The Lippis Report

This short Lippis Vidcast is on Cisco’s Borderless Networks architecture and its ISR G2 launch.

We live in an ever-increasingly connected world where our workspace is with us constantly, independent of geographic location and user device. The days of boundaries or obstacles to accessing information which location, applications and devices erected are limited and dwindling. These boundaries are being torn down by business necessity, personal preferences and technical innovations. Joel Conover, Senior Marketing Manager at Cisco Systems joins me to discuss Borderless Networks, a new Cisco network architecture which addresses today’s most complex IT challenges.

As businesses grow across borders, a new era in branch office IT is emerging, born out of systemic business efficiency planning prompted by the efforts of business leaders to reduce corporate spending as revenues declined during the market crash of 2008. To assist business and IT leaders in reducing operational spend, get closer to customers, automate new streamlined business processes and position their firms for the current economic recovery, Cisco has launched the second generation of Integrated Services Routers (ISR G2), their flagship branch office solution for Borderless Networks. Shashi Kiran, Senior Manager Network Systems and Security of Cisco Systems discusses macro business trends and explores how these trends are creating a new era in enterprise networks.

By Cisco Systems

This document addresses the recommendations listed in the “Information Supplement: PCI DSS Wireless Guideline.” The full guideline can be found at http://www.pcisecuritystandards.org. This document addresses these guidelines in relation to the Cisco Unified Wireless Network; it does not address Cisco’s autonomous or stand-alone access points in relation to the new PCI DSS Wireless Guideline.

Download it here.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported over 182,166 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza virus with 1,799 deaths. In June 2009 the WHO raised the pandemic alert level to six, signaling a pandemic of this influenza is underway. If the H1N1 virus is in full pandemic force during the fall and winter months of the flu season then an estimated 40 to 50 percent of the workforce could be affected. To assist business and IT leaders in developing strategies to mitigate the impact of pandemics and other natural or man-made disasters, I asked Samantha Ma, Security Solutions Manager at Cisco Systems to be my guest since she is an expert in business continuity preparation.

By Cisco Systems
Firewalls can provide a range of services to protect unified communications applications and servers, but need to be able to inspect encrypted signaling and media traffic. Beginning with Cisco ASA Software Release 8.0(4), Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances support both TLS Proxy and Phone Proxy for protecting unified communications solutions deployments. Cisco TLS Proxy provides secure interworking between the firewall and encrypted voice calls within the campus or branch network. Cisco Phone Proxy enables organizations to use the native phone encryption capability in Cisco IP phones to create secure calls from the Internet or externally connected phones. Phone Proxy can also be used to provide a secure VLAN traversal solution for Cisco IP Communicator soft phones on the data VLAN that are connecting to IP phones on the phone VLAN.

by Cisco Systems
The CiscoVirtual Office solution extends the Cisco routed intranet, via secure VPN Internet connections, into thousands of employees’ homes and, in the future, small offices. This case study describes the deployment of the Cisco Virtual Office solution within Cisco’s own network, an advanced enterprise environment that is one of the largest and most complex in the world. As of mid-2008, Cisco had more than 15,000 internal users for the Cisco Virtual Office solution. This deployment is yielding the benefits of increased employee productivity and job satisfaction, IT cost savings, and reductions in Cisco’s environmental impact. IT leaders can draw on Cisco IT’s real-world experience in this area to help support similar enterprise needs.

Find out how by downloading this white paper.

by Cisco Systems

Every manager faces the prospect of an operations breakdown. That is the risk of doing business in an uncertain world. But business resiliency implies more than successfully coping with disasters and disruptions when they occur. Managers need to give their employees the knowledge, means and confidence to overcome, and even take advantage of, the potential risks that pervade the business environment. A successful business resiliency program involves anticipating and preparing for the major disruptive threat exposures that any company faces, while taking a risk-adjusted, capital-allocation-based approach to managing risks. With foresight and proper planning, organizations can develop a level of resilience that allows them to withstand any emergency that could put their people and business in jeopardy.
Find out how by downloading this white paper.

by Cisco Systems

Traditionally, one of the main concerns associated with widespread teleworking adoption has been workforce productivity. Specifically, how can employees stay connected and productive in a remote environment? Will they have access to the tools and resources that they need to do their job?

Today, IT leaders can use the wireless network to extend enterprise IT services by delivering secure, rich and manageable network services to teleworkers and employees working outside of a traditional office environment. By properly securing, maintaining, and managing this environment, employees can be productive anywhere outside of the traditional office.

Find out how by downloading this white paper.

By Nicholas John Lippis III, President, Lippis Consulting

This paper explores tools and techniques available to business and IT leaders who seek to maintain and increase network availability through management, device feature exploitation and network design, especially during business process change. The mixed network vendor approach to diversity and redundancy is explored and brought into question as some IT leaders, pressured by lower capital budgets, seek to procure infrastructure from low cost providers as a means to make ends meet. The paper takes the position that a common network based upon mixed network supplier platforms paradoxically reduces network availability by increasing complexity and operational cost, the highest cost component in total cost of ownership (TCO). The paper further identifies that a mixed network vendor environment restricts design options, increases security vulnerabilities and limits the ability to optimize application performance.

Download the paper here.

by Cisco Systems

Cisco Catalyst® Family switches have been continuously evolving to provide converged infrastructure for wired and wireless networks. Cisco Catalyst® 4500 and 6500 Series Switches support enhanced Power over Ethernet (ePoE) for wireless IEEE 802.11n access points. Cisco Catalyst® 4500 Series line cards are the first in the industry to provide up to 30 watts (W) of inline power per port to enable the next generation of unified applications. The Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series supports a centralized and scalable wireless solution in the form of the Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series/7600 Series Wireless Services Module (WiSM). The Catalyst® 4500 Series will be introducing support for EnergyWise and Cisco location services in Cisco IOS® Software Release 12.2(52)SG. This paper focuses on a feature called Network Mobility Service Protocol (NMSP), which will be introduced in Cisco IOS® Software Release 12.2(52)SG for the Cisco Catalyst® 4500 Series Switches.

Mixed vendor network environments increase complexity and complexity is not reliability’s best friend. In the following 3-minute Lippis Report podcast, Nick Lippis discusses network complexity and the disruptive outcomes it creates via two examples: the US Customs and Border Protection Agency at Los Angeles Airport and global Skype VoIP service.

The system that provides electricity transmission, commonly called the electrical grid, is under intense scrutiny to make it smarter. Today’s electrical grid was designed decades ago without optimization and information flow of electricity consumption beyond local utilities, leaving businesses, homeowners and utilities blind to how electricity is being consumed. The Smart Grid adds intelligence from energy source to consumption end- points so that businesses and homeowners can view their consumption and control their usage while utilities can better manage electricity demand and delivery. The building of the Smart Grid is an estimated market of $20 B/yr over the next five years with governments passing legislation, mandates and partial funding to build it. For perspective, Smart Grid networks have the potential to be much larger than the Internet! The building of highly scalable and secure IP networks is Cisco’s core competency, making them uniquely qualified to supply it. I talk with Inbar Lasser-Raab, Senior Director, Network Systems and Smart Grid Solutions at Cisco about Cisco’s Smart Grid.

Watch Cisco security executives discuss findings from the Cisco 2009 Mid-year Security Report recapping the security events and trends of the first half of 2009. The broadcast will highlight:
· Security Threats This Year: Security incidents that effected businesses and consumers around the world.
· Crime Today – Who’s Getting Down To Business: Discussion of how Internet criminals are increasingly operating like successful businesses, borrowing some of the best strategies from legitimate companies and forming partnerships with one another to help make their illegal activities more lucrative.
Watch the video here.