In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations are constantly seeking innovative solutions to streamline their network management and maximize operational efficiency. Cisco and Red Hat,… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations are constantly seeking innovative solutions to streamline their network management and maximize operational efficiency. Cisco and Red Hat, a renowned provider of open-source solutions, have long established a strong relationship. This alliance has now been further fortified by the introduction of the official Meraki Ansible Collection, empowering network administrators to leverage the power of automation and orchestration for Meraki devices.

The Cisco Meraki and Red Hat collaboration powers automation

Cisco and Red Hat have a long-standing partnership, rooted in the shared commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions and simplifying the lives of IT organizations. Red Hat’s open-source expertise and Cisco’s extensive portfolio have harmoniously combined to provide customers with innovative and reliable technologies. This relationship has laid a strong foundation for collaboration, driving advancements in network management and automation.

Ansible is an open-source automation tool that has gained immense popularity among IT professionals for its simplicity, flexibility, and scalability. It enables administrators to automate tasks, orchestrate complex workflows, and manage network infrastructure efficiently. By combining the power of Ansible with the cloud-managed networking capabilities of Cisco Meraki, organizations can take their network automation to new heights.

Recognizing the potential of automation in network management, Cisco Meraki partnered with Red Hat to develop an official Ansible collection tailored specifically for the Meraki Dashboard API. This collaboration capitalizes on Red Hat’s expertise in open-source solutions and Cisco Meraki’s industry-leading networking technology, culminating in a comprehensive automation framework that simplifies and streamlines network operations.

Key features of the Official Ansible Collection for Meraki

Simplified Network Automation: The Ansible collection for Meraki eliminates the need for manual configuration by providing pre-defined automation modules for common tasks. This simplifies the deployment and management of Meraki devices across the network.
Seamless Integration: The collection seamlessly integrates with existing Ansible playbooks and automation workflows, allowing network administrators to leverage their existing automation investments. It provides a standardized interface for interacting with Meraki devices, making automation more accessible and user-friendly.
Enhanced Efficiency: With the ability to automate repetitive tasks, network administrators can focus on strategic initiatives rather than spending time on manual configuration changes. The Ansible collection for Meraki enhances operational efficiency, reduces human error, and accelerates network deployment and management.
Extensibility and Customization: The collection’s open-source nature enables users to extend and customize its functionalities to meet their unique requirements. It fosters collaboration and innovation within the Ansible community, encouraging the sharing of best practices and automation scripts.

Benefits for network management

The partnership between Cisco-Meraki and Red Hat, resulting in the official Ansible collection for Meraki, brings several significant benefits to network management:

Increased Agility: Automation enables rapid provisioning, configuration, and scaling of network devices, allowing organizations to respond quickly to changing business needs and market demands.
Consistency and Standardization: The Ansible collection ensures consistent network configurations across all Meraki devices, reducing configuration drift and minimizing the risk of network vulnerabilities.
Enhanced Visibility and Control: Automation provides real-time visibility into the network infrastructure, enabling administrators to monitor device status, troubleshoot issues, and enforce policy compliance effectively.
Scalability and Future-Proofing: As organizations grow and expand their network infrastructure, the Ansible collection facilitates seamless scalability, ensuring that automation workflows can adapt to evolving requirements.

Getting started:

The new Ansible collection is going through Ansible’s community certification process and Red Hat certification process, targeting to be built-in Ansible version 2.16.0. To experience and leverage the collection today, you can start your journey with our DevNet Learning Lab.

If you already have Ansible installed, you may install the new collection using the following command:

ansible-galaxy collection install cisco.meraki -f

Open-source solutions and industry partnerships

The partnership between Cisco Meraki and Red Hat, culminating in the creation of an official Ansible collection for Meraki, presents an exciting opportunity for organizations seeking to enhance their network automation capabilities. By leveraging Ansible’s powerful automation framework, network administrators can streamline their operations, improve efficiency, and take full advantage of Cisco Meraki’s cloud-managed networking technology. This collaboration demonstrates the potential of open-source solutions and industry partnerships.

Related resources

Ansible Collection for Meraki
Meraki Ansible Collection documentation
Find additional developer resources on the Meraki Developer Hub
Get questions answered by the Meraki Community
Get hands-on learning with the Meraki Dashboard Ansible Leaning Lab

Acknowledgment

I would like to express our gratitude to Kevin Breit, whose effort three years ago gave birth to the community Ansible Collection for Meraki. Kevin’s dedication has empowered thousands of customers to integrate Meraki with Ansible. Kevin’s pioneering work has not only simplified network management for numerous organizations but has also laid the foundation for the remarkable collaboration we are celebrating today.

  See how the official Meraki Ansible collection, tailored specifically for the Meraki Dashboard API, enables network administrators to leverage the power of automation and orchestration for Meraki devices.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), you are responsible for helping to ensure that customer environments function smoothly, with both visible and behind-the-scenes elements operating seamlessly.… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), you are responsible for helping to ensure that customer environments function smoothly, with both visible and behind-the-scenes elements operating seamlessly. While network outages and website downtime may be attention-grabbing issues, managing the licensing requirements for Meraki networks are equally important.

Let’s explore the significance of licensing and how MSPs can leverage the Meraki Dashboard API to efficiently manage licenses at scale.

Licensing challenges faced by MSPs

For MSPs who manage many networks, relying solely on email notifications from the Meraki Dashboard can be burdensome. With the Meraki Dashboard API, MSPs can automate monitoring license expiration dates, track license usage, and perform other essential tasks. These tasks include renewing licenses, allocating licenses to devices, and meeting network compliance requirements. The API empowers MSPs to drive scale and efficiency in license management, freeing up valuable time and resources.

Benefits of API-driven license management:

Streamlined operations: The API allows centralized license management, eliminating the need for manual tracking and reducing the risk of oversight or human error.
Proactive monitoring: MSPs can receive real-time notifications about licenses nearing expiration or any other license-related issues, enabling swift action and preventing disruptions.
Scalability and efficiency: The Meraki Dashboard API supports the management of multiple networks, enabling MSPs to handle licensing requirements at scale without compromising efficiency.
Enhanced customer satisfaction: With automated license management, MSPs can support uninterrupted network functionality, enhancing the customer experience and preventing business interruptions.

Understanding Meraki licensing models

Meraki offers two licensing models: Per-Device and Co-Term. With the Per-Device model, each device in the network is licensed individually. If a license expires, only the associated device is affected. Conversely, Co-Term licensing groups all licenses together, determining the expiration date based on the time frame covered by all licenses. This method simplifies license management by aligning expiration dates.

Co-Term licensing is very popular with MSPs. Because an entire organization can be shut down if it is out of compliance, it is critical to keep licensing current. The following content covers how to use the Meraki Dashboard API to manage this licensing model.

Organizational licensing overview

To manage Co-Term licensing, access the getOrganizationLicensesOverview API. Doing so returns the three following objects:

1) status:string—Current organization licensing status.

Status is one of the following:

OK: There are at least as many license types as devices in the organization, and the license is not within 30 days of or past the expiration date.
License required: There are more devices in the organization than licenses.
License expired: Licenses have expired.
Trial expiration: The trial license has expired.
License expires soon: Co-Term license expires in the next 30 days.

2) expirationDate:string—The date on which the combined organization licensing expires. (Note: This does not include any grace periods that are currently in effect for other licensing issues.)

3) licensedDeviceCounts:array—List of applied license types and counts.

Examples

In the first example provided below, the organization is under-licensed; there are more devices than active licenses. To correct this situation, you must query getOrganizationDevices and compare the output to the licensedDeviceCounts array to see which devices are under licensed. Then, you can either remove the extra devices or purchase more licenses. You must collect this data daily and log the date you first see the “License Required” status to determine when the 30-day grace period ends, and your devices will no longer function.

“status”: “License Required”,

“expirationDate”: “Mar 16, 2023 UTC”,

“licensedDeviceCounts”:

“MS120-24P”: 6,

“MX65”: 8,

“wireless”: 12,

“MS120-48FP”: 1,

“MS220-24P”: 1,

“MS210-24P”: 1

In the second example, the license has expired, and you must purchase new licenses for all devices. After purchase, you apply them using the claimIntoOrganization API.

“status”: “License Expired”,

“expirationDate”: “Oct 15, 2022 UTC”,

“licensedDeviceCounts”:

“wireless”: 36,

“MS120-48LP”: 9,

“MX100”: 1,

“MS225-48FP”: 5

In the third and last example, your organization’s licenses will expire within 30 days. If you do not apply new licenses by Nov 14, all the devices in the organization will no longer operate.

“status”: “License Expires Soon”,

“expirationDate”: “Oct 15, 2023 UTC”,

“licensedDeviceCounts”:

“wireless”: 36,

“MS120-48LP”: 9,

“MX100”: 1,

“MS225-48FP”: 5

Efficiently managing Meraki network licenses is an essential task for MSPs. While critical issues such as network downtime may create concern, neglecting license status can have severe consequences. By leveraging Meraki Dashboard APIs, MSPs can automate license management, monitor expiration dates, and perform necessary tasks efficiently. This proactive approach helps ensure network compliance, enhances customer satisfaction, and streamlines operations for MSPs managing networks at scale.

Cisco Partner Managed Services offerings and benefits

If you are a Cisco partner and want to learn more about Meraki APIs, please register for the upcoming session of Managed Services Voice of the Engineer. During the October 2023, session, the Americas Partner Organization (APO) will offer an overview of the Meraki Dashboard API, review how to use it as part of a partner-enabled managed services offering, and explore the benefits for Cisco partners and your customers. Each month, our team focuses on a different MSP-relevant topic. If you are interested in becoming a Cisco Partner, you can learn more by visiting Cisco’s Partner Program and Cisco Partner-Enabled Managed Services.

Register for the Managed Services Voice of the Engineer
#GoManaged

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Climate change is one of the most existential challenges our world faces today. Every year there is more and more pressure on executives and corporate boards to support sustainability efforts. The… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Climate change is one of the most existential challenges our world faces today. Every year there is more and more pressure on executives and corporate boards to support sustainability efforts. The challenge is not only in setting sustainability goals, but also in following through successfully. Cisco is innovating to help our customers lower emissions, increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon footprint, as well as provide visibility and insights to support our customer’s sustainability initiatives.

Today, companies are thinking about their sustainability efforts as part of a larger strategy for driving business outcomes, accelerating innovation, and creating a competitive edge. IT is playing an increasingly important role in advancing an organization’s sustainability approach. However, developing a strategy and path toward achieving sustainability goals isn’t easy.  80% of business leaders claim that technological innovation will play a significant role in their whole organization’s transformation to a net zero business model, while at the same time 75% of senior IT decision-makers say IT-related emissions are one of the most challenging to improve. Despite a strong commitment to sustainability, most organizations will miss their targets if they do not accelerate the pace of their emissions reductions.

Measuring Carbon Emissions: Scopes 1-3

Cisco has been reporting on sustainability since 2005. As part of our purpose to power an inclusive future for all, we have set ambitious environmental sustainability goals, including a goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across our value chain (Scopes 1, 2, and 3) by 2040. We plan to reach 90% reduction for Scopes 1 and 2 by 2025, and we plan to reduce absolute Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services, upstream transportation and distribution, and use of sold products 30% by 2030.

When working towards GHG emissions goals, it’s important to realize that measuring emissions is not the same across all three scopes. Scopes 1 and 2 are considerably easier to quantify and resolve as emissions are either directly or indirectly related to operations owned or managed by the company. Scope 3, on the other hand, can span the company’s entire value chain including third parties. If companies are truly committed to their sustainability goals, they need a strategy and actionable approach that can help solve for these Scope 3 emissions challenges.

Delivering Sustainable Solutions

Cisco is innovating to help customers accelerate their sustainability goals and commitments.

Energy Management. Cisco is unlocking the potential to standardize visibility and insights from the data center to the campus to help our customers accurately measure their emissions. We are embedding energy management capabilities across our portfolio to turn the network into a control plane to measure, monitor, and manage energy.
Connecting power and data with Energy Networking. Cisco is also developing energy networking solutions to help accelerate automation and management of energy consumption for new use cases. Our work connecting power and data to support sustainability is helping to distribute energy more simply and safely.

Cisco is delivering sustainable solutions and offers which can give customers the flexibility and choice to leverage technology one use case at a time.

Data Center Solutions. We are building a foundation for sustainability in data centers that can decrease energy consumption, increase energy efficiency, and provide cloud-managed sustainability. Our solutions support use cases such as cooling efficiency, environmental monitoring, power optimization, and more. As AI demands grow, the demands on the data center infrastructure will require significant upgrades to entire ecosystems and architectures.
Cisco Smart Buildings and Intelligent Workspaces. Our solutions can help customers get insights into their physical space to create a workplace that is safe, smart, and seamless. Customers can address use cases around occupancy, environmental wellness, building controls, and lighting. The ongoing transition to hybrid work is further underpinned by connecting POE across every endpoint and device.
Internet for the Future. Cisco innovation can help Service Providers increase capacity and scalability while reducing energy consumption, space, and maintenance cycles.

Getting Started on the Net Zero Journey

We continue to invest in accelerating sustainability technology across our portfolio through Cisco’s Engineering Sustainability Office. From design to go-to-market, we work directly with our engineering teams to build sustainability into our portfolio roadmaps. We partner with Cisco’s Chief Sustainability Office, Supply Chain, and Legal teams to address evolving energy efficiency and emissions metrics to help our customers on their journey to net zero.

The work we are doing to embed sustainability into the core of our business and our solutions can help our customers make progress toward their own sustainability goals. To successfully move forward, customers need comprehensive visibility — a plan to modernize and measure — and an end-to-end approach to long-term sustainability.  Here is how you can get started:

Get maximum visibility. To be successful, you need a way to gain a comprehensive view into your existing emissions footprint and use that as a benchmark to measure your progress. Cisco’s embedded energy management capabilities can give you the help you need to measure your emissions and your carbon footprint.
Modernize and measure. Once you know where you stand, create an action plan to help you progress towards net zero. Cisco can help you modernize your infrastructure to use hardware built using circular design principles. Modernizing your IT infrastructure can help improve performance, increase energy efficiency, and reduce your overall footprint. Once you’ve optimized your IT infrastructure for sustainability, monitor and measure your energy consumption. You can get real-time insights into your network with energy management capabilities embedded in Cisco’s core offerings including Nexus Dashboard, Cisco Intersight, and Cisco IoT and Meraki Sensors.
Build a foundation for end-to-end sustainability. Rethink your strategies around your operations management for IT, OT, and energy networks to focus on automation, energy, and resource efficiency. Reduce your environmental impact end to end by reusing or recycling end-of-use equipment. Cisco offers product lifecycle circular IT programs and services that can help reduce environmental impacts. Cisco reuses or recycles nearly 100% of the equipment that is returned to us.

Together, Cisco’s solutions and our long-standing focus on sustainability can help businesses and IT make choices with an eye towards a more sustainable future. Let’s take the next step toward building a sustainable future together.

For more information best practices for your sustainability journey,
please read our newly published white paper:

CIO/IT Leader Guide: Getting Started on Sustainability

  Cisco is innovating to help our customers lower emissions, increase energy efficiency, reduce their carbon footprint, as well as provide visibility and insights to support our customer’s sustainability initiatives. Here are practical steps to getting started on the Net Zero journey.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Record-breaking climate extremes are increasing the urgency to produce more clean energy.

European countries surrounding the North Sea are determined to quadruple offshore wind energy capacity this… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Record-breaking climate extremes are increasing the urgency to produce more clean energy.

European countries surrounding the North Sea are determined to quadruple offshore wind energy capacity this decade, which would make the North Sea the largest green energy plant in the world.

At the core of expanding offshore wind energy is ScottishPower Renewables, part of Iberdrola, a global energy leader and the number-one producer of wind power in Europe. ScottishPower Renewables developed Scotland’s first commercial windfarm nearly 30 years ago, which has successfully delivered decades of green electricity for the community. Scotland is, after all, the windiest country in Europe. ScottishPower Renewables currently operates more than 40 offshore windfarms throughout the world.

To fast track the building and operating of offshore windfarms is no simple task. Besides the challenges of the environment itself, there is often no telco services available offshore; as a result, reliable fixed and wireless network technologies are required along with the ability to connect critical remote systems. Security is a top priority as secure communications are essential for the windfarms.

To build new windfarms quickly and efficiently, network and communications technology must be easy to deploy, manage, troubleshoot, and upgrade. Also essential is a standard, scalable design that is repeatable for every build.

Developing a blueprint to simplify large-scale projects pushed forward quickly with Iberdrola’s offshore wind power project in the English Channel at Saint-Brieuc in Brittany, France. When fully operational, the windfarm will generate clean energy for around 835,000 people from 62 turbines.

To develop this project, the company requires communications from onshore and offshore substations to data centers and from ocean vessels to offices. The vessels house the people who construct the windfarm.

ScottishPower Renewables partnered with the Cisco IoT team to produce the Cisco Validated Design (CVD) for offshore windfarms. Developing a CVD to meet all requirements involved Cisco meeting and gathering requirements from offshore windfarm operators as well as wind turbine manufacturers; Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors; Telecom Systems Integrators (TSI); and other Cisco partners that provide offshore services. A robust solution was developed with support from the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC).

The CVD was designed as both robust and resilient to improve network reliability and availability in offshore conditions. The design includes a comprehensive technology stack that covers the important elements for windfarm construction, operations, and maintenance.

Because the Cisco Validated Design is comprehensively tested, it can be deployed without the typical risk that comes with custom-designed plans. The CVD was thoroughly vetted in the lab by Cisco experts who captured and shared best practices, and Cisco will continue to share learnings from the first pilot project at Saint-Brieuc.

ScottishPower Renewables is in the midst of an ambitious growth plan, investing almost £3 billion between now and 2025 to increase renewable energy generation capabilities. Making it easier and quicker to develop new projects is more important now than ever. Green energy, specifically wind power, will be a core element of a net zero future.

Learn more

ScottishPower Renewables Case Study
Cisco Validated Design (CVD)
Solution Brief for Renewable Energy— Offshore Wind

  Building and operating offshore windfarms is no simple task. ScottishPower Renewables and Cisco IoT created a repeatable networking design to simplify deployment and increase flexibility for future services and applications.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Today, I’m thrilled to announce that Cisco Secure Access – the foundation to securing connectivity to all applications across your hyper-distributed environment – is generally available. With Cisco S… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Today, I’m thrilled to announce that Cisco Secure Access – the foundation to securing connectivity to all applications across your hyper-distributed environment – is generally available. With Cisco Secure Access, your end-users can do their best work, securely accessing any application (web, SaaS, or private) with one experience, from anywhere.

Announced in June at Cisco Live – customer reaction has been consistent, strong, and positive.  Their enthusiasm and intense interest sparked robust customer engagement and fostered order momentum. With points of presence (POPs) and customer trials across all regions – Americas, EMEA and APJC – we are promoting the general availability of the service.

Cisco Secure Access is an evolution of Cisco Umbrella Secure Internet Gateway (SIG), our premier cloud-delivered security solution for secure internet access. Cisco is developing a ‘step-up’ program to enable existing SIG customers to take advantage of the expanded services, including the new ZTNA and VPNaaS capabilities.

What are we solving for?

Let’s just say it. Securing hyper-distributed environments is difficult and complex, with users working virtually anywhere and accessing a plethora of resources across the internet, public SaaS apps, and private apps, in data centers and the cloud.

Forty-three percent of surveyed IT/security leaders report that remote/hybrid workers represent the greatest security risk. And approximately fifty percent of those same leaders cite a variety of reasons why workers are frustrated with application access.[i] Those go hand in hand and contribute to unacceptable levels of risk.

Customers need a smarter way to manage connectivity from anything to anywhere, while simultaneously protecting against savvy, sophisticated attackers. They want broad application of zero trust principles to increase granular control and security. And they want to lower IT complexity and reduce security tool sprawl. In short, they want security that’s better for users, easier for IT, and safer for everyone.

However, technology alone cannot sufficiently answer these persistent challenges. Minimizing risk in modern security environments also depends on empowering an exceptional user experience and addressing IT complexity and inefficiency.

Cisco’s new-age approach to SSE – Cisco Secure Access

While many vendors promote Security Service Edge (SSE) solutions, most offer a collection of disparate components requiring multiple consoles and agents. This simply shifts the complexity problem to the cloud.

Cisco has been converging cloud-native security functionality for many years and has taken a holistic approach to SSE. Our single console is powered by a modern, zero trust focused architecture to deliver pin-point control and least privileged access to the entire spectrum of applications. The fully unified set of core SSE capabilities include zero trust access (ZTA), secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS).

Cisco has extended well past the core to also include DNS security, Remote Browser Isolation (RBI), multi-mode Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) insights, VPN as-a-Service (VPNaaS), as well as multiple AI security elements into an elegant solution with a single subscription. Our frictionless private app access delights end users. They just login and get to work. The benefits of least privilege and zero trust enforcement, single console, and a single agent empower the IT team to block more threats with less effort. The result is a solution that mitigates risk and drives higher productivity for both users and the IT team.

Why Cisco Secure Access?

Zero Trust Access (ZTA) Relay: Cisco’s comprehensive ZTA private access technology enables organizations to break through the traditional limitations of rigid first generation ZTNA solutions. Secure Access utilizes new, high efficiency protocols (MASQUE and QUIC) and relay technology. This enables hyper-granular zero trust control, bi-directional obfuscation, and improved performance while reducing resource exposure and protecting the full spectrum of private applications.

Single agent: One easy to manage agent empowers a broad set of security functions to simplify the security process for managed devices. Zero trust-powered clientless access extends least privilege controls to BYOD and contractor devices.

Single console: One unified console makes it easy to configure the broad set of Secure Access functions. One policy engine reduces the effort to secure internet, SaaS, and private app access. Consolidated reporting improves detection and reduces investigation time. All these capabilities are supported by a modern, high speed, hybrid POP model that provides global coverage and rapid expandability.

Artificial intelligence: Cisco has embraced AI and machine learning to turn the massive Talos threat intelligence telemetry into faster incident detection and stronger protection against both existing and emerging attack tactics. At the same time, we provide control and security for your users and data when they access AI applications. You can detect and block the use of specific AI apps. Additionally, you can apply DLP policies to protect sensitive data such as intellectual capital and source code when users are accessing public AI services.

If you want to reduce risk in your distributed environment, while increasing user productivity and empowering IT with a new level of control and efficiency, visit Cisco Secure Access. Start your journey today.

Resources

[i] “Keys to Successful SSE: Supporting User Experience, IT Efficiency, and Security Efficacy, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), September 2023

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Who is ACW and what do they do?

ACW, a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest technology manufacturers and services companies, faces a pressing challenge – a shortage of skilled workers on a global … Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Who is ACW and what do they do?

ACW, a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest technology manufacturers and services companies, faces a pressing challenge – a shortage of skilled workers on a global scale. This conglomerate, boasting hundreds of manufacturing clients worldwide, seeked to address this issue by introducing their innovative ACW Eagle Remote Worker & Out-of-Band Management Solution, geared towards enhancing equipment accessibility and security. In short, ACW’s mission is to provide a seamless solution, enabling better accessibility, easy deployment, and efficient management integration.

In the backdrop of a changing work landscape marked by hybrid work models and increasing staff turnover, manufacturing organizations have recognized the urgency of real-time virtual knowledge sharing. ACW’s Remote Worker, built on Cisco and Moderro’s collaboration technology, is designed to bridge this knowledge gap. Moderro’s knowledge delivery system introduces a new dimension of real-time video calling and virtual collaboration for both experts and end users.

This technology promises several advantages:

Improved Collaboration: Manufacturers can now swiftly connect with vendors and technical experts worldwide, fostering efficient communication.
Zero Downtime through Enhanced Efficiency: Manufacturing customers receive timely support, improving project turnaround times by promptly accessing remote expertise.
Remote and Hybrid Manufacturing Work: The solution enables secure remote and hybrid work environments for manufacturers, with Cisco’s secure communication solutions ensuring data safety.

The Remote Worker solution positions ACW ahead of its competitors, promising superior service for its clients.

ACW Pilot

The ACW Remote Worker solution underwent a successful pilot deployment on the manufacturing floor of ACW’s partner in Taiwan. This involved equipping CN machine lines with tablets accessible to operators. When issues arise, operators can initiate a video call with an expert, who can assess the problem, control tablet cameras, share screens, send text messages, and offer image hints. This streamlines the process, reducing problem resolution time from potentially hours to mere minutes.

Mr. Huang, Production Line Manager, emphasizes the efficiency and timeliness of this solution. He highlights the contrast between the traditional method of contacting engineers through emails or phone calls and the immediate video interaction provided by ACW’s Remote Worker. Additionally, features like document and photo sharing enhance communication between operators and engineers.

ACW plans to leverage this solution to support its parent company’s manufacturing plants and service-based clients, anticipating that it will facilitate global collaboration among manufacturing experts.

The Future for ACW

In the future, ACW aims to integrate its Remote Worker solution with a Hybrid Work Software Suite. This approach promises rapid and efficient replication in various manufacturing settings, presenting an attractive proposition for companies seeking to stay competitive globally. Leveraging a diverse Cisco product portfolio, ACW can expand the solution to incorporate seven Cisco software solutions, including Webex, Umbrella, DUO, Thousand Eyes End Point Agent, Secure End Point Advantage, AnyConnect, and Meraki System Manager.

This comprehensive suite empowers companies to secure, connect, and collaborate effectively, enabling manufacturers to harness the potential of their existing systems while benefiting from remote expertise, revolutionizing project collaboration in the manufacturing industry.

Please visit our Portfolio Explorer for Manufacturing

Additional Resources

Moderro Remote Expert Solution

ACW

Moderro Remote Expert Solution on the DevNet

  ACW, a subsidiary of a global technology giant, confronts a worldwide skilled labor shortage. They've introduced the ACW Eagle Remote Worker Solution to enhance Equipment Accessibility & Security, striving for seamless accessibility and efficient management.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Codes of Conduct may be used as appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers under Article 46 of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Today, the EU Cloud Code of Conduct… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Codes of Conduct may be used as appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers under Article 46 of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Today, the EU Cloud Code of Conduct (EU Cloud CoC) General Assembly is proud to release a draft version of the Third Country Transfers Module for public consultation.

In July 2023, the European Commission passed the long-awaited adequacy decision to restore lawful and secure transfers of personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the United States (US). The adequacy decision supports personal data flows between any entity in the EEA and US companies participating in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (EU-US DPF). Cisco welcomed the news, celebrating the efforts of the European Commission and US agencies to rebuild trust in data transfers between some of the world’s largest economies.

This decision could not have been possible without addressing the underlying fundamental human rights and civil liberties concerns – including binding safeguards that limit access to data by US intelligence authorities to only what is “necessary and proportionate” to protect national security – and establishing an independent and impartial redress mechanism available to EEA data subjects. Similar framework arrangements with the United Kingdom and Switzerland are awaiting formal adequacy decisions and are expected shortly. Cisco is an active participant in the EU-US DPF and UK Extension, as well as the Swiss-US DPF.

The need for supplementary measures

While the decision offers some relief, the future of the DPF remains uncertain and legal challenges have already begun. Two previous adequacy decisions made by the European Commission – Safe Harbor and Privacy Shield – were struck down in 2015 and 2020 respectively by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Correspondingly, the European Data Protection Board’s (EDPB) recommendations on measures that supplement remaining transfer tools created previously unforeseen legal responsibilities for companies of all sizes through assessments of third country laws and practices in pursuit of “essential equivalence” (i.e., transfer impact assessments). The defying outcome of legal uncertainty around transfers became obvious – GDPR had become a de facto, data localization standard.

A tool to address legal uncertainty and administrative overhead

The Third Country Transfers Module (the Module) under the EU Cloud CoC was launched against this background of legal uncertainty and administrative overhead that arguably further endangers fundamental rights and freedoms. Conversely, a cloud service provider (CSP) adherent to the Module warrants it has no reason to believe the laws of the non-EEA countries receiving personal data would prevent the CSP from honoring its obligations under the EU Cloud CoC. Read more about the Guidelines 04/2021 on codes of conduct as tools for transfers.

The Module builds upon relevant CJEU decisions: EDPB Recommendation 01/2020 on measures that supplement transfer tools to ensure compliance with the EU level of protection of personal data and Guidelines 04/2021 on codes of conduct as tools for transfers, amongst other legal requirements. It aims to provide scalable, sustainable, and demonstrable compliance mechanism for cloud providers whose power lies in service catalogues that identify appropriate technical, contractual, and organizational supplementary measures to be adopted by adherent services.

The service catalogues represent tailored transfer impact assessments that are not only attuned to the nature, scope, context, and purposes of personal data processing, but also contain assessment of the third country laws and practices and their influence on a particular transfer. As such, code-adherent cloud services eliminate the requirement for users of cloud services to conduct case-by-case assessments as required by other transfer mechanisms, such as Standard Contractual Clauses. Service catalogues could also be understood as “off-the-shelf nutrition labels” for third country transfers that incorporate fundamental rights considerations while supporting economic growth through “data free flows with trust.”

Next steps for an effective and accountable cross-border transfer solution

Before any Code of Conduct can be used as a Third Country Transfers tool, it must be approved by the EDPB and given general validity by the European Commission. Together with the General Assembly members, Cisco invites those interested in reviewing this preliminary draft to contribute to the shaping of an effective cross-border transfer solution for trusted cloud environments. We look forward to partnering with broader stakeholder groups to advance mechanisms and practices that support demonstrable accountability for effective data privacy.

Cisco and the EU Cloud CoC

Cisco has been a proud supporter of the EU Cloud CoC since its inception in 2017 – from ideation, to development, to adherence of our services, to additional tools like the Third Country Transfers Module. In November 2021, Webex by Cisco (Webex) was declared adherent to the EU Cloud CoC and in July 2023, the first collaboration platform to achieve its highest adherence level (3) – another testament to Cisco’s commitment to data protection and to delivering secure technologies. As Cisco’s EMEA Privacy Officer and the Co-Chair of the Third Country Transfers Module, I am greatly honored and proud of our team’s contribution and am looking forward to learning from this public consultation.

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In today’s interconnected world, where cyber threats are evolving at an alarming rate, cybersecurity has become a paramount concern for individuals, businesses, and governments alike. The landscape… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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In today’s interconnected world, where cyber threats are evolving at an alarming rate, cybersecurity has become a paramount concern for individuals, businesses, and governments alike. The landscape of attacks is constantly shifting, requiring innovative solutions to protect sensitive data and digital infrastructure. One approach that has gained significant traction is the integration of cybersecurity products with cutting-edge technologies.

Cybersecurity product technology integrations that are based on Open Ecosystems can significantly enhance threat detection and prevention capabilities. By combining multiple security solutions, organizations can create a comprehensive defense mechanism that leverages the strengths of each individual product. Such integrations enable organizations to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities more effectively, thereby reducing the risk of successful cyberattacks.

Collaboration among cybersecurity products through integrations creates a synergistic defense approach. By sharing threat intelligence, data, and analysis, integrated solutions can identify patterns and correlations that might otherwise go unnoticed. For example, integrating endpoint protection with a threat intelligence platform allows for real-time information exchange, enabling faster detection of emerging threats and the deployment of necessary countermeasures across the network. By embracing Open cybersecurity product integrations, organizations can establish a robust cybersecurity ecosystem that safeguards critical assets and upholds the integrity of our digital world.

Cisco is committed to Open Ecosystems with a framework for third parties to plug into. All of Cisco’s new security and networking products have exposed APIs for multi-vendor product integrations. Our DevNet program is aimed at helping both developers and infrastructure professionals to harness the power of our APIs. The integrations can also include vendors we compete with, because collectively we can work together to strengthen our defenses and defeat our real adversaries

It’s been an exciting fiscal year for Cisco Secure with the launch Cisco XDR and Cisco Secure Access. Our Open ecosystem integrations with 3rd parties with the Cisco Secure Technical Alliance (CSTA) continued to grow and thrive. In this annual round-up we have added over new 30 integrations taking our integrations count to over 500. Congratulations to the new partners and to those that augmented their existing integrations. To see more details on each partner integration in this announcement, please read through the individual partner highlights below.

Happy Integrating.

More details about our partners and their integrations:

[1] New Cisco XDR Integrations

Endpoint Detection and Response

We announced Integrations with five leading EDRs with Cisco XDR reaching General Availability. These include CrowdStrike Falcon Insight XDR, SentinelOne Singularity, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Trend Micro Vision One, Cybereason Endpoint Detection and Response and Palo Alto Cortex XDR. Read more here.

Cohesity – XDR Ransomware Recovery

Once they’re affected by a ransomware attack, companies today are faced with a tough choice, either pay the ransom or hope they can restore from backup. But even then, the chance that the backups are too far out-of-date, or worse, corrupted, makes these situations expensive and frustrating. Cisco XDR has eliminated the need for companies to make that difficult choice by partnering with infrastructure and enterprise data backup and recovery vendors, like Cohesity, to reduce the amount of time between a ransomware outbreak, and a snapshot of the business-critical information, to near-zero. Read more here.

Cisco Secure Web Application Firewall (Radware WAF) 

Radware has collaborated with Cisco to bring visibility into Radware’s Cloud WAF platform within SecureX. This integration enables visibility into Radware Cloud WAF within the Cisco SecureX platform, which is designed to provide a single interface for administrators and operators to perform threat hunting, research, and automation across their install base. New capabilities include support for ipv6 and Command Center widgets (dashboard tiles). Read more here.

[2] New Cisco Secure Endpoint Integrations  

D3 Security SOAR

The Secure Endpoint integration with D3 Security SOAR enables automation of essential tasks, including: Add/remove file from block list by Hash, intake events, create Group, Isolate/Un-isolate Computer, and more. Read more here. 

eSecure SecureVisio

eSecure SecureVisio integrates with Secure Endpoint to automate response to threat detection, including: Check user activity, find machines where application is detected, Host isolation / remove from isolation. Read more here.

Splunk

The Secure Endpoint app is now cloud ready and Splunk v9.0 compliant! Version 3.0 is available on Splunkbase. Read more here.

[3] New Cisco Cloud Security Integrations

Conceal.io

Conceal has integrated with Cisco Umbrella allowing our joint customers to bring Cisco’s protection to every web interaction. Conceal delivers on-demand browser isolation for unknown or suspicious web content extending the security and detection capabilities of the Umbrella platform regardless of where the web call comes from application, mail, chat or browser. Customers connect our solutions by entering their integration details into the Conceal Platform allowing isolated browsing sessions to honor existing Cisco policy configurations. Read more here.

SaasYaan

SaasYaan provides AI-powered online student safety for K-12 schools, enabling schools with advanced alerting of cyberbullying, self-harm, online grooming & threats of violence, easy reporting of student online activities, and flexible cybersecurity controls for the classroom. With Cisco Umbrella and SaasYaan, school administrators can easily monitor student activity by analyzing our DNS within SaasYaan’s data lake, taking blocking action when necessary. Read more here.

KnowBe4

KnowBe4’s SecurityCoach is the first real-time security coaching product created to help IT and Security Operations teams further protect their organization’s largest attack surface — their employees. SecurityCoach integrates withKnowBe4’s new-school security awareness training platform and Cisco Umbrella to deliver immediate feedback to users at the moment risky behavior occurs. Read more here.

Elevate Security

Elevate Security now brings context from Cisco Umbrella to its platform that authenticates the risk of users most likely to cause a security breach. It puts together Umbrella’s unique insight with other leading security technologies to make nuanced, risk-based decisions at identity management providers and other enforcement points to minimize the likelihood of an incident. Read more here.

[4] New Cisco Firepower Next-Gen Firewall Integrations

Lumu Technologies

Lumu joins CSTA as a new partner. Lumu detects threats and makes automatic policy changes to Secure Firewall to protect the enterprise. Cisco Firepower and Lumu enable efficient cybersecurity operations through an integrated solution for network detection and response. Read more here.

Amazon Security Lake

The Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center integration with the AWS Security Lake cloud-based data lake enables you to store firewall logs in the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework. Read more here.

Network-Perception

With a focus on OT environments and compliance, Network-Perception automatically retrieves configuration from Secure Firewall and Secure Firewall ASA to identify potential configuration risks and vulnerabilities, alert key users of potential risk situations in near-real-time and have Network Engineers review an interactive visual representation of the network topology for cyber risks. Read more here.

Profitap

Using Profitap’s Network Packet Brokering appliances, Secure Firewall customers can gain visibility into more network traffic without disrupting the network. Profitap provides network by pass allowing the firewall appliance to be removed from the network without downtime and traffic continues in the event of a hardware failure. Customers also benefit from packet de-duplication, tunneling and de-tunneling, packet slicing, aggregation, load-balancing, replication and more. Read more here.

CrowdStrike Falcon XDR

CrowdStrike Falcon XDR data ingestion from Cisco ASA helps monitor network threats continuously in real time. Read more here.

[5] New Secure Malware Analytics Integrations

D3 Security SOAR

The Secure Malware Analytics integration with D3 Security enables automation of essential tasks, including: detonate file, get threat summary, get Behavioral Indicators, check IP/URL reputation. Read more here.

Corelight

This integration enables Corelight to send files extracted from network streams to Secure Malware Analytics for analysis. The integration was used effectively in the Black Hat USA NOC. Read more here.

[6] New Cisco Duo Integrations

Datawiza

Datawiza provides a new cloud-native access proxy to enable SSO, MFA and granular access control for applications and APIs. Datawiza + Duo provides secure access for self-hosted applications that don’t support SAML or OAuth with easy, no code development. These applications include critical homegrown applications and 3rd-party business applications, like Oracle JD Edwards (JDE),PeopleSoft, E-Business Suite (EBS) and Siebel. Read more here.

Revelstoke

Revelstoke is a radically simple security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) platform that empowers analysts with effortless automation and provides CISOs with comprehensive insight so the entire SOC team can work faster, smarter and more efficiently to defend their networks. Revelstoke + Duo speeds up the amount of time it takes to be notified of a security event and provides contextual UEBA to understand behavior patterns. Read more here.

Cohesity

Cohesity delivers a multi-cloud platform for data management services designed to consolidate silos onto one web-scale platform, spanning on-premises, cloud, and the edge. Duo + Cohesity integration lets organizations easily provide secure access to Cohesity with Duo SSO. Ensuring only verified users on verified devices are accessing Cohesity’s data management platform. Read more here 

Bigtincan

Bigtincan provides a platform for organizations to empower customer-facing teams to increase engagement and gain more revenue. Bigtincan’s integration with Duo SSO makes it easy for employees to login to their portal and manage their customer tracking. Read more here.

Artic Wolf

Arctic Wolf provides security monitoring to detect and respond to cyber threats. Arctic Wolf’s integration with Duo allows them to ingest and monitor logs from Duo. Making it easy for teams to bring all their security products together for comprehensive monitoring. Read more here.

ServiceNow

Add two-factor authentication and flexible security policies to ServiceNow SAML 2.0 logins with Duo Single-Sign On. Our cloud-hosted SSO identity provider offers inline user enrollment, self-service device management, and support for a variety of authentication methods. Read more here.

Panther

We have two integrations with the cloud-based SIEM, Panther. Duo SSO for Panther for secure access, Universal Prompt, Passwordless…all the goodness. Also Duo log ingestion to analyze user access, monitor unexpected behavior and identity suspicious visits from offline devices. Read more here.

Inuvika

Customers that utilize Inuvika OVD Enterprise can now use Duo to provide secure access to their Linux and Windows applications and desktops no matter what device they are on. This integration was built with Duo’s APIs. Read more here.

Rapid7

Protect access to Rapid7 with Duo SSO and give organizations the opportunity to go passwordless and utilize Duo’s flexible security policies. Read more here.

Pathlock

Pathlock (formerly Appsian, formerly Greyheller) has updated their Duo integration to support the Duo Universal Prompt. Customers can utilize the new integration today to protect access to PeopleSoft. Read more here.

[7] New Cisco Secure Email Gateway Integrations

CrowdStrike Falcon XDR

CrowdStrike Falcon XDR data ingestion from Cisco Secure Email Gateway helps monitor email threats continuously in real time with threat prioritization. Read more here.

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

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  The Cisco Secure Technical Alliance (CSTA) continued to grow and thrive. In this annual round-up we have added over new 30 integrations taking our integrations count to over 500.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco security is excited and ready for another exciting, action-packed season in the NFL!

The number one responsibility of any NFL lineman can be summed up in one word: Protection. Protect the… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Cisco security is excited and ready for another exciting, action-packed season in the NFL!

The number one responsibility of any NFL lineman can be summed up in one word: Protection. Protect the Quarterback. Protect the Kicker. Protect the Running back.

And before any running back accelerates through a hole, he hears the voices of countless coaches from throughout his years of development: “Protect the football.”

Without protection, success becomes difficult to achieve. One breach in protection could end a potential scoring drive or result in a turnover.

If anybody understands the importance of protection, it’s the NFL.

When it comes to protecting cyber infrastructure, the stakes are just as high. Any breach can have devastating consequences.

And that’s why Cisco is excited to continue its partnership with the NFL for the 2023 season. Cisco is An Official Cybersecurity Partner of the NFL and will secure and protect critical aspects of gameday operations, including the fan experience at stadiums and locations across the country throughout the season.

“Cisco’s extensive experience securing large events and their deep understanding of the threat landscape ensure that we were well-prepared as we head into a new season,” said Tomás Maldonado, NFL Chief Information Security Officer. “I am extremely appreciative of the entire Cisco team and their support. We will continue working together to refine our network and security planning and execution for some of the most exciting and most visible events in the country.”

Cisco’s complete security architecture will provide end-to-end visibility with a combination of on-premises hardware and cloud-based software, including Cisco Secure Firewall, Cisco Secure Malware Analytics, and Cisco Umbrella. All solutions are fed intelligence from Cisco Talos , an elite group of security experts devoted to providing superior protection for our customers, products and services. Cybersecurity experts from Cisco Talos Incident Response and Cisco Customer Experience (CX) services will once again support the NFL on-site to prepare for the event and respond to potential threats during the games to prevent disruptions.

“We are honored that the NFL will once again trust Cisco technology and talent to ensure vital operations remain resilient throughout the season,” says Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO at Cisco. “We share the vision that connectivity will reshape the sports industry and redefine what is possible to elevate the sporting and fan experiences, but we also have a responsibility to ensure it’s done securely.”

Defenses will do anything to get to the Quarterback, from running blitzes to deceptive coverages. But like a great offensive line, Cisco Security dialed up a perfect protection game plan last year against attacks and threats for Super Bowl LVII. The post-game stats are impressive!

16,714 security intelligence events blocked by Cisco Secure Firewall, powered by Cisco Talos.
416,000 blocked connections to/from block listed areas of the world through the Cisco Secure Firewall geo-blocking capability.
8,884 intrusion events identified, analyzed, and triaged by the Cisco Security Monitoring Team.
Analyzed 95 million DNS requests from the NFL and associated network users leading up to and during the game so they could quickly access and share uninterrupted game content with fans.
Blocked more than 187,000 DNS requests, preventing access to malicious websites.

The road to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas begins now, and Cisco Security will be there every step of the way, game by game, stadium by stadium, event by event. But fans and NFL employees will probably not even notice that we are there. They’ll just be able to enjoy their favorite teams and all the exciting action, safely and securely, from home, in the stadium or around the globe.

To learn more, check out the latest video on the Cisco / NFL partnership.

Don’t miss out on the on-demand LinkedIn event, “Game Changing Security: How Cisco is connecting and protecting the NFL,” featuring Carrie Palin, Cisco SVP & CMO, Cisco and Cathy Lanier, the Chief Security Officer for the NFL.

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

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  Cisco is the NFL’s trusted technology partner and will secure critical aspects of game day operations again this season at stadiums across the country.  Read More Cisco Blogs