your practice. You can hop between the modules, access the information that is relevant to the stage that you are in, and come back to it at any time.

  START HERE for Lifecycle Practice Optimization

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  Every business is looking to grow, but how they accomplish that, and differentiate themselves against competitors, depends on the journey that they create for their customers. While there is no good or bad, there certainly is better and best. With the newly launched Lifecycle Practice Journey, Cisco will help you achieve the latter!  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco Live Melbourne is coming up next week. I can’t wait to spend time with Cisco customers and partners at this year’s event December 5-8, 2023. You saw in my most recent blog that CX has a lot to s… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Cisco Live Melbourne is coming up next week. I can’t wait to spend time with Cisco customers and partners at this year’s event December 5-8, 2023. You saw in my most recent blog that CX has a lot to share at Cisco Live, including all the demos I mentioned last week.

Cisco CX’s theme this year of ‘Jump into the future. Together’ is about building a better future for Cisco customers and partners with our expertise, innovation, and unwavering commitment. CX takes every step with you as a trusted partner, even at Cisco Live. You can get the most up-to-date information on our CX at Cisco Live web page, but today I would like to touch on one of our more exciting features for next week.

Next Stop, The Future Sweepstakes

If you are attending the event in person, we’ve put together a fantastic program for our customers to learn how Cisco CX can help you achieve your business outcomes. You can participate in our Next stop, the future sweepstakes, and explore everything Cisco CX has in store for you at Cisco Live Melbourne. As you learn and interact with Cisco CX at the event, you’ll have a chance to win an incredible racing and gaming-themed prize package featuring VR headsets, a gaming system and games, smart sunglasses, CX and racing swag, and a subscription to Cisco U. (a value of over $8,000 AUD for the total prize package.)

Simply scan QR codes at our Innovation Session, at our demo kiosks, and our lightning talks in the CX Stand, and at other locations around the show floor. Review the rules for all of the details.

HINT: You’ll find QR codes throughout Goldfield’s Café and by the giant CX , so scan and enter the sweepstakes while you grab a CX-branded coffee or some afternoon hot chips!!

In addition, make sure to visit our CX Stand in the World of Solutions to learn how we can help you accelerate your business outcomes — or just stop by and take a spin in one of the F1 racing simulators (there’s a hidden QR code there too!)

The team is ready to meet you. I’m excited to go, and I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

Let’s jump into the future. Together.

  Cisco Live Melbourne is coming up next week. I can’t wait to spend time with Cisco customers and partners at this year’s event December 5-8, 2023.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The continued prevalence of email vulnerabilities has increased the need for an advanced enterprise DMARC solution that makes it easier for Cisco customers to secure their domains quickly, and… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The continued prevalence of email vulnerabilities has increased the need for an advanced enterprise DMARC solution that makes it easier for Cisco customers to secure their domains quickly, and efficiently manage their email security needs with a minimum of effort, all while ensuring access to a high level of implementation and support.

Last month, Google and Yahoo each announced new sets of requirements for email delivery, signaling a seismic shift in email security and ensuring global inboxes are safer through the enforcement of industry-acknowledged best practices.

Starting February 2024, the two companies will require organizations to implement email authentication protocols – notably DMARC – in order to ensure secure email delivery to inboxes. In essence, this is the realization of the notion of “no authentication, no entry” that has been talked about for years in the email space to help prevent unwanted mail from reaching the inbox.

For senders that send more than 5,000 emails a day to Gmail addresses, Google will require a set of authentication measures to be met in order to ensure secure email delivery to its inboxes. While Yahoo does not state a minimum sending requirement, it will align with Google’s criteria.

Failure to comply with these requirements means that emails sent to Gmail and Yahoo inboxes will not be delivered. When considering the sheer number of enterprises that rely on email communication for their operations, there may be severe implications for non-compliant businesses.

In light of this latest compelling event, this blog post will explore what DMARC is, what benefits it provides to enterprises, and why it’s essential to the secure email landscape as a whole.

What is DMARC?

DMARC, which stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, is a vital component in the fight to secure an enterprise’s email security posture. As a recognized best practice across the email ecosystem, DMARC is the only email security specification that blocks exact domain impersonation attacks.

DMARC is an email authentication framework that prevents cybercriminals from reaching your employees’ inboxes using domain impersonation. It’s built on existing protocols, SPF and DKIM, and provides domain owners reporting and visibility into all mail being sent from their domains, and a way to manage how they wish unauthenticated mail from their domains to be treated by mailbox providers and messaging gateways. An organization can manage these “policies” via DNS.

An enterprise’s SPF record (Sender Policy Framework) is essentially an allow list of IP addresses that are authorized to send emails using your domain, while DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) acts like a digital signature, letting the recipient know you are who you say you are.

Both SPF and DKIM are essential to your email security setup, but neither prevents exact domain impersonation. While they tell the recipient who the email is from, they do not authenticate the visible “From domain” a recipient sees in their email client, and the recipient has no instruction to act on this knowledge, i.e., it doesn’t know what to do with your email.

So, DMARC works by combining the results of SPF and DKIM checks to determine if your email is authentic and authorized. Then, the DMARC policy you have in place tells recipient servers what to do with mail that fails authentication, which is likely spoofing or phishing. DMARC complements your existing email gateway and ensures that inbound attacks spoofing your own company’s domains get blocked, as well as attacks that target your customers, partners, and supply chain.

What are the benefits?

When implemented at a policy of p=reject, DMARC helps enterprises avoid phishing, spamming, and domain spoofing. Without its implementation, cybercriminals can send fraudulent emails on behalf of your company and request recipients to share sensitive details that can be misused, leading to larger attacks like ransomware, supply chain attacks, and vendor fraud. These types of attacks tarnish business reputations, which can consequently impact sales, customer-relationships, company valuation, employee retention, and more.

DMARC also improves your domain’s email deliverability rate, ensuring no genuine message lands in the spam folder or gets completely rejected by intended recipients’ mailboxes.

Where do I start?

Cisco Secure Email leverages Red Sift OnDMARC, an enterprise-grade DMARC solution that simplifies the complexities of the DMARC email security protocol by automating processes and providing clear instructions on how to block unauthorized use of an organization’s domain. OnDMARC is also the only platform with an integrated solution for implementing the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) standard, which combines strong email authentication using DMARC with Verified Mark Certificates (VMCs) to enable a sender to display their trusted logo in their customer’s inbox for email identification and security.

Red Sift OnDMARC is available now in the Cisco SolutionsPlus Ecosystem Exchange and through your Cisco representative. Start a Red Sift OnDMARC free trial or Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense free trial today!

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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  DMARC used to be a nice to have as part of an email security ecosystem. The threat landscape has changed that. Today, DMARC is a must have protection to keep business email safe.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Ready to dive deeper into Cisco IOS-XE programmability, automation, and telemetry? Then join us at Cisco Live APJC in Melbourne December 5 – 8, 2023!

These sessions cover topics ranging from getting … Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Ready to dive deeper into Cisco IOS-XE programmability, automation, and telemetry? Then join us at Cisco Live APJC in Melbourne December 5 – 8, 2023!

These sessions cover topics ranging from getting started with Cisco IOS XE programmability and automation, tooling with YANG Suite and Terraform, and gaining hands-on experience with open source solutions for Model Driven Telemetry. See the details of the upcoming Cisco Live sessions below:

Breakout Sessions

Catalyst 9000 Virtual topology simulation and configuration management solutions [DEVNET-2525]
Cisco Modelling Labs, Container Lab, KVM and Dockers… oh my! The way in which we can model networks and create infrastructure from code is evolving. In this session we will use virtualization technologies like CML and Docker in order to virtualize and simulate common network topologies and configurations. We will gain confidence in configuration management processes and tooling in the simulated lab and make the transition into production easier. The complete IOS XE programmability and automation lifecycle will be demonstrated and discussed using the virtual form factor alongside YANG Suite for testing and validation.

How to Become a Cisco IOS XE Terraform Expert [DEVNET-2476]
Infrastructure as Code (IAC) allows us to automate provisioning and management of Cisco Catalyst 9000 devices more efficiently. In this session, automation tooling will be used to programmatically deploy BGP EVPN network fabric. Infrastructure as Code concepts will be demonstrated on the Catalyst 9000 using Terraform. Both enterprise campus and cloud-native use cases and examples will be shared. You’ll leave this session with ideas to help you get started with Infrastructure as Code, understand benefits of IAC, and understand more about the Terraform tooling. With IAC and Cisco IOS XE, you can automate any tooling on any interface.

Workshops

Catalyst 9000 Virtual Switch [DEVWKS-2527]
Cisco Modelling Labs, Container Lab, KVM and Dockers… oh my! The way in which we can model networks and create infrastructure from code is evolving. In this session we will use virtualization technologies like CML and Docker in order to virtualize and simulate common network topologies and configurations. We will gain confidence in configuration management processes and tooling in the simulated lab and make the transition into production easier. The complete IOS XE programmability and automation lifecycle will be demonstrated and discussed using the virtual form factor alongside YANG Suite for testing and validation.

Hands-on with Programmability, Automation Model Driven Telemetry on Cisco IOS XE with a dash of YANG Suite [DEVWKS-1487]
This programmability and automation session on Cisco IOS XE and Catalyst includes an overview of the YANG based API’s and the associated YANG Suite tooling will be used extensively. The Model Driven Telemetry capabilities will also be discussed and the example Docker container for collection and visualization will be demonstrated. As well as ways to create new telemetry subscriptions using the Telegraf, Influx and Grafana stack and YANG Suite.

How to Become a Cisco IOS XE Terraform Expert – Hands on! [DEVWKS-2461]
Infrastructure as Code (IAC) allows us to automate provisioning and management of Cisco Catalyst 9000 devices more efficiently. In this session, automation tooling will be used to programmatically deploy BGP EVPN network fabric. Infrastructure as Code concepts will be demonstrated on the Catalyst 9000 using Terraform. Both enterprise campus and cloud-native use cases and examples will be shared. You’ll leave this session with ideas to help you get started with Infrastructure as Code, understand benefits of IAC, and understand more about the Terraform tooling. With IAC and Cisco IOS XE, you can automate any tooling on any interface.

Stay Connected

Browse the full session catalog and register now to join us in Melbourne or online.

Not able to attend Cisco Live in Melbourne?

No worries! Check out Cisco IOS XE programmability sessions from previous Cisco Live Events:

2023 – Las Vegas

Infrastructure as Code with Cisco Catalyst 9000 Virtual – BRKOPS-2455
Secure Zero Touch Provisioning on Cisco IOS XE – DEVNET-2122
Infrastructure as Code (IAC) with Catalyst 9000 – DEVNET-2119
Test Automation with Cisco Catalyst 9000 Virtual Switch – BRKDEV-2467

2023 – Amsterdam

Everyday Wireless Operational Headaches: Cured using Programmability! – BRKEWN-2730

2022 – Melbourne

Automating Enterprise Deployments with Zero Touch Provisioning – DEVNET-2569
Programmability and Automation with Catalyst IOS XE Platforms – DEVNET-2745

2022 – Las Vegas

Programmability and Automation with Catalyst IOS XE Platforms – BRKDEV-2016
Programmability & Automation on Catalyst Wireless Platforms – BRKEWN-2730

2021 – Digital

Enterprise Telemetry and Automation with gRPC – BRKPRG-2330
DevNet: Implementing Model Driven Telemetry in Your Network ? – BRKDEV-2012

2019 – San Diego

Operational Dashboarding with Wireless Streaming Telemetry – DEVNET-2415

No matter where you are on your programmability and automation journey there is always new and exciting content to help you to dive even deeper while learning about new technologies and capabilities for the enterprise network.

  Sessions cover topics including getting started with Cisco IOS XE programmability and automation, tooling with YANG Suite and Terraform, and gaining hands-on experience with open source solutions for Model Driven Telemetry.  Read More Cisco Blogs