Cloud is not a “one-size-fits-all” proposition  —  the right approach depends on your organization’s needs and priorities. Different service and deployment models must be adopted to match the requirements of different types of workloads. Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB): Many SMBs are already using public cloud services today, citing key benefits of value for the money, access […]

Cloud Computing Can: Accelerate your business by allowing you to transform ideas into marketable products and services with greater speed. Cloud can provide nearly limitless scalability, enabling your business to grow without time and resource intensive IT build-outs. Transform IT economics from capital-intensive to pay-as-you-go. Service level agreements guarantee the capabilities you need, when you […]

Cisco Systems recently released the findings from a research study they did asking IT Security Decision Makers/Contributors (ITSDMs) about tracking vulnerabilities and policy enforcement in the corporate environment. Highlights from the key findings are below: Software & Hardware The vast majority of ITSDMs monitor employees’ technology use to learn what security applications (63%) and/or OS employees […]

An organization’s network infrastructure, and the security that supports it, is a complex ecosystem that is always changing. What and whom the business needs to protect varies as well. Each new event  —  whether a merger or acquisition, hiring or downsizing, or a new product launch  —  has an impact on what the enterprise needs to protect. However, there […]

IPv4 address exhaustion and the move to IPv6, the need to implement DNSSEC, and the switch from 2-byte to 4-byte Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs), which marks a change to the Internet’s inter-domain routing structure, will ultimately change the way the Internet functions. Any one of these changes represents a significant architectural and operational challenge for […]

Industry analysts forecast a rapid formation of cloud offerings* by 2012, with IDC predicting the cloud services market topping $42 billion, and Dataquest predicting that 28  –  37% of all server shipments will be for cloud building. But before you dive in, you should ask a few questions. 1) What does your ideal partner look like? Identify […]

Currently, most enterprises mold their mobile security strategies around compliance measures  —  such as US  requirements like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)  —  relating to how personal information, both stored and in motion, is protected by businesses. Government regulations, the lawsuits, fines, and reputational damage that can result from noncompliance, and security breaches are all significant […]

(Excerpted & condensed from the Cisco Press book Network Security Auditing, written by Chris Jackson available June 4, 2010) To understand security, it is critical that you realize that security is a process, not a product. Security is a broad topic, and one of the few in information technology that literally touches all aspects of a […]

Some say that the best way to learn how to do something is by watching others. That can be a little tricky with routing and switching, but fortunately Cisco has published their own internal standards for IP addressing. Cisco’s global network engineers have learned to make IP address planning a required part of planning any […]

Are you in search of a good Cisco IP Telephony vendor? If so, stand in line and take a number. With the sudden emergence of Cisco Voice the need for voice engineers has increased. There are countless projects where companies are installing Cisco Voice, but there aren’t a lot of voice engineers to go around […]