Few transformational technologies have generated the kind of buzz as Artificial Intelligence. Organizations around the world are finding exciting new ways to collaborate, manage applications, enhance… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Few transformational technologies have generated the kind of buzz as Artificial Intelligence. Organizations around the world are finding exciting new ways to collaborate, manage applications, enhance their digital security, and reimagine customer experiences. Cisco already harnesses AI-powered capabilities across our product and customer service portfolio. We are also leading innovation that enables AI infrastructure. Our vision for AI Network fabrics offers unparalleled programmability, performance, flexibility, and efficiency. And we enable these fabrics with a familiar technology that has broad ecosystem support — Ethernet.

At the foundation of every AI generated product capability will be ground-breaking infrastructure. GPUs and massively scalable data stores and compute will be deployed in AI/ML platforms of unprecedented scale and performance. This massive movement and processing of data will need a network fabric that meets the considerable demands of these platforms.  These networks need to enable AI with economical, flexible, and innovative connectivity. An economical and flexible platform enables you to invest early and evolve in a way that fits your unique business model. Innovation offers you a fabric that is high throughput, low-latency and lossless — without sacrificing flexibility. As a result of Cisco’s considerable investments, that AI fabric is already here. And we believe that this fabric needs to be built on Ethernet.

AI Fabrics will be Ethernet-based

Ethernet offers advantages of economy and scale. As transformational technologies approach maturity, customers tend to move away from sole-source components towards multi-source components, to improve purchasing power. In the case of AI/ML infrastructure, this means a move away from single-source connectors, fabric, and GPUs. Moving towards multi-source components typically means using a broadly adopted standard, and it is difficult to find a more broadly deployed data center network technology than Ethernet. This increases the ability to find the right ROI with interoperability within component types, as well as between component types. Additionally, familiar and consistent technology for all data center fabrics produces efficiencies in training, procurement, and support. Lastly, Ethernet is well-placed to support the massive scale that the world’s largest AI network fabrics require, with a broad base of suppliers.

Every organization’s AI journey is unique and requires agile technology and the ability to scale on your terms. Whether you are retraining models, deploying model inference, or building your own large language model, you need infrastructure that keeps pace with your demands. Moving quickly means leveraging the skills that you have and deploying familiar technology. Ethernet is the most deployed infrastructure and has the broadest architectural support. You can find your choice of partners, suppliers, and architects to help your unique organizational goals.

AI/ML infrastructure will need to be set up for innovation that drives greater capabilities and performance. Ethernet has a proven history of disruptive innovation. In the approximately 20-year period following 1998, Ethernet standard speeds grew from 1Gbps to 400Gbps, with 800G options available in systems such as the Cisco 8111-EH and the Cisco Nexus 9232E switch. Ethernet’s versatility has been proven in data center networks through protocols such as iSCSI and RoCE; along with several innovations that reduce the need for separate types of network connectivity.

This impressive rate of growth, combined with flexibility, has made it possible to connect several generations of front-end and back-end components. Storage networks that once required specialized back-end fabrics can now connect resources with Ethernet through advances in IP based storage solutions. Similarly, resources requiring InfiniBand connectivity can be deployed with RoCE. This means that back-end networks for advanced compute or GPUs can now be consolidated with a single network fabric.

Cisco’s unique value for Ethernet fabrics

Cisco expands the value that you can achieve from Ethernet by advancing the economics, agility, choice and innovation even further. We make it possible to standardize switching and routing with a single silicon architecture — Cisco Silicon One. This gives you the option of reducing the complexity of your network architectures by managing one experience across the entire network, across all network functions. To maximize economic benefits, Cisco produces a full range of silicon, systems and optics in a way that transfers economies of scale to the end user. We build silicon with Customer Owned Tooling (COT), rather than using traditional ASIC models, or off shelf components, so that we can eliminate the premiums introduced when adding additional vendors to a value chain — and drive end to end innovations.

Cisco offers you the choice of procuring components, white boxes, or fully built systems in your AI Network fabric. Does your business model drive value by building systems and software on top of silicon components? Or do you want ease of deployment by having fully built systems arrive ready for use? Alternatively, you may be in the middle — needing a white box shipped to you with the option to customize software that is unique to your own platform. Whichever model you need, you can partner with Cisco.

Our development of silicon offers differentiated capabilities for Ethernet that truly unlock the power of AI Network fabrics. With one architecture, you can build three deployment models that offer increasing degrees of efficiency for precious system resources through multipathing. You may choose to use standard Ethernet for the widest interoperability solution, or an advanced scheduled Ethernet that halves the Job Completion Time (JCT) compared to standard Ethernet, or the middle ground with enhanced Ethernet taking the best from standard and scheduled Ethernet. Because of the innovation and power of Cisco Silicon One, you can confidently use the same network for high throughput, lossless training fabrics, and ultra-low latency inference fabrics.

Conclusion

Ethernet is ready for the next technology transformation. Whether you are fine-tuning your own models, running off-the-shelf models for inference, or building your own large language models, you can be assured that you have a fabric that meets your needs. Cisco will partner with you so that you can build your AI infrastructure in a way that matches your business model.

Learn more about building AI/ML networks and review
the latest innovations from Cisco Silicon One:

Building AI/ML Networks with Cisco Silicon One

Cisco Silicon One Breaks the 51.2 Tbps Barrier

  Ethernet is well-placed to support the massive scale that the world’s largest AI network fabrics require, and it has a broad base of suppliers. Cisco will partner with you to build an AI infrastructure that matches your business model.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco announces new Multicloud Certifications focused on connectivity and security to ensure IT professionals have the skills to defend future cyber-attacks – get started with a special deal on Cisco … Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Cisco announces new Multicloud Certifications focused on connectivity and security to ensure IT professionals have the skills to defend future cyber-attacks – get started with a special deal on Cisco CyberOps training. 

Over 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent every day and now companies must deal with risks associated with AI and remote work. I always remind myself that with every technology advancement comes new risks to security. In fact, it is estimated that the global cost of cybercrime will hit $10.5 trillion by 2025.  

But there are challenges to meet these dynamic threats. Human-driven responses to cyberattacks are failing to keep up with automated attacks due to the rapid pace that cybersecurity threats are developing; and 77% of organizations find it difficult to recruit the skilled talent they need to fill future technology roles.  

The best way to mitigate these risks is with specialized security systems and a skilled staff. Fifty four percent of organizations (64% for organizations that have high cyber maturity) agree, seeing training and certifications programs as a key strategy to retain valuable talent. The market is demanding more skills in areas of base network security, cloud security, and cyber threat defense to help protect organizations from cybersecurity attackers.    

New Multicloud Certifications Drive Secure Connectivity 

As companies leverage more cloud-hosted solutions across several providers, a new set of skills are required.  That’s why Cisco Learning & Certifications’ new Multicloud Certifications for Cloud Connectivity and Cloud Security are critical to any cybersecurity and SASE planning. Learners can find our Designing and Implementing Cloud Connectivity Certification exam and on Cisco U. with training in November. But to get learners started, there are two free tutorials that focus on Creating and Configuring VPC Components in AWS and Configuring IPsec VPN from Cisco IOS XE to AWS.   

The exam for the Designing and Implementing Secure Cloud Access for Users and Endpoints Certification becomes available in November.  

With a strong focus on practical application, individuals will gain the knowledge and tools to effectively enable, design, configure, and establish secure connections within cloud network architectures. By obtaining these certifications, candidates demonstrate their proficiency in implementing and connecting cloud technologies, while adhering to best practices in cloud security. 

Whether it be Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, AWS, or others, security professionals need to understand each solutions strength and weaknesses.  Understanding how to extend corporate secure access to cloud and then control with cloud application data is vital to the success of an IT security professional.    

Get started with free CyberOps training  

Cisco is also offering its Associate-level training in CyberOps for free in Cisco U., but only during Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, 2023.   

Understanding Cisco Cybersecurity Operations Fundamentals teaches the security concepts, common network and application operations and attacks, and the types of data needed to investigate security incidents. This course will be popular for people wanting to work as a Security Analyst to monitor inbound alerts of possible intrusions and defend a company’s network.   

Cybersecurity training for you during Cybersecurity Awareness Month 

For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, CCIEs will be able to attend an event on October 30, 2023, to discuss incident response and infrastructure as code. Register here. 

There are also tutorials on Introduction to Firewall Management Center APIs, Introduction to the Cisco ISE Policy Set, Securing Your API Token with Vault, and Using VLANs to Segment Different User Groups on a Switch.  New security training will be added regularly to help learners build breadth and depth to their security knowledge.   

Cisco Learning & Certifications also has a plethora of other security training available in October, including:  

<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="2" data-list-defn-props=" LinkedIn " data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Securing Cisco Networks with Snort Rule Writing Best Practices 
Implementing Secure Solutions with Virtual Private Networks 
Securing the Web with Cisco Web Security Appliance 
Implementing Automation for Cisco Security Solutions 
Implementing and Operating Cisco Security Core Technologies 
Security Operations Analyst Level 1 
Implementing and Configuring Cisco Identity Services Engine 
Securing Email with Cisco Email Security Appliance 
Fundamental of Cisco Firewall Threat Defense and Intrusion Prevention 
Protecting Against Malware Threats with Cisco AMP for Endpoints 
Introduction to Network Security Engineer Job Role  
Understanding Cisco Cybersecurity Operations Fundamentals 
Performing CyberOps Using Cisco Security Technologies 

Technology innovations create so much potential for organizations but also increase the number of ways attackers can cause harm.  By upskilling IT professionals with the latest cybersecurity and cloud skills, we can ensure our teams have the skills to turn risks and vulnerabilities into opportunities. Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a great place to start your security skills journey. 

Join the Cisco Learning Network today for free.

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With the ever-increasing complexity of technology, organizations must build cybersecurity resilience to stay ahead of the unknown, persistent, and lurking threats. And the threat is growing.… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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With the ever-increasing complexity of technology, organizations must build cybersecurity resilience to stay ahead of the unknown, persistent, and lurking threats. And the threat is growing. Adversaries will use ransomware to strike every 2 seconds by 2031, impacting individuals, organizations, and governments.  

Organizations know they need to be better prepared: 82 percent of respondents to Cisco’s recent Cybersecurity Readiness Index said they expect a cybersecurity incident to disrupt their business in the next 12 to 24 months. As a result, organizations are increasing their cybersecurity budgets by at least 10 percent over the next 12 months. 

Understanding the mindset of threat actors and intentionally building out offensive security and penetration testing skills is a critical part of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy – and companies are hiring for it. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects information security analysts including penetration tester employment to grow 32 percent from 2022 to 2032, much faster than the average for all occupations.  

Organizations need talent, and they need it now! Due to a talent shortage and open jobs, nearly 3.4 million cybersecurity jobs globally will go unfilled by 2025.  

Organizations today need more certification-driven, skills-based training to develop and train their cybersecurity teams, combined with better cybersecurity awareness for all. This is not limited to only the tech industry. Cybersecurity resilience is mission critical in healthcare, transportation, energy, manufacturing, water, smart cities, and more. At the same time, the Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index report indicates only 15 percent of companies globally are in a mature state of readiness for cybersecurity, leaving a huge exposure gap. Cisco not only provides best in class security products and solutions; we are also addressing the critical need to close the cybersecurity skills gap via Cisco Networking Academy.  

Cisco Networking Academy is one of the longest-standing IT skills-to-jobs programs in the world and has positively impacted over 20 million learners over 26 years. Ninety five percent of students that have taken our certification-aligned courses attribute that Cisco Networking Academy helped them obtain a job or education opportunity. As part of our mission to create an inclusive future for all, Cisco Networking Academy strives to create an engine of upward mobility for diverse groups, including women, veterans, and underserved communities. 

Our learning portfolio features a comprehensive offering of cybersecurity courses enabling nearly one million people a year in 190 countries to acquire cybersecurity skills and supports goals we have established in some countries to reach many more students over the next few years (e.g. US (200K people), EU (250K people), India (500K people), and Indonesia (200K people). Our courses are designed with the beginner in mind – providing cybersecurity awareness training for all and clear learning pathways for learners to build the skills needed for entry-level and associate-level job roles.  

To further answer the call in this critical area, Cisco Networking Academy has launched a new Ethical Hacker course. Through this course, we’re tackling offensive security, or OffSec, and helping learners prepare for in-demand jobs. 

Cisco Networking Academy’s New Ethical Hacker Course 

The Cisco Networking Academy Ethical Hacker course is the newest addition to our cybersecurity course offerings. The 70-hour course prepares learners with job-ready skills for OffSec roles like Ethical Hacker and Penetration Tester. It also enhances the skillset for defensive security roles – by understanding the mindset of adversaries, their tactics, and strategies to create stronger defensive layers. The interactive course provides hands-on practice using tools and techniques that threat actors around the world use daily in attempts to breach the defensive security controls of individuals, organizations, and governments. 

The Ethical Hacker course puts learners on an adventure with a fun, engaging, and gamified narrative. Learners step into the role of a Junior Penetration Tester and take on 34 labs and 86 practice activities based on real-world scenarios to help understand cybercriminal mindsets. Learners proactively discover vulnerabilities and respond to security threats while gaining hands-on experience with the most popular penetration testing tool, Kali Linux. And there’s more, including the importance of legal engagement, reporting, and communication across a team. Upon successful completion of the Ethical Hacker course, learners can earn a Cisco-validated digital badge through Credly, proving to employers they’re ready for the next cyber job.

“At the Open University, we saw the Ethical Hacker course from Cisco NetAcad as an essential addition to the skills portfolio of both our students and our wider community. Rather than wait for another academic year, we offered it to all of our students and instructors as an enhancement and so far, the feedback has been outstanding.”

– Andrew Smith, The Open University, Senior Lecturer in Networking, School of Computing and Communication, UK 

“The Ethical Hacker course is ideal for students who plan to go into the labor market. The course simulates the normal day-to-day process of a person performing penetration testing. It covers legal matters, strategy, planning, and the acquisition of technical skills in solving ‘real’ tasks using freely available tools. Students will gain experience working with the Linux operating system, which is a must for practice in the IT industry. The content nicely combines theory and practice, while knowledge can be tested using several quizzes. Another advantage of the course is multidisciplinary, where students can combine knowledge in security, cybersecurity, computer networks, web technology, databases, and programming. Overall, I rate this course very positively and it will appeal to a large number of students due to the variety of topics. Everyone will find something for themselves in it.”

– Rastislav Petija, Technical University of Kosice, Cisco Networking Academy Instructor, Slovakia

“Real-world scenarios. Real-world tools. This class is invaluable and is teaching my IT students to think like white-hat hackers giving them the extra security training needed in a fast-paced and ever-changing Networking and Cybersecurity world.”

– Chris Waters, Bonita High School, US 

“As educators, we are constantly seeking ways to empower our students with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in the rapidly evolving field of cybersecurity. The new Ethical Hacker course, offered by Cisco, has been a game-changer for us and our students. Its comprehensive curriculum and hands-on approach provide our learners with practical experience that is crucial in today’s cybersecurity landscape. The material is forming a key part of our offer to both Cyber Security, Computer Networks and Security and Digital Forensics students.”

– Ron Austin, Birmingham City University, UK 

Ready to Hack? 

The Ethical Hacker course is available for free on Skills for All from Cisco Networking Academy. Access it anytime, anywhere to learn at your own pace. You’ll need entry-level cybersecurity knowledge and basic programming knowledge to be ready to dive in.  

No experience? No problem! Start with the free, self-paced Junior Cybersecurity Analyst Career Path on Skills for All to build your foundation, and then continue on to Ethical Hacker. You can even earn an entry-level CCST Cybersecurity certification along the way.  

If you prefer to learn from an instructor, check out options at a local academy. We have over 11,700 Academies around the globe. Find an academy. 

Learning Never Stops 

Cisco is working to close the cybersecurity skills gap at all levels by offering a continuum of learning to meet learners wherever they are on their career journey. 

For tech professionals who want to reskill or upskill, Cisco Learning & Certifications, including the Cisco U. platform, prepares learners for professional-level certifications up to expert-level bootcamps and role-based skills training.  

Join the Cisco Learning Network today for free.

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A typical day’s tasks for today’s modern worker are frequently distributed across multiple devices, applications, and locations. They could be working from home, analyzing CRM dashboards, and later,… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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A typical day’s tasks for today’s modern worker are frequently distributed across multiple devices, applications, and locations. They could be working from home, analyzing CRM dashboards, and later, they might be at a coffee shop reviewing slides for an upcoming customer meeting. Perhaps they then head into the office for team meetings, followed by catching up with emails and messages on the commute home.

For a networking and security leader, a typical day looks very different. Those individuals need to ensure that the WAN is delivering a superior app performance connecting users to applications wherever they are. They also need to know if an untrusted device is being used to access confidential CRM dashboards. How is network traffic being secured outside the office? How are apps and services being accessed and secured?

Multiply these security concerns by the number of employees at numerous office locations, and then factor in technology-led business transformation initiatives, and we start to understand the complexity facing IT to secure and connect hyper-distributed users and resources everywhere.

Choose the right security

We hear you loud and clear—security and high performance are top priorities. In the face of constant change and increasing complexity—especially over the WAN—organizations must implement security technologies that converge with their SD-WAN, enforcing them as close as possible to users and workloads. For the most effective implementation, this will require security hosted on-premises and in the cloud that ensures the best possible app performance.

The importance of security with SD-WAN was acknowledge by Gartner in its recently published 2023 Magic Quadrant for SD-WAN report, which provides an annual evaluation of the SD-WAN market for IT leaders. We feel this year’s report includes the most thorough assessment of security capabilities—hosted on-premises and in the cloud—since Gartner Magic Quadrant for SD-WAN began.

In 2023, Cisco was named a Leader for the fourth consecutive year.

At Cisco, we work closely with our customers and partners to better understand their challenges so we can build products and solutions that support their long-term goals. These continued partnerships provide us with the insight to deeply ingrain advanced security technologies into Cisco SD-WAN.

The right security: Stateful firewall, intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion prevention systems (IPS), advanced malware protection (AMP), URL filtering, HTTPS inspection, data loss prevention (DLP), cloud access security broker (CASB), and more—are all natively informed by the world’s largest commercial threat intelligence team, Talos.
Hosted in the right place: On-premises or in the cloud (native or third party) hosting ensures that security policies are enforced closely to workloads and users.
SASE your way: WAN appliances provide the building blocks to effortlessly chart your own journey.

Seek real-world validation

With a highly dense market of network security technologies and products to choose from, understanding which solutions will perform best for your environment and be the right long-term strategic fit can be confusing. While there is no substitute for testing solutions in a production environment, independent testing that mirrors real-world conditions can help identify top performers and refine a shortlist.

Miercom, a leading independent product test center, conducted a thorough evaluation of Cisco’s security and SD-WAN technologies delivered through Cisco Catalyst and Meraki WAN appliances. These tests were meticulously designed to match real-world conditions as closely as possible, instead of a theoretical laboratory environment.

Figure 1. According to leading independent product test center Miercom, Cisco’s malware efficacy is 25% better than the industry average. Across 11 malware exploit categories, Cisco averaged 98% malware efficacy.

Maximize your WAN

The WAN is central to an organization’s success. In addition to an uncompromising commitment to security, we continue to push Cisco SD-WAN beyond traditional expectations to help IT leaders maximize the potential of the WAN for their business through:

Delivering high performance, irrespective of where users and workloads live, to provide a superior experience wherever users and workloads are.
Simplifying cloud migration with integration and streamlined workflows for AWS Cloud WAN and Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN.
Enabling secure, long-term remote work strategies with Meraki Z4 and Catalyst CG113 secure teleworker gateways.
Providing continuous visibility across all the hyper-distributed internal and external domains with instant activation of Cisco ThousandEyes, which leverages predictive patch recommendations (PPR) to deliver proactive feedback, enhancing the user experience for critical application performance across the SD-WAN fabric.
Enabling agile business models using 5G fixed wireless access through indoor and outdoor Meraki MG51 and Catalyst CG522 cellular gateways.

Build a long-term strategy for simplicity

At Cisco, we’re committed to helping organizations simplify IT. Our vision is to create a simpler network management platform experience to help customers easily access and manage Cisco networking products from one place—the Cisco Networking Cloud.

The distribution of users and resources will continue to evolve along with the IT landscape, creating new complexities along the way. Simplifying the IT experience enables IT to better automate, analyze, and diagnose issues—supporting a framework that is well-positioned to evolve alongside the modern hyper-distributed network and helping to secure and connect hyper-distributed users and resources, no matter where they are located.

Read the report: 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SD-WAN

Disclaimer:  

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for SD-WAN, 27 September 2023, Jonathan Forest, et al.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

  The complexity facing IT to secure and connect hyper-distributed users and resources, everywhere means security and high performance are top priorities. In the face of constant change and increasing complexity—especially over the WAN—organizations must implement security technologies that converge with their SD-WAN.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Hispanic Heritage Month is a time for reflection. This year, I spent time thinking about what it truly means to be a Hispanic leader at Cisco. My journey has led me to the privilege of leading the US… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Hispanic Heritage Month is a time for reflection. This year, I spent time thinking about what it truly means to be a Hispanic leader at Cisco. My journey has led me to the privilege of leading the US Commercial team in CX Americas, and along the way, I’ve learned valuable lessons that have shaped my perspective on leadership.

The two I cherish most, are:

Embrace the Power of Dreams

Dreaming is where it all begins. It sets the course for our goals, which in turn, lead to reality.

Success Beyond Wealth

Success isn’t measured by how much money you make. It’s a culmination of consistency and discipline. It’s about achieving your goals with determination and resilience.

A Tale of Two Generations

I always like to go back to the beginning. I think history is interesting, and how it really does shape the person you are today.

My heritage is deeply rooted in the experiences of my family. My grandfather was a taxi driver in a small city in Nicaragua. He was a very smart businessman, even though his education did not extend beyond the fourth grade. He started his own business buying cars, one here and one there, until he traveled to New York City to purchase a few more cars, and before long, had an entire fleet of taxis. His mission was to provide opportunities for his children.

My father, the youngest of six, was very motivated and dedicated to his education. He was the top student in his high school and earned a scholarship to study medicine. Eventually, he became one of Nicaragua’s top three psychiatrists. These opportunities paved the way for an improved life and stability for our family.

The Shaping Power of Adversity

However, our journey took an unforeseen turn during Nicaragua’s revolution in 1978. Our country was thrust into a state of war. I still remember the scenes of violence and chaos—the tanks on our neighborhood streets and bullets piercing our doors. It was a tough lesson in survival. I was only 10 years old and learning about the value of life at such a young age.

We stayed in Nicaragua through a change in government, hoping for a better future. Those years challenged us with rationed food – beans, rice, and occasional chicken. The turning point was when the government planned to recruit children for the Iran-Contra Affair. My father did not want that life for me and made the courageous decision to leave Nicaragua for the United States, leaving my brother and mother behind.

A Journey Fueled by Determination

Our family had a single mission: for my father to obtain his medical license in the United States. We did everything we could, starting with my mother, who took her first job everin Nicaragua, working night shifts in a factory to support our efforts. Through her actions, my mother set an example of leadership, all while maintaining her kindness and love for our family. It was a challenging journey, but it made us resilient.

A decade of dedication and perseverance led to my father finally earning his medical license in the United States at the age of 78. His passion for his work continues to this day.As a family, we often look back on these days as happy days, not sad days. These were days of family, and days of effort. We obviously had days when we cried, but days when we laughed too.

As a father, I hope my own children appreciate the hard work, discipline, and consistency my brother, sister, and I demonstrated throughout these trying times. I am blessed that my inspiration and role models are my family and our history, and that in addition to my parents, my brother, sister, wife, and children are the engines in my life. They constantly help me to be my best and drive me forward to achieve my goals.

Leadership Shaped by Heritage

As a Hispanic leader, I incorporate these experiences in my day-to-day interactions with colleagues. The determination and support I see in my family are guiding principles. Challenges, whether personal or professional, are met with the knowledge that if we overcome those complex situations, we could overcome anything—we just need to have the will to do so.

My siblings and I took full advantage of the opportunities our parents provided, and we work hard every day to make them proud. We lead by example, building our families to understand the sacrifices made on our behalf. We aim for success to show our parents the results of their efforts.

To all aspiring leaders, Hispanic or otherwise, I offer these insights:

Know your dreams and turn them into goals.
Understand your strengths and follow your passion, but ensure it aligns with your natural talents. (I wanted to be a singer, but I can’t carry a tune!)
Stay humble; titles are just titles.
Prioritize being a person first and a leader second.
Embrace the lessons learned from your parents’ sacrifices and seize opportunities.
Embracing a Culture of Family

In my role as a leader, I aim to instill these values in my teams. The Hispanic culture is deeply rooted in family, and when we treat our colleagues as family, we foster a more productive and supportive environment. I witness my teams going the extra mile, not out of obligation but because they genuinely care about each other’s success.

My vision for US Commercial is to cultivate a culture where we genuinely care for one another. An “I have your back” culture has been instrumental in our success. This mindset extends across the organization, and I’m fortunate to have sales leadership that shares this perspective.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage

Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to share the richness of my culture – from its traditions to its vibrant food. It’s also a responsibility to give back to the country that welcomed me. As an immigrant, I am grateful and mindful of my role in adding value through my contributions to this beautiful country.

  Hispanic Heritage Month is a time for reflection. This year, I spent time thinking about what it truly means to be a Hispanic leader at Cisco.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the latest certifications from Cisco Learning and Certifications! That’s right, I’m happy to share some details on the three newest Cisco Specialist certi… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the latest certifications from Cisco Learning and Certifications! That’s right, I’m happy to share some details on the three newest Cisco Specialist certifications with you all. And all three relate to that topic that continues to be on the minds of every engineer, IT leader, and company—the CLOUD!

Every hero deserves an origin story…

Cloud is clearly an important topic for us all in the IT world today, and we knew that cloud-related certifications belonged in the Learning and Certifications portfolio of tech career certifications.  But we wanted to do them right.

Join me on a short little trip back in time, if you will.

It was June 2022, and I was in Las Vegas for Cisco Live.  It was an excellent event, of course, but it was also the first time in a long time that we’d been able to get together as a Learning and Certifications team in person.  One evening as a team dinner was finishing up, I found myself sitting with Par Merat, VP of Learning and Certifications, and Joe Clarke, Distinguished Engineer extraordinaire for Learning and Certification.

We started talking about what should come next for certifications from Cisco (a topic that we talk about a lot.. certs don’t stand still), and Cloud, of course, came up.  After brainstorming some ideas, a theme started to form.  We wanted to make sure any new cloud certification targeted aspects of the cloud that Cisco and Cisco Certified engineers had significant roles to play. We also realized that a single all-encompassing “Cisco Cloud Certification” wasn’t practical.  Cloud is too big and broad a topic. The idea of use case targeted concentrations came up, a certification that directly aligned to the types of projects that our community was being asked to do every day.

As an example, I brought up something I’d heard so many network engineers talk about working on for their companies.  They were being asked to connect their corporate network WANs to the public cloud networks in a way that offered consistency in design, engineering, and operations.  They needed to integrate the cloud networks into the corporate networks and didn’t just want to “bolt it on.” So I floated an idea for a “Secure Cloud Connectivity” certification that focused on this problem and the Cisco technology and solutions that could help solve this problem today.

The idea resonated, and it eventually became “Designing and Implementing Cloud Connectivity,” the first of the three Multi-Cloud Certifications that came out of this concept.

Bring out the certs!!!!

This brings us back to today, and I’m so happy with the approach we took for these certifications and the three new Professional-level specializations that we’ve released.

The first one announced was the already introduced “Designing and Implementing Cloud Connectivity” certification.  This certification is part of the Enterprise Professional track and covers the architecture, technology, and operation of the secure network interconnections between public and private clouds using Cisco technologies.  What is really exciting to me about this certification is that it recognizes that there are several possible ways to build network bridges between clouds and that network engineers must balance the business and technical requirements of their enterprise when evaluating and selecting what is right for a project.

If you are an enterprise network professional managing the connections to the public cloud, this is a certification you should definitely check out.  The first date to test is September 20th, 2023 – which is almost here!  As a concentration exam in the Enterprise track, it can be combined with a pass on the “Implementing Cisco Enterprise Network Core Technologies” (ENCOR) exam to earn your CCNP Enterprise certification.

The second new cloud certification is “Designing and Implementing Secure Cloud Access for Users and Endpoints” which lives in the Security Professional track and has what might be the coolest sounding acronym of all of our certifications, “SCATZ”. With SCATZ, we wanted to target the change in how enterprises are providing users access to applications and data.

When I first started at Cisco about 13 years ago, nearly every application, internal website, wiki, data share, or tool I needed to do my job required that I establish a VPN into Cisco’s network.  This was to ensure that only authorized users accessed the important systems within Cisco’s corporate network.  Today that is not the case.  There are very few times that I have to open up AnyConnect and connect to Cisco’s VPN network anymore.  That doesn’t mean that Cisco isn’t worried about security, quite the opposite, Cisco is hyper-aware of security.  But we are also very focused on user experience and making systems easily and consistently available.  With updates in our security portfolio from Duo, Umbrella, Firepower, and Secure Analytics, we can now provide consistent and effective security to Cisco’s global and very hybrid workforce without forcing each of us to be tethered to a VPN connection at all times.

The SCATZ concentration exam evaluates security professionals’ ability to design and implement these types of solutions for their own enterprises.  It’s a fantastic addition to the security concentration options for candidates looking to earn their CCNP Security after passing the “Implementing and Operating Cisco Security Core Technologies” (SCOR) exam.  The first date to sit for SCATZ is November 20, 2023.

The last of the three cloud certifications is “Designing and Implementing Cisco Service Provider Cloud Network Infrastructure” because as cool as it is to consume cloud services, someone still has to build it.  After all, the best definition of “the cloud” is “someone else’s computer”.  While this certification is in the Service Provider Professional track, I think it is worth a look by any enterprise or data center professional building private cloud as well.  It explores all the virtualization, automation, and building infrastructure at scale topics that are key to offering robust, on-demand cloud services to meet the ever-increasing user expectations.  It is also full of some very cool network technologies that make me want to fire up Cisco Modeling Labs and start labing to prepare to take the exam.  And I’ve still got time to prepare, the first date to test for this certification isn’t until January 20, 2024.

What about training?

What would a Cisco certification be without training classes and materials to help candidates get prepared?  Well, it probably wouldn’t be a Cisco certification at all.  🙂

Our training content development team has been hard at work building new Cisco U Learning Paths and Instructor Lead training courses to help candidates learn all the ins and outs of these exciting cloud use cases and get ready to take and pass these new exams.  These training classes will include the same high-quality hands-on lab experience that you’ve come to expect from official Cisco Learning content. Just get a look at this topology that will be part of the “Designing and Implementing Cloud Connectivity” course.

The classes are in development now, so stay tuned for details on when they’ll be available to Cisco U subscribers to dive into.  And definitely ask your favorite Cisco Learning Partner when they plan to begin offering the new classes.  Even with the availability of so much on-demand technical training content, I still love the opportunity to work with an expert instructor and learn how something works.  The non-scripted parts of the learning and being able to ask questions and dive down some technical threads in class are so valuable.

Well, that’s about it for now.  I hope you are as excited about these new cloud certifications as we are.  Which one are you thinking about taking first?  Are you already studying and want to be one of the first to earn the new specialization?  Let me know in the comments!

Resources

Exam topic blueprints

Designing and Implementing Cloud Connectivity v1.0 (ENCC 300-440)

Designing and Implementing Secure Cloud Access for Users and Endpoints v1.0 (SCAZT 300-740)

Designing and Implementing Cisco Service Provider Cloud Network Infrastructure (SPCNI 300-540)

Community spaces

Enterprise Networking Certifications Community

Security Certifications Community

Suggested learning materials that support the exam topics

Secure Cloud Analytics

Secure Network Analytics

Cisco U. training resources

Understanding Cisco Hybrid Cloud Fundamentals (CLDHCF 1.0)

Foundations of Cloud Services and Cloud Computing

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