The world of computing is undergoing a revolution with two powerful forces converging: Quantum Computing (QC) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). While GenAI is generating excitement,… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The world of computing is undergoing a revolution with two powerful forces converging: Quantum Computing (QC) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). While GenAI is generating excitement, it’s still finding its footing in real-world applications. Meanwhile, QC is rapidly maturing, offering solutions to complex problems in fields like drug discovery and material science.

This journey, however, isn’t without its challenges. Just like Dorothy and her companions in the Wizard of Oz, we face obstacles along the yellow brick road. This article aims to shed light on these challenges and illuminate a path forward.

From Bits to Qubits: A New Kind of Switch

Traditionally, computers relied on bits, simple switches that are either on (1) or off (0). Quantum computers, on the other hand, utilize qubits. These special switches can be 1, 0, or both at the same time (superposition). This unique property allows them to tackle problems that are impossible or incredibly difficult for traditional computers. Imagine simulating complex molecules for drug discovery or navigating intricate delivery routes – these are just a few examples of what QC excels at.

The Power and Peril of Quantum Supremacy

With great power comes great responsibility and potential danger. In 1994, Peter Shor developed a theoretical model that could break widely used public-key cryptography like RSA, the security system protecting our data. This method leverages the unique properties of qubits, namely superposition, entanglement, and interference, to crack encryption codes. While the exact timeframe is uncertain (estimates range from 3 to 10 years), some experts believe a powerful enough quantum computer could eventually compromise this system.

This vulnerability highlights the “Steal Now, Decrypt Later” (SNDL) strategy employed by some nation-states. They can potentially intercept and store encrypted data now, decrypting it later with a powerful quantum computer. Experts believe SNDL operates like a Man in the Middle attack, where attackers secretly intercept communication and potentially alter data flowing between two parties.

The Intersection of GenAI and Quantum: A Security Challenge

The security concerns extend to GenAI, as well. GenAI models are trained on massive datasets, often containing sensitive information like code, images, or medical records. Currently, this data is secured with RSA-2048 encryption, which could be vulnerable to future quantum computers.

The Yellow Brick Road to Secure Innovation

Imagine a world where GenAI accelerates drug discovery by rapidly simulating millions of potential molecules and interactions. This could revolutionize healthcare, leading to faster cures for life-threatening illnesses. However, the sensitive nature of this data requires the highest level of security. GenAI is our powerful ally, churning out potential drug candidates at an unprecedented rate. But we can’t share this critical data with colleagues or partners for fear of intellectual property theft while that data is being shared. Enter a revolutionary system that combines the power of GenAI with an encryption of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) which is expected to be unbreakable. This “quantum-resistant” approach would allow researchers to collaborate globally, accelerating the path to groundbreaking discoveries.

Benefits

Faster Drug Discovery: GenAI acts as a powerful tool, rapidly analyzing vast chemical landscapes. It identifies potential drug candidates and minimizes potential side effects with unprecedented speed, leading to faster development of treatments.
Enhanced Collaboration: PQC encryption allows researchers to securely share sensitive data. This fosters global collaboration, accelerating innovation and bringing us closer to achieving medical breakthroughs.
Future-Proof Security: Dynamic encryption keys and PQC algorithms ensure the protection of valuable intellectual property from cyberattacks, even from future threats posed by quantum computers and advanced AI.
Foundational Cryptography: GenAI and Machine Learning (ML) will become the foundation of secure and adaptable communication systems, giving businesses and governments more control over their cryptography.
Zero-Trust Framework: The transition to the post-quantum world is creating a secure, adaptable, and identity-based communication network. This foundation paves the way for a more secure digital landscape.

Challenges

GenAI Maturity: While promising, GenAI models are still under development and can generate inaccurate or misleading results. Refining these models requires ongoing research and development to ensure accurate and reliable output.
PQC Integration: Integrating PQC algorithms into existing systems can be complex and requires careful planning and testing. This process demands expertise and a strategic approach. NIST is delivering standardized post-quantum algorithms (expected by summer 2024).
Standardization: As PQC technology is still evolving, standardization of algorithms and protocols is crucial for seamless adoption. This would ensure that everyone is using compatible systems.
Next-Generation Attacks: Previous cryptography standards didn’t require AI-powered defenses.  These new attacks will necessitate the use of AI in encryption and key management, creating an evolving landscape.
Orchestration: Cryptography is embedded in almost every electronic device. Managing this requires an orchestration platform that can efficiently manage, monitor, and update encryption across all endpoints.

The Journey Continues: Embrace the Opportunities

The path forward isn’t paved with yellow bricks, but with lines of code, cutting-edge algorithms, and unwavering collaboration. While the challenges may seem daunting, the potential rewards are truly transformative. Here’s how we can embrace the opportunities:

Investing in the Future: Continued research and development are crucial. Funding for GenAI development and PQC integration is essential to ensure the accuracy and efficiency of these technologies.
Building a Collaborative Ecosystem: Fostering collaboration between researchers, developers, and policymakers is vital. Open-source platforms and knowledge-sharing initiatives will accelerate progress and innovation.
Equipping the Workforce: Education and training programs are necessary to equip the workforce with the skills needed to harness the power of GenAI and PQC. This will ensure a smooth transition and maximize the potential of these technologies.
A Proactive Approach to Security: Implementing PQC algorithms before quantum supremacy arrives is vital. A proactive approach minimizes the risk of the “Steal Now, Decrypt Later” strategy and safeguards sensitive data.

The convergence of GenAI and QC is not just a technological revolution, it’s a human one. It’s about harnessing our collective ingenuity to solve some of humanity’s most pressing challenges. By embracing the journey, with all its complexities and possibilities, we can pave the way for a golden future that is healthier, more secure, and brimming with innovation.

"}]]  GenAI & Quantum Computing forge a secure path across industry use cases. Where GenAI accelerates analysis, PQC safeguards data from future quantum threats. Together, they unlock a healthier future.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The ability to generate NetFlow from devices that do not natively produce it along with significant storage efficiency and improved workflows make for a significant update to CTB.

Cisco Telemetry… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The ability to generate NetFlow from devices that do not natively produce it along with significant storage efficiency and improved workflows make for a significant update to CTB.

Cisco Telemetry Broker (CTB) Release 2.1.3 is generally available as of March 25, 2024. All current customers are eligible to upgrade and should look at the release notes to better understand the upgrade process and any additional considerations.

Currently, all network telemetry-based analytics products require a separate connection to a telemetry exporting source.  Network visibility is often only available to certain areas depending on the expertise of the vendor and their chosen, often proprietary, protocols.

Infrastructure companies sell on premise monitoring tools, cloud providers sell cloud monitoring tools, etc. It has become exceedingly complex to have full network, application, and cloud visibility not just in one tool, but multiple. But what if customers could address this problem by creating an aggregator and translation service that ingests a variety of network telemetry and delivers it to your favorite analytics tools?  Cisco Telemetry Broker is the answer.

CTB vastly simplifies the consumption of telemetry data from your business-critical tools. It can broker hybrid cloud data, filter unneeded data, and transform data into a more usable format. CTB works to democratize telemetry for all.

This release delivers the innovation and usability that customers expect from the platform. By allowing NetFlow generation from SPAN traffic, dramatically improving storage and device performance and improve input workflow for the future, release 2.1 combines essential platform development with new features and enhancements.

Produces Telemetry for Devices that Cannot Generate NetFlow Natively

To support the notion of an intelligent telemetry plane, there is a need to generate NetFlow for devices that might not be capable of generating the protocol natively.  CTB 2.1 gives users the ability to use the SPAN traffic from a switch and generate NetFlow to any UDP collector, including and not limited to Cisco Secure Network Analytics (SNA), and Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics (SCA)/Extended Detection and Response (XDR) destinations.  This feature also Supports NetFlow over 1g/10g interfaces.

Vastly improve Disk Storage and Device Performance

Customers frequently run out of disk space on the CTB device, which jeopardizes the ability of the devices to function properly and can lead to delays or failures in the overall security and visibility architecture.  To address this challenge, we have decreased disk usage by using our database more efficiently.  In CTB 2.1 over 70% less disk space is used by the metrics database.  Additionally, the CTB Broker to CTB Manager data bandwidth was optimized which improves overall performance significantly and allows scalability of the Manager node.

Improve Input Type Workflow

We have generalized the way we handle input types to allow for a more diverse set in the future, so it will now be easier to add new and different input types in upcoming releases.  There is now a new UI framework for input configuration which is cleaner and more concise than the previous UI, preventing extensive searching and clicking.  Finally, the CTB User Interface (UI) is made consistent for all the input types – including CTB generated NetFlow.

By adding the ability to generate NetFlow from SPAN, drastically improving device performance, and building an input workflow for the future – CTB 2.1 continues to prove its value as a key tool for your SOC. We encourage you to review the release notes and speak with your local Cisco provider to begin planning your upgrade.

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

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"}]]  Cisco Telemetry Broker 2.1 is now GA and provides many great capabilities for customers including performance enhancements and the ability to generate Netflow.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The search for sustainable technology solutions has become a growing concern for developers. In support of this effort, the Cisco DevNet team is hosting Developer Sustainability Week, an online event… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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The search for sustainable technology solutions has become a growing concern for developers. In support of this effort, the Cisco DevNet team is hosting Developer Sustainability Week, an online event that coincides with the celebration of Earth Day. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or a tech enthusiast eager to contribute to a greener planet, this is your chance to be part of the change.

Developers are playing a major role in crafting solutions that not only drive innovation but also foster environmental responsibility. As Cisco continues to emphasize sustainability in its product offerings and operations, developers have a unique opportunity to contribute to these efforts through energy-conscious programming and responsible coding practices.

The developer’s role in a greener future

Developers can optimize software for Cisco devices to reduce their energy consumption. By writing efficient code, developers can minimize the processing power required to perform tasks, thereby lowering the energy demands of the hardware. This not only prolongs the life of the device but also translates into reduced electricity usage, which is beneficial for both the environment and the end-user’s utility costs.

Organizations like the Green Software Foundation and Open Sustainable Technology share best practices and open-source projects to help developers with their sustainability efforts. Cisco DevNet also has sustainability projects and code posted on DevNet Code Exchange.

Developer Sustainability Week: What to expect

As Earth Day approaches, remember that it’s not just a day but a milestone in environmental awareness that has been acknowledged since 1970. Cisco DevNet invites you to join a series of engaging online events and content throughout the week.

Kick off the week by exploring a new episode of DevOps Shop focusing on how DevOps practitioners can use code optimization, automation, and green coding techniques to help the environment. Tune in to the DevOps Shop playlist on April 22 on the Cisco DevNet YouTube channel. Be on the lookout for even more sustainability-related content throughout the week!

Energy Management and Sustainability Webinar on April 23

On Tuesday, April 23, Adrian Iliesiu will host a webinar that explores the vital role of programming in energy management for Cisco Catalyst systems, including SD-WAN and IOS-XE. If you are a developer, network engineer, or sustainability advocate interested in energy efficiency and reducing the ecological footprint of network infrastructures, this free session is for you!

Register here for the free webinar.

Energy Management and Sustainability Workshop April 25

On Wednesday, April 25, a hands-on coding workshop, led by Jeremy Cohoe and Story DeWeese, will guide participants through for coding for energy management on Cisco Catalyst products. As a bring-your-own-hardware (BYOH) event, you can apply this learning on your own devices. In this free workshop, you will get experience in coding for energy management on Cisco Catalyst products and learn coding practices that can be immediately applied to your own hardware for instant sustainability gains.

Register here for the free workshop.

A call for sustainable coding

Please join us for the events during Developer Sustainability Week. However, this week is more than just a series of events—it’s a community-driven initiative that empowers you to make a tangible impact on our planet through technology. Join us in this important effort to ensure a sustainable future, one line of code at a time.

"}]]  The search for sustainable technology solutions has become a growing concern for developers. In support of this effort, the Cisco DevNet team is hosting Developer Sustainability Week, an online event that coincides with the celebration of Earth Day. Learn about what DevNet is doing to celebrate Developer Sustainability Week and join a session.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Certifications are an excellent way to achieve self-improvement, greater technical knowledge, and higher career goals. They’ve always been personal and individual—until now. 

Advanced Unibyte GmbH (AU… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​[[ Instagram ]]  Advanced Unibyte GmbH (AU), based in Metzingen, Germany, takes on the CCIE certification as a team, earning their organization the Cisco Gold Partner status.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Join us as we dive deeper into Cisco and Cisco partner technology deployed at the Cisco Store! We asked Angela Huang (Product Manager, Meraki MT Sensors) to discuss how the sensors are used in the… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Join us as we dive deeper into Cisco and Cisco partner technology deployed at the Cisco Store! We asked Angela Huang (Product Manager, Meraki MT Sensors) to discuss how the sensors are used in the Cisco Store and the larger retail industry.

How do Meraki sensors improve a retailer and shopper’s in-store and/or virtual shopping experience? What problem are they solving?

Our Meraki MT sensors are designed to support healthy, safe spaces. They do everything from monitoring air quality, temperature, power usage and even access. And when it comes to the shopping experience — particularly in-store — providing a safe and healthy space is even more important. We see our sensors help in three primary ways:

Enhancing shopper comfort: The more comfortable a shopper is in-store, the more motivated they are to engage deeply with its products (and people!) and ultimately purchase. Comfort can mean everything, from temperature to humidity to air quality, and that’s exactly what our sensors can easily detect and alert retailers to.
One MT sensors customer, SAMSØE SAMSØE, is a Danish retail company with 60+ stores across Europe. They’ve set up MT14 indoor air quality sensors, using MV cameras as a gateway, to ensure that the temperature of their stories is precisely at 22°C, as they found that customer engagement is the highest at this temperature. Stores that are too cold discourage customers from trying on apparel, and on the flip side, stores that are too hot or humid cause shoppers to leave before they’ve had a chance to see the full store inventory. By using this solution that incorporates MT sensors, SAMSØE SAMSØE was able to make data-driven decisions and improve customer engagement.
Because our sensors are cloud-managed from our Meraki dashboard, retailers can not only act quickly and remotely, but they can view historical data to understand trends and adapt their stores accordingly.

Meraki MT14
Protecting sensitive inventory: Some organizations require precise in-store environments for their assets to remain usable and compliant, like grocery stores or food and beverage retailers. Our sensor can automate monitoring and alerting to temperature fluctuations, so retailers know when something is wrong and can have a historical log. There’s no longer a need to manually check each fridge to ensure they are compliant with regulations.
Supporting sustainability: Operating physical stores requires a lot of energy — keeping lights on, running internet, connecting all the smart devices, and more. Our sensors can help monitor and control power consumption, particularly during off-hours. Retailers can automatically power off devices such as display screens when stores are closed so they can reduce energy waste and, ultimately, operational cost. Even in our San Francisco Meraki office, we found that we could save thousands of dollars a year by powering off just a few Webex screens during off-hours!

What would you like people to know about Meraki sensors when they see them in action at the Cisco Store Tech Lab?

At first glance, they should almost be invisible — they were designed to blend seamlessly into any environment. But, if you do spot them, here’s what you need to know:

Yes, they are as easy to deploy as they seem. And they connect seamlessly to our entire Cisco Meraki portfolio. You don’t need to be a tech expert to set these up.
They’re efficient and don’t need to be changed out frequently. Our battery life can last up to 10 years!
Part of the magic of our sensors is our alerting capabilities, and we offer flexible options across SMS, email, push, and webhook.

How do you envision Meraki sensors being used in retail environments in the future?

In the future, stores will be able to search for and digest their sensor data more easily. Given that many stores tend to have multiple retail locations, which can sometimes be spread across different cities or states, it is important for store owners to be able to quickly look across their locations and identify where there are issues. We plan to release additional, more advanced reporting features that will summarize information in the most helpful way, including surfacing information such as alerting MTs, length of time of alerts, etc. This will help direct a store owner’s time and attention to stores that need it the most.

What do you think will be a priority for shoppers in the next 5 years?

Speed and convenience: Shoppers have more options than ever with regards to channels to purchase from. They want to be able to access, experience, and purchase products quickly.
Customization: With so many purchasing channels now available for customers, they will expect that the products they see will be customized to their preferences. Sharing products with shoppers that are aligned as well as possible to precisely what they are looking for will help them feel that it is a good shopping experience and will encourage them to return to that store in the future.
Ethics: Consumer awareness and desire to put their dollars towards products that reduce harm is growing. A study found that 82% of shoppers want brands to embrace sustainable and people-first practices, and three quarters of Gen Z shoppers cite that sustainability is more important than the brand name when making purchasing decisions. Stores can respond by assessing their value chain and ensuring that they are supporting ethical practices at each step, as well as sharing externally what they are doing to support sustainability.

Likewise, what do you think will be a priority for retailers in the next 5 years?

There will likely be close monitoring of physical environments to make the in-store experience as personalized as possible for shoppers. Secondly, retailers will begin to prioritize solutions that save store managers’ and associates’ time, so they can focus their attention on providing the best possible customer experience. And lastly, there may be a focus on differentiating the store from others to grab shopper mindshare.

Interested in learning more about Meraki MT sensors? Visit our page or request a demo now.

"}]]  Product manager Angela Huang explores how Cisco Meraki MT sensors provide a safe and healthy shopping experience.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Join the competition of a lifetime on May 2, 2024. Where alumni who had the
spark to train hard can compete on the grandest stage of all: the Cisco-Athlon.

Hard work and the desire to push oneself… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Join the competition of a lifetime on May 2, 2024. Where alumni who had the
spark to train hard can compete on the grandest stage of all: the Cisco-Athlon.

Hard work and the desire to push oneself to new limits define the greatest decathletes in the world—and our Networking Academy alums. Choosing to jump higher, throw farther, and run faster to attain a career in the digital field. It is with this backdrop that we excitedly announce our next Cisco Networking Academy Alumni Awards.

We encourage everyone to participate in this epic awards competition. A competition testing one’s strength, endurance, and agility to be recognized as the finest all-around digital professionals. And to prove that the great thinkers laying new forms of innovation aren’t limited to ancient Greece but among our alums who trusted Networking Academy with their education.

Two new awards

In addition to three awards returning from last year, the Changemaker, Rise Above, and Future Leader, there will be two new awards: the Protector and Social Visionary awards. Nominations open May 2 and close May 23 at 10 PM Pacific. An expert judging panel of Cisco executives will select winners and release names during a virtual awards event on June 27, 2024.

Changemaker Award

Recognizes an individual who looks past the obvious to discover what’s possible. Someone who is grounded with fresh thoughts and ideas and delivers exciting technology-enabled changes to the status quo. A visionary who asks: What’s new? What’s next? What’s better?

Rise Above Award

Honors an individual who believes “going the distance” is never an option but a mantra. They have shown amazing perseverance to get from here (personally) to there (professionally). Meeting challenges head-on, overcoming hardship and adversity, and emerging as an inspirational individual.

Future Leader Award

Recognizes early-career technologist launching their career while making a splash in the digital arena. Already becoming a significant contributor to their team and organization, demonstrating leadership beyond their experience. Making them an incredible role model. (For nominee with less than three years of experience).

Protector Award

Honors a true next-generation professional. One who steps up and protects our digital world from the escalating effects of cybercrime. No bad actor is too smart for them to stand up against. No challenge is too difficult. They thrive in the realm of preservation.

Social Visionary Award

Celebrates a visionary whose equitable perspectives are driving real change. They use their technological expertise to forge new inroads where dead ends have existed. Believing the expedition toward digital empowerment shouldn’t be a leap but a step for all.​

What winners will receive?

Award winners will receive a Cisco-engraved champion gold medal and prizes that support the runner in all of us: Apple AirPods, Revo sports sunglasses, an iconic Nike Legacy 91 cap, and a key chain. Plus, one champion will be awarded the Break Free prize. This lucky winner will receive a three-day trip to New York City with an Ultimate VIP ticket to the Global Citizens Festival in Central Park. The festival, meant to inspire action to end poverty, offers an incredible artist lineup and a great opportunity for our chosen alum to mingle backstage with Cisco executives.

A race to find all alums

Please help us ensure that everyone can participate. Download and share these flyers with fellow students and academy colleagues to get the word out.

Flyer for former students of Cisco Networking Academy
Flyer for former and current instructors of Cisco Networking Academy

Also, follow us on Cisco Networking Academy social channels so this opportunity isn’t missed.

Preview award criteria

And remember to nominate yourself from May 2-23, 2024!

"}]]  Join the competition of a lifetime on May 2, 2023. Where alumni who had the spark to train can compete on the grandest stage of all: the Cisco-Athlon.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

IT related outages and performance issues can inflict significant financial and operational harm on businesses, especially in critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, and e-commerce. These IT… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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IT related outages and performance issues can inflict significant financial and operational harm on businesses, especially in critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, and e-commerce. These IT disruptions not only impact productivity potentially costing enterprises billions annually, but also negatively affect end-users through poor experiences like delays and inaccessibility. The vitality of business applications is crucial, as their availability and performance directly influence stakeholder impact, operational continuity, and profitability. Resolving these issues is often complex and labor-intensive. Any system-related downtime or lapse in application performance can ultimately lead to long-term setbacks for an organization.

Typical Troubleshooting Scenario of IT Infrastructure Without ThousandEyes

As soon as an end-user reports an IT related issue, whether it’s a service outage or slow application performance, the formidable challenge of locating and fixing the issue begins. It’s often like searching for a “needle in a haystack.” The troubleshooting journey to uncover the underlying cause of the IT infrastructure related issues typically involves and unfolds with the following challenges:

Prolonged Troubleshooting and Finger Pointing – Organizations frequently encounter difficulties in addressing IT outages and performance problems due to limited network visibility and siloed IT teams. This situation fosters a blame culture and hinders collaboration, as teams focus more on debating the cause of issues rather than fixing them, leading to inefficient use of time and resources in Incident Response efforts.
Limited End-to-End Visibility – Infrastructure and operations professionals struggle to gain a complete and clear understanding of the end-user experience due to the “black box” nature of the Internet and inadequate traditional monitoring tools. These tools often fail to provide detailed performance data across devices, applications, and the Internet, complicating IT teams’ efforts to pinpoint root causes of issues.
Inefficient Resource Allocation – Addressing outages and performance issues consumes significant time and diverts IT resources from strategic initiatives. In-house monitoring systems frequently produce false alerts, misallocating resources and impeding the IT’s capacity to effectively maintain and optimize infrastructure performance.

ThousandEyes tackles these prevalent challenges by presenting an integrated solution with end-to-end visibility into both network infrastructure and application performance. This exceptional level of insight and actionable intelligence enables IT teams to work together with greater synergy, ability to pinpoint and rectify issues, and optimize the deployment of their IT operations resources. The unparalleled abilities of ThousandEyes sets it apart from other platforms by greatly enhancing the visibility and understanding of the components within an environment.

Enhancing Managed Network Services for Client Success

ThousandEyes, a Digital Experience Assurance (DXA) platform, equips organizations with comprehensive insights into user experiences and application performance across the Internet, cloud services, and internal IT infrastructure, thereby streamlining the optimization of essential network-dependent services and applications. This platform can significantly expedite problem resolution and reduce the resources required to address common infrastructure problems by offering the following benefits:

Visibility – ThousandEyes provides MSPs with a holistic view that encompasses their clients’ internal networks as well as external networks, cloud services, and SaaS platforms. This end-to-end visibility allows MSPs to oversee and address issues throughout the entire digital supply chain, from core infrastructure to the application level. With this extensive coverage, MSPs are equipped to quickly locate the source of any issue across the network spectrum, thereby shortening the time required to identify problems.
Troubleshooting – ThousandEyes streamlines the troubleshooting process by swiftly pinpointing the root causes of infrastructure related issues, whether they occur within the enterprise network or are due to external factors like ISPs, cloud providers, or SaaS applications. The platform fosters collaboration among IT teams by providing a unified data set, which helps eliminate finger-pointing and accelerates problem-solving, thereby significantly reducing the time required to resolve issues.
Digital Experience Assurance – ThousandEyes conducts comprehensive performance monitoring by tracking key network metrics like latency, packet loss, and jitter, along with application-level metrics that shed light on the user experience and the performance of web and API transactions. Additionally, the platform enhances DXA by simulating user transactions and scrutinizing the data pathways to end-users, ensuring that both customers and/or employees have effective access to business applications.
Alerting and Reporting – ThousandEyes enhances proactive IT management by providing intelligent alerting and comprehensive reporting. Users are notified of performance degradation in real-time and can access historical data and trend analysis for informed decision-making. This proactive alerting capability allows IT teams to identify and address anomalies early, potentially reducing the frequency and severity of incidents therefore minimizing their impact.
Optimization – Organizations can optimize network performance and enhance user experience by leveraging insights from both historical and real-time data on application and service delivery paths. This comprehensive understanding enables informed decision-making that not only addresses current performance issues but also helps prevent future ones, ultimately conserving time and resources.

ThousandEyes enhances organizational capability to deliver high-quality digital services through valuable insights and analytics, which strengthen network management capabilities and facilitate more effective decision-making and issue resolution. Although the extent of benefits or efficiency gains varies across different organizations, users commonly report marked improvements after implementing ThousandEyes, with some noting up to a 75% faster resolution of network problems and fewer outages and performance issues. Customers have reported substantial reductions in troubleshooting times, with tasks that previously took hours or days being cut down to mere minutes, thanks to ThousandEyes.

ThousandEyes Enhances the Service Offerings of MSPs, Greatly Improving the Overall Experience

Managed Service Providers can enhance their client’s network management and optimization by leveraging the following benefits of Cisco ThousandEyes:

Improved Service Level Agreements (SLAs): With detailed insights into network performance and the ability to quickly identify and resolve issues, MSPs can better adhere to, or further enhance their SLAs. This helps in maintaining a high level of service and can distinguish the MSP’s offerings in a competitive market.
Proactive Problem Resolution: ThousandEyes’ alerting system can notify MSPs of potential issues before they affect end-users. This proactive approach minimizes downtime and can help MSPs address problems before clients are even aware of them.
Enhanced Customer Experience: By ensuring that applications and services are running smoothly, MSPs can contribute to a better end-user experience for their clients’ customers. This is particularly important for customer-facing applications where performance directly impacts revenue and brand reputation.
Efficient Troubleshooting: With the comprehensive network telemetry from ThousandEyes, MSPs can swiftly identify the root cause, whether they stem from the client’s internal network, an ISP, or various cloud-based services. This capability decreases the average time required to resolve issues.
Data-Driven Decisions: The data collected by ThousandEyes can inform strategic decisions about network design, capacity planning, and performance optimization. MSPs can use this information to advise clients on how to improve their IT infrastructures.
Reporting and Communication: MSPs can use the detailed reports and visualizations provided by ThousandEyes to effectively communicate with clients about network health, ongoing issues, and resolved problems, enhancing transparency and trust.

ThousandEyes: Your Shortcut to Advanced Network Visibility

ThousandEyes simplifies deployment with its cloud-based SaaS model. It integrates smoothly into diverse environments using versatile agents, including the specialized Enterprise Agents—robust, dedicated monitoring nodes that provide deeper network insights. These Enterprise Agents can be deployed on-premises in data centers, within private clouds, or even across public cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure to monitor network and application performance. Additionally, ThousandEyes provides a browser extension designed for monitoring of user experience. Furthermore, its compatibility with Cisco and Meraki infrastructure streamlines integration, facilitating easy embedding into current deployments. The straightforward web management interface streamlines configuration, and the platform’s API accessibility supports automation, making ThousandEyes a highly adaptable and effortless choice for comprehensive network visibility.

MSPs Can Now Leverage Consumption-Based Licensing for ThousandEyes

In addition to traditional Enterprise Agreement licensing vehicles, ThousandEyes is now available through the Cisco Managed Services Licensing Agreement (MSLA), a program that was designed to meet the specific requirements of MSPs. This consumption-based licensing model is flexible and scalable, fitting the service-based business models of MSPs by allowing them to pay based on consumption. The MSLA program allows MSPs to adjust their ThousandEyes usage without complex contract changes, facilitating quick adaptation to evolving market demands.

MSPs and Their Clients Can Garner Significant Return on Investment

The integration of ThousandEyes by MSPs leads to a worthwhile ROI and an enhancement of their managed service offerings, providing benefits for both the providers and their clients. MSPs experience a marked improvement in their ability to offer advanced network visibility, comprehensive performance monitoring, and proactive issue resolution. These capabilities result in elevated service quality and increased customer satisfaction. End users reap the rewards of more reliable and efficient network services, experiencing fewer disruptions and thus less impact on their business operations. Moreover, the operational efficiencies introduced by ThousandEyes help reduce costs and free up valuable resources, enabling MSPs to focus more on business expansion and continued services improvement. In a time when digital transformation and dependency on Internet and cloud services are growing, having complete network visibility is essential. ThousandEyes is critical in this landscape, acting as a GPS for the digital world, offering insights and guidance for effective and efficient navigation.

Register for the Managed Services Voice of the Engineer session to learn more

Discover the Advantages of Cisco ThousandEyes and Explore its Total Economic Impact on Enterprise Networks

Check out my latest blogs for insights into Managed Services opportunities available to Managed Service Providers

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

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"}]]  ThousandEyes enhances organizational capability to deliver high-quality digital services through valuable insights and analytics, which strengthen network management capabilities and facilitate more effective decision-making and issue resolution.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Cisco Full-Stack Observability brings application observability together with security intelligence and risk assessment for comprehensive business-focused oversight

Businesses in all sectors and… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Cisco Full-Stack Observability brings application observability together with security intelligence and risk assessment for comprehensive business-focused oversight

Businesses in all sectors and industries report feeling more exposed to security threats. Recent Cisco AppDynamics research reveals that 89% of technologists say their organization has experienced an expansion in its attack surface over the last two years, and 46% state that this has presented increased challenges.

It’s not surprising. The operational teams tasked with fending off threats and shoring up vulnerabilities to protect their users, customers, technology infrastructure, and data face a threat landscape that has never been more challenging. Today’s applications live in a mix of on-premises, hybrid, and cloud-native environments that makes it complicated to run, integrate, observe, and secure them.

This presents an enticingly large attack surface to bad actors, and results in a vast and continually growing number of external threats for organizations to defend against.

The explosion of digital applications and the resulting torrent of telemetry data they and their dependencies generate have quickly made working existing methods of security monitoring and observability tools extremely challenging.

The volume of data to sort through coupled with the huge number of potential threats has meant disparate tools are bombarding ops teams with alerts, making it difficult to distinguish between alerts that seem urgent and those that are truly important.

Teams become overwhelmed by the noise caused by alert overload. They struggle to collect and correlate data across disparate systems, to determine where the threat or problem lies. That means they lack a complete picture of interdependencies that would accelerate root cause analysis.

Alerts also lack the context that allows teams to understand how any issue impacts user experiences, or the business.

For example, an alert may be marked as high priority if it’s likely to be exploited, but that only matters if exploitation could cause harm to the business. On the other hand, deprioritizing a hard-to-exploit vulnerability can be disastrous if penetration could lead to the leak of personal or critical business data.

When teams cannot accurately tie technology and security issues to business impact, issues that truly pose a significant risk to reputation and revenues may be placed further down the list of priorities than they deserve.

The Cisco AppDynamics report shows IT professionals are aware of the challenge. Ninety-three percent (93%) of them report that it is important to contextualize security and correlate risk as it pertains to applications, and in doing so, understand how to prioritize vulnerability fixes based on potential downstream business impact.

Business Risk Observability: Adding business context to security vulnerabilities

Cisco Full-Stack Observability allows organizations to move beyond traditional perimeter-based controls and towards a proactive, strengthened posture by securing applications based on business risk.

Business risk observability, a Cisco Full-Stack Observability capability, is an industry-first evolution in application security that helps teams prioritize security issues based on potential impact on their business. It combines threat context from multiple world-class Cisco security solutions with application contexts. Providing a stack-ranked, transaction-based business risk score for each individual threat that has been identified, it encompasses threat modeling and a risk-based analysis of an IT environment combined with business-transaction inputs. It also factors in the number of vulnerability instances, their potential severity, and the assets that are threatened.

Teams can understand the likelihood of exploitation and then see the location and impact of threats so they can accelerate response time with real-time remediation guidance including prescriptive actions to prioritize and address the most pressing vulnerabilities.

Data Security Posture Management Observability: Securing sensitive data

With businesses going digital and using more and more applications, data has grown exponentially. So, the need to secure this data is more important than ever. With Data Security Posture Management, teams can identify, classify, prioritize, and mitigate data risks and vulnerabilities along with helping ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

Secure what matters

In essence, Cisco Full-Stack Observability provides powerful and extensible ways to secure applications and data so each team can retain its core competencies while taking unified steps toward less risk and exposure. As a result, organizations can harness their IT architecture in support of core business objectives.

Join us for a webinar on prioritizing security risks with Cisco Full-Stack Observability

"}]]  When it comes to application security, Cisco Full-Stack Observability allows organizations to move beyond traditional perimeter-based controls and towards a proactive, strengthened security posture based on business risk.  Read More Cisco Blogs