Cisco Systems

Cisco planning to buy Jabber

Judi Hasson — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:44:06 -0400

A deal is in the works for Cisco to purchase the instant messaging platform vendor Jabber, a Denver-based company that has developed a "carrier class" platform based on open standards that can work across multiple messaging systems. These include AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger and Office Communication Server.

The move that could heighten Cisco's battle with Microsoft over the collaboration and office communications market. Cisco senior vice president Doug Dennerline said the company intends to use the technology to become "the interoperability benchmark in the collaboration space." Just a few weeks ago, Cisco laid down another challenge to Microsoft by announcing plans to buy PostPath, maker of email and calendaring software.

For more on Cisco's plans:
- check out this TechWorld.com article

Cisco announced Nexus 1000V virtual switch

Paul Mah — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:19:32 -0400

Cisco has announced the first third-party virtual switch designed to be natively supported in VMware's ESX enterprise virtualization software. Cisco's Paul Fazzone notes that his company is in effect "virtualizing the link between the network and the virtual machine." The technology is virtualization-aware and allows for policies and management to make the virtual machines work better. Among other things, VMware's VMotion migration technology is also supported. This collaboration between Cisco and VMware will also see the companies working together to integrate VMware's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solution within Cisco's Application Deliver Networking solutions. The expected result will be improvements in the performance of virtual desktops delivered across the WAN.

For more on Cisco's new virtual switch:
- check out this TechNewsWorld article

IT certification practice exams pose risks

Judi Hasson — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:41:54 -0400

If you are taking an IT certification exam, beware of "study materials" from TestKing, Pass4Sure and many other similar test-preparation online sites. These sites advertise high-quality practice questions and answers that prepare you to take the real test. However, CIO.com reports that such practice materials are often being provided for sale illegally, and contain the actual questions and answers for tests offered by Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, HP, CompTIA and dozens of other certifying agencies.

"In other words, they are stolen goods,'' according to the publication.

If you are caught, you could be accused of cheating, and it could harm your career. Vendors and third-party agencies that offer IT certifications are cracking down on cheaters to preserve the value of the certifications. The bottom line: Prepare for certification exams legitimately, use the study materials recommended by the owner of the exam, and never buy or use sample questions and answers from unauthorized sources.

For more on the risks:
- check out this CIO.com article

Microsoft relaxes licensing rules for VMs

Paul Mah — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:01:46 -0400

As expected, Microsoft on Tuesday announced changes to its licensing policy that makes it easier for companies to shift to virtualization. A licensing cap previously mandated that virtual machine hosts could only be migrated to a different physical server once every 90 days. That served as an artificial restriction severely handicapping advanced business continuity and functionality, as well as attempts to reduce energy consumption in the data center.

According to Microsoft, the change applies to 41 server titles, including enterprise versions of SQL Server 2008, and other enterprise-centric products such as Exchange Server 2007. Moving ahead, Microsoft also plans to support its software running inside virtual machines from VMware, Cisco Systems, Citrix, Novell, Sun Microsystems, and Virtual Iron with the same support as their non-virtual counterparts.

To learn more Microsoft's licensing policies:
- check out this CNET News article

Brocade to acquire Foundry Networks

Paul Mah — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:04:28 -0400

Brocade Communications has made known its intent to acquire Foundry Networks in a deal valued at $3 billion. Foundry is a 12-year-old company dealing in switching and routing for the enterprise and service provider niches. With some 1,100 employees and operations in major parts of the world, it reported $607.2 million in revenue and $81.1 million in profit. In comparison, Brocade reported $1.2 billion in revenue and 76.9 million in profit. The acquisition will result in a company that will be a much stronger rival to market leader Cisco. The board of directors for both companies expects the acquisition to close in the fourth quarter of this year, though the deal is subject to the approval of Foundry's shareholders and government regulators.

For more about the report:
- check out this InformationWeek article

Technologies for remote support

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:34:58 -0400

Providing IT support to remote offices is not any easy task, with every network requiring attention to the architecture, security and performance planning. InformationWeek took a close look at technologies that can make for more efficient remote office management, including IP telephony, server and desktop virtualization, WAN optimization, unified threat management devices, and instant messaging. The review is thorough and the recommendations come with all the positives and the negatives. Server virtualization, for example, was recommended even for small locations because of benefits that include better improved utilization and faster deployments. WAN optimization was described as a straightforward concept: "Stick an appliance on both sides of a WAN link and, voilà, faster traffic. No clients to load, no messing with the firewall [maybe]. There are plenty of vendors to choose from: Blue Coat, Cisco, Citrix, F5, Juniper, Packeteer, and Riverbed..." But--and there is always a but--it is recommended that you test before you buy because performance is dependent on application load.

To get all the "remote" details:
- see this InformationWeek.com article

Cisco chief sees no spending recovery this year

Paul Mah — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:23:48 -0400

In a move that resulted in some analysts cutting their forecasts for the company, as well as one that caused some tremors in its stock price, Cisco chief John Chambers has publicly voiced his opinion on the outlook for the technology sector. In a nutshell, Chambers "no longer" expects the recent slowdown in tech spending to recover, at least not until 2009. Where Cisco is concerned, no specific outlook was provided in terms of sales growth, though Chambers apparently said that most Cisco customers "won't ramp up spending until early next year." Chambers' remarks come at a time when the economy continues to stagger under record fuel prices and an ongoing housing slump.

For more on Cisco's outlook at tech spending this year:
- check out this CNNMoney article

Cisco CEO: We don’t need to own VMware

Paul Mah — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:16:08 -0400

At a round-table discussion, Cisco CEO John Chambers declared that "Our ideal acquisition is 100 engineers with a product just about to come to market." He said that in reaction to questions posed by reporters on whether Cisco would try to acquire either storage giant EMC or virtualization leader VMware, of which EMC already owns a majority stake. He further elaborated that the margins "aren't good" when it comes to storage devices, probably lending fuel to opponents who have long decried Cisco hardware for being overpriced. Still, Cisco will continue broadening its relationship with key players in the data center such as EMC, VMware and even IBM.

For more about what James Chamber said:
- check out this Network World article

Turn real-time data into BI

Judi Hasson — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:10:33 -0400

Today, sensors are everywhere. They are used by food and pharmaceutical companies to keep temperatures and humidity stable during transportation and in warehouses; by government and civil engineering firms to monitor public infrastructure like bridges and dams for structural integrity; and by electric utilities and corporations to manage, distribute and use power more cost effectively. Now technology experts are looking at linking sensor data into the IT networks not just for tracking and monitoring, but to combine and analyze this data with other business indicators to identify long-term trends and gain competitive insight. Seems simple enough, but Jeff Platon, of Cisco Systems, said integration of such data is a complicated matter because of the technical issues and cultural barriers existing between plant mangers who control sensor data and CIOs who run enterprise IT.

For more on sensors:
- check out this Computerworld.com article

Top vendors form WiMAX patent alliance

Paul Mah — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:19:03 -0400

A group of six major vendors have announced the creation of a patent alliance to ensure that companies are able to access WiMAX technologies at predictable costs. The Open Patent Alliance (OPA) is made up of Cisco, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, Clearwire, Samsung and Sprint. Another six to nine companies are expected to join the organization.

Companies interested in creating WiMAX equipment can approach the OPA directly, resulting in a "competitive and open intellectual property rights model." In turn, it is hoped that the WiMAX industry will be stimulated to create a healthy ecosystem. This way, it will be easier to reach the critical mass of equipment and users necessary for WiMAX to truly take-off.

For more the Open Patent Alliance:
- check out this CNET News.com article