Cisco Cius

It seems to me that Cisco want to compete with Apple on the touch screen devices market. The Cisco Cius product confirm this.

OK, skipping the funny part of this story, honestly I believe that Cisco is making efforts to take the (still) open part of the tablet devices market that is not so developed in this moment, and by this I mean the touch screen devices for professional use.

While companies like Apple focus their efforts to develop home use friendly devices, Cisco want to apply the same success recipe for the business sector. The launch of the iPad was enough to make Cisco think that Apple’s platform can be adapted for business use and in this idea they developed Cius.

The Cius will sport a a 7-inch screen, making it smaller and lighter than the iPad. Some highlights of the Cius technology are:

  • 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, 3G/4G data and Bluetooth 3.0 help employees stay connected on and off-campus
  • HD video (720p) with Cisco TelePresence solution interoperability for lifelike video communication with the simplicity of a phone call
  • Virtual desktop client enables highly secure access to cloud-based business applications
  • Android operating system, with access Android marketplace applications
  • Collaboration applications including Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, WebEx, Presence, and IM
  • HD Soundstation supports Bluetooth and USB peripherals, 10/100/1000 wired connectivity and a handset option
  • Detachable and serviceable 8-hour battery for a full day of work
  • Highly secure remote connections with Cisco AnyConnect Security VPN Client
  • HD audio with wideband support (tablet, HD Soundstation)

Cisco is also negotiating with six phone companies around the world to procure their services for Cius. The tablet5 device from Cisco will feature the ability to connect to Wi-Fi hot spots and cellular broadband networks.

The Cius is expected to be sold for less than a $1,000 and if Cisco is able to make a dent in the sales of iPads by attracting customers, then I’m sure that other companies will jump on this “train” developing similar products.

Below, I you can enjoy 2 videos of the Cisco Cius product. One is the designed for the marketing purpose, but the second one has an interesting “hands on” demo.

The Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System

On March 9, 2010 Cisco announced the Cisco® CRS-3 Carrier Routing System (CRS) designed to serve as the foundation of the next-generation Internet and set the pace for the astonishing growth of video transmission, mobile devices and new online services through this decade and beyond.

With more than 12 times the traffic capacity of the nearest competing system, the Cisco CRS-3 is designed to transform the broadband communication and entertainment industry by accelerating the delivery of compelling new experiences for consumers, new revenue opportunities for service providers, and new ways to collaborate in the workplace.

Check below the amazing features of this device which can support for sure the future technologies:

Defining Scalability

  • Total capacity of up to 322 Tbps – 13 times the competition
  • Proven multichassis architecture with 3-stage fabric
  • Tried and tested QuantumFlow Array chipset to help prevent bottlenecks

Defining Core and Data Center Services

  • Built-in service intelligence allows the network and cloud to work as one
  • Multi-directional capabilities handle traffic between data centers and from core to subscriber
  • Cloud VPNs automate network connectivity

Defining Cost Savings

  • Lower cost per Gbps – uses up to 40% power of competitors
  • Optional modular power system that grows with capacity
  • Smart design uses the existing CRS-1 chassis and many components, requiring only fabric and line card upgrade

Traffic capacity / module:

Introducing the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System by Mr. John Chambers:

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Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System presentation:

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VMware launches vSphere

VMware vSphere is the next evolutionary step in IT computing; enabling customers to bring the power of cloud computing to their IT infrastructures. Building on the power of VMware® Infrastructure, VMware vSphere dramatically reduces capital and operating costs, and increases control over IT infrastructures while preserving the flexibility to choose any OS, application and hardware.

Build on a proven virtualization platform to provide the foundation for internal and external clouds, using federation and standards to bridge cloud infrastructures—creating a secure private cloud. Organizations of all sizes can achieve the full benefits of cloud computing, delivering the highest levels of application service agreements with the lowest total cost per application workload.

Available in several different editions, VMware vSphere delivers targeted benefits to small business and mid-size and enterprise business customers.

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Cisco’s UCS: A closer look

Cisco is claiming its new Unified Computing architecture will save IT departments 20% cheaper on their hardware costs and 30% on IT running costs, compared with traditional systems.Launched on Monday, March 16, the Unified Computing System unites computing, network, storage access, and visualization resources in a single energy efficient system, the company said. This puts it into direct competition with IBM, HP and other hardware vendors for the first time.

According to Jon Oltsik, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, this are the pluses and minuses of the new Cisco product:

Pluses

Innovative packaging that requires less rack space, power, and cooling than a standard blade server.

Designed for tight integration with server virtualization and the network.

a. Cisco Virtual switch (i.e. VN-Link) replaces VMware switch. This links virtual and physical networking policy and management.

b. Cisco adds extra memory to its server platforms, which enables it to increase the ratio of virtual servers hosted on each physical server.

Cisco manages the entire UCS virtual data center with one management platform. Cisco management can be integrated with other management platforms from vendors like BMC.

The overall strength is in integrating and improving both storage and network I/O. In this regard, Cisco could have a significant performance advantage in large data center deployments.

Minuses

Extremely proprietary architecture. Heck, Cisco is implementing its own version of Ethernet (What is more standard than Ethernet, for heaven’s sake?) to consolidate storage and network I/O. The “real” standards won’t be in place for another year or two.

This is a brand new arena for Cisco where its market share is 0 percent. With Dell, HP, and IBM well established in this market, expect enterprise CIOs to proceed with extreme caution.

The advantages of this architecture are minimal in a mixed environment. Today, all enterprises have other servers, and heterogeneous server support is not a core feature of this announcement.

Systems management has always been a Cisco weakness. HP and IBM are much better positioned here.

*Used with permission from CBS Interactive, Inc., Copyright 2009. All rights reserved

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