A few years ago, you could be forgiven for not worrying about cloud computing and cloud providers, especially at the enterprise level. In fact, in your daily life, you might have only known “the c… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

A few years ago, you could be forgiven for not worrying about cloud computing and cloud providers, especially at the enterprise level. In fact, in your daily life, you might have only known “the cloud” as something that allowed you to binge-watch your favorite streaming series or enabled speedy response times on your mobile apps, whether you’re in Los Angeles, London, Lima, or Lagos.

Nowadays–whether you know it or not–your enterprise is probably in the cloud. It’ll be up to you to make sure that apps, data, and services can move seamlessly between your local data centers and whichever cloud provider(s) your company is using. Sounds like a pretty big job, but don’t worry: We’re here to help. Read on for an overview of learning and certification offers built to guide you on your cloud connectivity journey—regardless of Wide-Area Network (WAN) technology or cloud provider. We’ve been the leader in connectivity for decades, and the cloud isn’t any different for us.

Helping connect you to the clouds

As part of the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Enterprise certification, we’ve released the new ENCC concentration exam, which focuses on Designing and Implementing Cloud Connectivity. You can look at the blueprint, but it’s a pretty comprehensive exam, focusing on design, multiple types of implementations (IP Security [IPSec] and Software-Defined WAN [SDWAN]), and troubleshooting of these implementations.

If you’re unfamiliar with cloud networking concepts in general, you can get started with cloud networking and connectivity tutorials (created by us, your technical advocates). They are available on Cisco U. today, for free and for everyone.

If you’re already cloud-aware and want to jump into connecting them using cloud-native resources, we’ve got tutorials for instantiating IPsec VPNs between a Cisco router and AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

If you’d like something a bit more comprehensive, we’re releasing a complete ENCC Learning Path covering the entire certification blueprint. The first track of this learning path is live now for those with a Cisco U. subscription, with the rest following in short order over the coming weeks.

Designing and Implementing Cloud Connectivity | ENCC | Track 1

Available now in Cisco U. Free. Get started

Additionally, there are several Snack Minute resources if you prefer your learning in video format rather than written words. In Episode 113, Patrick Gargano teases the thought process behind the Multicloud Specialist certifications, as well as reviews the blueprint and exam topics that are included in the ENCC Certification. Finally, he teases some of the resources available on Cisco U.

In Episode 121, I dive deep into the Azure cloud control panel and the required steps to create an IPSec-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) between an on-prem router and native cloud VPN constructs.

If you couldn’t tell–we’re excited about this new certification and want to see you succeed in your certification journey!

New Snack Minute episodes premiere every Tuesday at noon Pacific Time.

Available only on @CiscoUtube. View Snack Minute episodes 

Enhancing our own cloud

Having a unified platform for a variety of different learning components (tutorials, courses, and learning paths) is great. But like with any investment, especially at the enterprise level, being able to track users, licenses, start and end dates, and license consumption, is important. Because of this, we’ve added an “Admin portal” within Cisco U. to ensure that customer administrators are provided an in-platform experience to manage learner accounts. This way, you can be sure the right learners are enabled to their heart’s content!

Creating enticing cloud offers

Finally, rumor has it that we’ll be offering a special Cisco U. Black Friday deal (November 20–24, 2023). The downside is that those dates are a few weeks away. However, the upside is that they are a few weeks away; giving you a chance to explore all that Cisco U. has to offer (if you haven’t already).

Dive into the tutorials, explore the available courses and Learning Paths, and see just how much there is for you to learn. I’m sure that you’ll be setting your alarm for first thing on the 20th to make sure that you don’t miss out.

I know I wrote a lot of words. The TL;DR of it all is: Using the power of Cisco and our new learning platform, the cloud has never looked…brighter? (Well, maybe that doesn’t work since clouds usually block the sun–but you know what I mean.)

As always, if this wasn’t enough information, click the video below to get a complete recap of everything new in Cisco U., and check out the Cisco Learning Network for some cloudy discussions about it all afterward. I mean—well… the discussions aren’t cloudy—they are pretty clear and easy to understand, actually. I’ve really carried this joke too far, haven’t I?

Read next: “Up, Up, and Away to the Clouds: Cisco Multicloud Specialist certifications” by Hank Preston. Read now >>

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

Follow Cisco Learning & Certifications

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

Use #CiscoU and #CiscoCert to join the conversation.

  Learn how to connect to the cloud, no matter your current skill level. Explore all-new tutorials on cloud connectivity, upcoming releases, and the ENCC Specialist certification, available now as a concentration exam in the CCNP Enterprise certification track.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco Partner Summit 2023 marks a significant moment—and the ideal stage for us to proudly unveil the victors of Cisco’s sixth annual global Partner Innovation Challenge. It’s an opportunity to shine … Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Cisco Partner Summit 2023 marks a significant moment—and the ideal stage for us to proudly unveil the victors of Cisco’s sixth annual global Partner Innovation Challenge. It’s an opportunity to shine a well-deserved spotlight on the remarkable innovation flowing from the exceptional talent within our partner community.

A Global Phenomenon

The Partner Innovation Challenge, which made its debut in 2018, has rapidly evolved into a global sensation. Partners of varying sizes and scopes hailing from an astonishing 96 countries have collectively received over $3.3 million USD in rewards. This year’s competition was a fierce battle of skill and creativity, with a whopping 68% surge in new partner submissions compared to the previous year. What’s more, individual enrollments soared by an incredible 198%, and team submissions witnessed a staggering 55% surge year over year.

This remarkable growth vividly showcases the immense creativity, expertise, and unwavering passion that courses through our partner technical community. The solutions brought to the fore this time around are nothing short of revolutionary. Our open platform empowers partners to craft unique APIs and solutions, delivering substantial value to customers and carving out their own niche in the market. The Partner Innovation Challenge underscores our unwavering belief in the critical importance of early collaboration in our journey with partners and customers as we turn possibilities into realities.

Partnership with Purpose

This year’s new award category, Partnering for Purpose, provided partners with an additional avenue to garner recognition and funding for their investments. An overwhelming 88% of all submissions fell under this exciting category. It’s truly heartwarming to witness our partners spearheading innovation that transcends business goals to support social and environmental causes, which ultimately translates into tangible business benefits.

The Partnering for Purpose category offers up to four $25,000 (USD) prizes for the most outstanding partner submissions aligned with the following themes: Digital Inclusion, Employee Experience and Economic Empowerment, Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship, and Crisis Response and Critical Human Need.

Recognizing Innovation

Congratulations to our outstanding winners:

Grand Prize 1st place ($200K): OrmIT Solutions’ SplashAccess IPSK (Individual Pre-Shared Key), considered by some the holy grail of BYOD (bring your own device) networks, delivers a secure home away from home network in universities, multiple dwelling units (MDUs), and medical facilities. Generated via API, its easy-to-use portals connect users to Wi-Fi on a single SSID. OrmIT worked with both the Meraki Wi-Fi team on the front-end IPSK/WPN feature set and the Catalyst and ICE team to fully integrate Splash’s UDH (utility datahub) module.
2nd place ($100K USD): Long View Systems’ Sustainable and Intelligent Building Analytics, a commercial building management system, reduces high energy costs and meets environmental, social, and governance standards. Using real-time occupancy from Cisco Spaces Wi-Fi activity data, Webex Device onboard cameras, and machine learning, the solution enables occupant-centric control of HVAC systems, physical security, lighting, blinds, and video devices. Long View Systems is also a recipient of a Partnering for Purpose award in the “Climate Change & Environmental” category, receiving an additional $25K USD.
3rd place ($50K USD): CAE Labs’ Innovation Network Intelligence platform provides customers with complete visibility of their Cisco investments from a simple-to-use dashboard. Saving time with actionable insights, this solution encapsulates the power of innovating and productizing Cisco APIs to solve common business and technical challenges.

Other partners recognized as Partnering for Purpose winners include Kiw, LiteScape Technologies, and Connect Professional Services.

In celebrating these achievements, we highlight the ingenuity and dedication of our partners along with our commitment to innovation that goes beyond profit, creating a lasting, positive impact on the world around us. The Partner Innovation Challenge is a testament to the power of collaboration, and we look forward to witnessing even greater heights of creativity and purpose in the years to come.

As partners continue harnessing the power of technology to meet industry and customer demands, we look forward to watching these winners shape and evolve their groundbreaking innovations.

Learn more about the Partner Innovation Challenge

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

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

  Cisco Partner Summit 2023 marks a significant moment—and the ideal stage for us to proudly unveil the victors of Cisco's sixth annual global Partner Innovation Challenge. It's an opportunity to shine a well-deserved spotlight on the remarkable innovation flowing from the exceptional talent within our partner community.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Today, I am excited to share that Rodney Clark will be joining Cisco as our new Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Small & Medium Business. In this role, Rodney will empower and enable Cisco’s g… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Today, I am excited to share that Rodney Clark will be joining Cisco as our new Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Small & Medium Business. In this role, Rodney will empower and enable Cisco’s global ecosystem of partners, strengthen our position in routes to market like Managed Services and Cloud Marketplaces, and help Cisco and our partners maximize the massive opportunities in the Small and Medium Business segment.

Approximately 90% of our annual bookings runs through our partners, and Rodney is the perfect leader to drive our next phase of growth. Our ecosystem of partners is not only our single biggest advantage in the market, but it’s also fundamental to our transformation strategy. I am confident that Rodney will thrive in this job for three distinct reasons:

First, he is a proven global sales and business leader who has deep channel experience. During a nearly 25-year career at Microsoft, Rodney held various senior sales leadership positions, including serving as the Corporate VP, Global Channel Sales and Channel Chief. Prior to Microsoft, he spent nine years with IBM in sales, marketing, and management capacities. Most recently, Rodney was the Chief Commercial Officer at Johnson Controls. Through each stop, Rodney has driven transformation at scale, been a passionate advocate for the channel, and a strong, empathetic leader who invests deeply in his teams.

Second, Rodney has a great deal of knowledge and respect for everything that Cisco and its ecosystem of partners have accomplished together in 25+ years…but he has a bold vision for our future. To succeed in this role, you have to understand our legacy, but you can’t be beholden to it. Rodney will bring that perspective.

And finally, with all the accomplishments listed above, he’s an even better human being. He’s authentic, incredibly humble, and someone that will not only match but embody Cisco’s values.

A father of two, Rodney is a passionate supporter of education, community, and creating an inclusive future for all. He has served on the Board of Trustees for Middlesex School and as an advisor to The Craig School of Business, California State University, Fresno. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for both Entegris, Inc. and Groopit. He’s also an avid hockey fan, having played professionally while in college and early in career.

Earlier this morning, we kicked off Partner Summit 2023, our annual event where we get our most influential partners together to share our latest innovation, discuss our collective opportunities in the market, and commit to the road ahead. The theme this year is Greater Together, which speaks to our past, it shines a light on our opportunity, but more than anything, it’s a call to action for the future. Cisco and our partners are Greater Together. That story just got a lot better with Rodney on board.

I am incredibly proud of the work we’ve done with our ecosystem of partners over the last 25 years, and the business value that we’ve helped create for our mutual customers. Rodney is the right leader at the right time as we build on that legacy and push our partnerships into a new era.

Welcome to Cisco, Rodney. I can’t wait to do great things together.

  As Senior Vice President for Partnerships and Small & Medium Business, Rodney will empower Cisco’s global ecosystem of partners to maximize the massive opportunities in the Small and Medium Business segment.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Nearly 40 years ago, Cisco helped build the Internet. Today, much of the Internet is powered by Cisco technology—a testament to the trust customers, partners, and stakeholders place in Cisco to s… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Nearly 40 years ago, Cisco helped build the Internet. Today, much of the Internet is powered by Cisco technology—a testament to the trust customers, partners, and stakeholders place in Cisco to securely connect everything to make anything possible. This trust is not something we take lightly. And, when it comes to AI, we know that trust is on the line.

In my role as Cisco’s chief legal officer, I oversee our privacy organization. In our most recent Consumer Privacy Survey, polling 2,600+ respondents across 12 geographies, consumers shared both their optimism for the power of AI in improving their lives, but also concern about the business use of AI today.

I wasn’t surprised when I read these results; they reflect my conversations with employees, customers, partners, policy makers, and industry peers about this remarkable moment in time. The world is watching with anticipation to see if companies can harness the promise and potential of generative AI in a responsible way.

For Cisco, responsible business practices are core to who we are.  We agree AI must be safe and secure. That’s why we were encouraged to see the call for “robust, reliable, repeatable, and standardized evaluations of AI systems” in President Biden’s executive order on October 30. At Cisco, impact assessments have long been an important tool as we work to protect and preserve customer trust.

Impact assessments at Cisco

AI is not new for Cisco. We’ve been incorporating predictive AI across our connected portfolio for over a decade. This encompasses a wide range of use cases, such as better visibility and anomaly detection in networking, threat predictions in security, advanced insights in collaboration, statistical modeling and baselining in observability, and AI powered TAC support in customer experience.

At its core, AI is about data. And if you’re using data, privacy is paramount.

In 2015, we created a dedicated privacy team to embed privacy by design as a core component of our development methodologies. This team is responsible for conducting privacy impact assessments (PIA) as part of the Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle. These PIAs are a mandatory step in our product development lifecycle and our IT and business processes. Unless a product is reviewed through a PIA, this product will not be approved for launch. Similarly, an application will not be approved for deployment in our enterprise IT environment unless it has gone through a PIA. And, after completing a Product PIA, we create a public-facing Privacy Data Sheet to provide transparency to customers and users about product-specific personal data practices.

As the use of AI became more pervasive, and the implications more novel, it became clear that we needed to build upon our foundation of privacy to develop a program to match the specific risks and opportunities associated with this new technology.

Responsible AI at Cisco

In 2018, in accordance with our Human Rights policy, we published our commitment to proactively respect human rights in the design, development, and use of AI. Given the pace at which AI was developing, and the many unknown impacts—both positive and negative—on individuals and communities around the world, it was important to outline our approach to issues of safety, trustworthiness, transparency, fairness, ethics, and equity.

We formalized this commitment in 2022 with Cisco’s Responsible AI Principles,  documenting in more detail our position on AI. We also published our Responsible AI Framework, to operationalize our approach. Cisco’s Responsible AI Framework aligns to the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and sets the foundation for our Responsible AI (RAI) assessment process.

We use the assessment in two instances, either when our engineering teams are developing a product or feature powered by AI, or when Cisco engages a third-party vendor to provide AI tools or services for our own, internal operations.

Through the RAI assessment process, modeled on Cisco’s PIA program and developed by a cross-functional team of Cisco subject matter experts, our trained assessors gather information to surface and mitigate risks associated with the intended – and importantly – the unintended use cases for each submission. These assessments look at various aspects of AI and the product development, including the model, training data, fine tuning, prompts, privacy practices, and testing methodologies. The ultimate goal is to identify, understand and mitigate any issues related to Cisco’s RAI Principles – transparency, fairness, accountability, reliability, security and privacy.

And, just as we’ve adapted and evolved our approach to privacy over the years in alignment with the changing technology landscape, we know we will need to do the same for Responsible AI. The novel use cases for, and capabilities of, AI are creating considerations almost daily. Indeed, we already have adapted our RAI assessments to reflect emerging standards, regulations and innovations. And, in many ways, we recognize this is just the beginning. While that requires a certain level of humility and readiness to adapt as we continue to learn, we are steadfast in our position of keeping privacy – and ultimately, trust – at the core of our approach.

Read the Cisco Consumer Privacy Study

  AI is not new for Cisco. We’ve been incorporating predictive AI across our connected portfolio for over a decade. At its core, AI is about data. And if you’re using data, privacy is paramount.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Customers are increasingly focused on as-a-Service hybrid cloud environments and the need to ensure that the technology they are investing in today can support the complexity of the technology… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Customers are increasingly focused on as-a-Service hybrid cloud environments and the need to ensure that the technology they are investing in today can support the complexity of the technology requirements of tomorrow, driven by AI and the increasing importance of data. To meet this customer need, Hitachi Vantara and Cisco have recently strengthened their partnership, as outlined in the blog, The Superpower of Partnership: Cisco and Hitachi Vantara Deliver Best-in-class Solutions.

Bringing together Cisco’s compute and data center networking solutions with Hitachi’s storage expertise, we have created a set of Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure. Businesses can now capitalize on the benefits of on-prem and cloud environments through a hybrid cloud solution that incorporates industry-leading technology with SLA-backed service delivery. Hitachi Vantara’s Hybrid Cloud solution is now third-party certified as a Cisco Powered Hybrid Cloud service as it incorporates its market-defining EverFlex managed service capabilities, significantly differentiating it from the competition in the following ways.

Pay-per use elastic consumption

Expanding EverFlex offerings using Cisco technology provides a flexible, as-a-service solution with cloud-like consumption for hybrid and on-premises solutions such as compute, storage, and backup. EverFlex offerings range from fully managed as a service to asset-only consumption with minimal services.

Instead of seeing monthly bills that cover hardware, software, and service subscriptions with no flexibility options, customers are offered variable consumption options based on a built-in, high-efficiency model. This includes just-in-time adjustments for capacity expansion that can help reduce the consumption gap related to new technology adoption. Customers consume unit-based hardware, software, and services bundled to meet their unique needs.

“Hitachi Vantara built its Managed Services business on the basis of delivering a better outcome for customers looking for a comprehensive storage solution. I’m excited to add to this, becoming a Cisco Service Provider Partner for Managed Services. Hitachi Vantara and Cisco are both looking to deliver solutions for customers who require the highest level of service, flexibility, and reliability.”—Jeb Horton, Senior Vice President, Global Services, Hitachi Vantara

Performance and SLAs

Hitachi Vantara reliability engineering brings a long history of successfully delivering services to customers that are scalable, with high service levels, no unplanned downtime, and the flexibility to respond to business changes–all backed by Hitachi Vantara’s 100 percent data availability guarantee.

Guaranteed SLAs of 99.99 percent or higher across the entire stack instill customers with confidence and trust in these solutions for their critical applications.

Efficiency and cost savings

As part of its EverFlex offering, Hitachi Vantara maintains much tighter control of the end-to-end solution, from manufacturing to services. Savings derived from go-forward pricing for Hitachi products are passed on to customers, along with the ability to drive greater utility from technical and services investments. Customers typically see a 30 to 50 percent TCO reduction vs. customer-managed solutions. Hitachi Vantara significantly enhances this capability through its technology partnership with Cisco.

Additionally, a Forrester TEI report researched the benefit of consuming Hitachi Vantara Managed Services and determined a composite ROI of 214 percent.

Integration with Hitachi’s AIOps platform (“HIOaaS”)

The open automation framework of the HIOaaS platform brings additional capabilities to simplify and improve operations. Integration and observability of the entire hybrid cloud provides insights on costs, configurations, and effective usage across lines of business. Automation can convert most virtual machines into containers using a standard, repeatable process. Containerized workloads become portable between the public cloud and on-premises data center(s), hosted on an EverFlex stack.

“Together, Hitachi Vantara and Cisco can satisfy some of the most complex technology requirements in the market. We recognize the increasing focus on hybrid environments, AI, analytics, and other data-intensive requirements and look forward to our partnership to enable innovation in these areas. And like Cisco, we both are heavily committed to supporting our channel partners in selling these solutions.” – Jeb Horton, Senior Vice President, Global Services, Hitachi Vantara

The HIOaaS AI/ML engine improves observability and analyzes the operational ecosystem to learn, detect, correlate, reduce, and automatically remediate potential issues before they occur. Combining AI/ML with an improved operational dataset helps meet the high availability SLA mentioned earlier by detecting anomalies more quickly, improving environmental stability, reducing the time to detect and resolve incidents to minutes, and automatically triaging up to 99 percent of incoming issues.

By integrating Cisco technologies within its HIOaaS platform and earning the Cisco Powered Services specialization for Hybrid Cloud, Hitachi Vantara is well positioned to help Cisco customers harness the power of hybrid cloud.

Learn more about the offers and outcomes available from Hitachi Vantara

Hitachi Vantara Infrastructure Services

Hitachi Vantara Managed Services

Hitachi Vantara EverFlex

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

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

  The powerful Cisco and Hitachi Vantara alliance offers customers a flexible, pay-as-you-go consumption model for hybrid cloud solutions that incorporates industry-leading technology with SLA-backed service delivery.  Read More Cisco Blogs