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A few weeks ago, Cisco sponsored the 26th ARC Industry Forum, and it was truly a pleasure to be back together in person. We enjoyed meeting with leaders from various industrial sectors. They shared with us how the pandemic exacerbated their need for digital transformation. The challenges and opportunities of digitizing industries – including manufacturing, power utilities, oil and gas, public transportation, mining and more – were top of mind for everyone. Organizations are accelerating…

You’re a Python aficionado. Want to build a Python AXL administration and configuration app with a GUI? Have I got the solution for you. No, it’s not Tkinter or wxWidgets, which is based on the Gimp Toolkit (GTK). We’re talking Qt, one of the most popular frameworks for multiple platforms. wxWidgets has similar features, but I’ve never been a fan of GTK. Why not just build an app with a web interface? Good question. Way…

Learn more about Cisco Intersight – Blog 2 of 3 in a weekly series where we explore how to get the most from your vacation and hybrid cloud management.    You have just used an online travel aggregator site to plan your summer vacation. The day of your trip arrives, you’re exhausted before you even set foot on the beach. Getting to the airport, boarding the first of two flights, making a connecting flight, and…

Network visibility is getting murkier, and enterprises are investing in tools to cut through the fog, tighten security, and boost IT pros’ productivity. A majority (78%) of companies plan to increase their spending on network visibility tools over the next two years, according to Shamus McGillicuddy, vice president of research at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). Traffic growth is the main impetus, due in large part to adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud architectures. Other factors driving…

Tool sprawl is a daunting problem that plagues enterprise IT everywhere you look, from data center operations to cybersecurity to network reliability to application performance. Tool sprawl occurs when organizations acquire licenses (or not, in the case of open source) for multiple tools that tackle related, but not completely overlapping, issues. Layered security is the most obvious example of this, but the problem bedevils networking, DevOps, cloud teams, etc. “It doesn’t matter how many tools…

Children have been singing “The wheels on the bus go round and round” since 1939. What’s new today is the tech that keeps those wheels rolling safely and on schedule. Transit fleet operators work towards achieving on-time performance and vehicle reliability in order to attain safety, cost, and ridership goals. That requires deploying new technologies to improve operational efficiency and predictability. Who doesn’t like a bus service that’s on-time, reliable, safe to ride and has…

Those of you that read my blog posts know that I love to talk about customers and Cisco technology. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Richard Atkin, Cisco Champion and Head of Technical Solution Development at ITGL, a Cisco Gold partner based in the U.K. Following some discussions about the weather (always great in California), the economy (don’t get me started), and hobbies (hiking and ping pong for me), our conversation shifted to…

Transformation is hard. It requires changes to the status quo with a vision for a better outcome.  In rural regions of the United States, there are at least three critical factors to get right to change the status quo in the economics for rural broadband and for content delivery. The first factor is the funding to make the business case work. The good news is that the U.S. Federal Government is making it easier to…

IoT devices are a double-edged sword for IT and security teams everywhere. These devices are undoubtedly a catalyst for digital transformation efforts and pave the way for new operational efficiencies. But they also introduce new risks by expanding an organization’s attack surface. This is especially true in industries like manufacturing that rely on operational technology (OT)—especially as businesses start to converge their IT and OT networks to take greater advantage of connected tools like sensors…

Of all the things we’ve likely learned these past few years, the fact that we all can (and likely do) experience anxiety at one time or another may be one of the biggest lessons. I have, however, learned to somewhat enjoy my anxieties as I learn to live alongside them. I recently joined the Pavelka team as part of the Cisco Degree-Apprenticeship. Jessie Pavelka, a fitness trainer in the United States, has partnered with Cisco…