Tag Cisco

Dell apparently sat back yesterday, watched all of the Cisco UCS announcements, and then said “I only see what I want to see” and apparently, all Dell sees is a Blade Server. Doh!

In this article Cisco Blade Server Misses the Mark Rick Be from Dell had the following to say:

17 March , 02:00 PM

Virtualization is undoubtedly a hot topic in the industry, especially today. After much anticipation, Cisco finally announced its “Project California.” As expected, Cisco launched its Unified Computing System (UCS), a blade server appliance designed for virtualization.

There has been a lot of discussion about what this means for Cisco’s partners in the virtualization server market. Are we partners? Are we competitors? Yes and yes. Dell continues to have a strategic networking partnership with Cisco to provide comprehensive solutions to our customers – today’s news does not change this.  Am I worried that Cisco’s new appliance will take away business from Dell? Not at all.

We’ve seen this before. Companies bring to market solutions that address a narrow population of customers or a single IT issue. While Cisco is a leader in the networking space, the server market is a very different ball game. CIOs aren’t looking for proprietary, appliance-like products like UCS because they drive up TCO and create more complexity. This is where Cisco has missed the mark.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the excitement about virtualization that Cisco’s news has generated is great. This is a technology that has revolutionized business computing and I am particularly passionate about it. It seems, however, that Cisco is a bit confused about what customers want and need from virtualization solutions.

When I am talking with customers, there are common themes that come up about what businesses want:

• Options and open standards – Flexibility is key to long term survival in today’s economy and this is what Dell delivers better than anyone else. Companies need more from a supplier than specialized, high-priced solutions. Businesses are looking for the whole package – a technology partner that can help them address and manage their large data sets, edge of the network workloads and everything else.
• Better total cost of ownership – Customers expect that innovation in IT will be focused on lowering the cost of operations WITHOUT significantly raising the price for the hardware.
• Simple management – Customers need the ability to manage their hardware locally. This is not possible with HP’s Virtual Connect –unless you have a 100% HP data center. And it does not appear to be possible with Cisco blades.

Dell’s strategy to simplify IT resonates with CIOs because it helps their organizations reclaim the most valued business resources: people, time and money. You will see exciting news from Dell in the coming months. Soon, we will introduce our totally redesigned Nehalem-based 11^th Generation PowerEdge virtualization servers. And you will also see us expand out partnerships to offer even more options for business looking to build open, flexible and powerful virtualized environments. Stay tuned.

I absolutely agree Flexibility is key for long-term survival, and reliability is paramount for survival period.    Look no further than Cisco for an example of what reliability is while establishing what open standards are, and how they’ll be pioneered and delivered upon.   It will be Cisco’s story in the future than when you think of Virtualization, you will think of Cisco and their significant role in the Datacenter and beyond.

Welcome to the Future! Strangely the future hasn’t ever felt so much like “Now” than ever before.    If you haven’t been following all of the chatter leading up to these major announcements we’re on the threshhold of these major breaking points like never before.

The Data center has spoken and it’s answer is True unification.

Cisco has had this same story with their Switch line and with the purely unified solution with the Nexus line and the future of FCoE.   This is not just another story of “Let’s produce another server” which is akin to the type of “battles” you tend to see occur between Dell, HP and IBM.  No this is something much more and much bigger.   So, while this definitely is an introduction of Blade Servers, this is more than just “another blade”.   This is an entirely new way to think about, to manage and to interoperate within your datacenter.

If you haven’t seen some of the snippets of the new blades coming, here are a few pictures.

This is more than just pretty pictures.  Never before have we had such a consolidated solution to a Network Fabric akin to the consolidated SAN solutions which NetApp has Pioneered and still stands unopposed in delivering.   Add to that the pure play with VMware and other virtualization and what we have here is a marriage of Servers with the Networks and the Storage; what you end up with an end-to-end virtualization and delivery solution which will comprehensively change the way the datacenter operates.

So, what does this mean for the future?   The landscape has gotten a bit wider and narrower at the same time.    Everyone will have their toe dipped in this pool, or wanting to be a part of it, but those who will stand strong are the ones who speak to this same story of Unity.   Doing more with less (Less Operating Systems, Less Platforms, Less Management required)

Even with the Cloud looming over our heads, the Datacenter isn’t getting any smaller, it is simply getting better at doing what it’s supposed to do.  Either you become better with it, or start working on that resume.

I’ve been sitting on this for awhile (Hey, i’ve been busy and this isn’t free, so lower priority!)

Cisco is kicking off the Beta Exam for the CCIE Wireless!

Cisco is soliciting beta candidates for the soon-to-be-launched Cisco CCIE Wireless Written Exam. We are looking to create a highly qualified group of professional- and expert-level Wireless Networking Engineers who are willing to dedicate three (3) hours to take the beta exam.
The CCIE Wireless certification, to be launched later this year, will validate that a professional has the expertise to design, manage, and support mission- and business-critical wireless networks, as well as the job skills and technical knowledge required of an expert-level network IT practitioner. This written exam is the first step in obtaining the CCIE Wireless certification. Successful candidates will have mastered broad theoretical knowledge of wireless networking and demonstrated a readiness for the CCIE Wireless lab examination.
Be one of the first professionals in wireless to get a peek at the new CCIE Wireless exam!

• Location: Pearson Vue Testing Centers, Worldwide
• Registration Date: 7-Oct-08
• Last Test Date: 14-Nov-08
• Cost: US$50
• Exam Number/Name: 351-050 CCIE Wireless Beta Written Exam

So, you wireless Guru’s and masters out there, Go check this out!

I would if I cared about Wireless anymore, did it for a living or otherwise.  But that ship has sailed and well, I don’t feel like forking up $50.00 at the moment for a test I don’t have time to take for an No Strings Attached CCIE Certification! ;)

If I change my mind, I’ll let you know, but I don’t think I’ll have the time anytime soon!

First the Good News!

Take a Risk-Free Exam with Cisco’s Come Back Program!

Cisco and Pearson VUE have partnered to give networking professionals the opportunity to re-invest in their careers with the Cisco “Come Back” program, but this offer expires soon. You may have let your Cisco certification lapse, but now’s a great time to come back.

Register now to take any Cisco certification exam at the regular price, and—if you need it—you’ll get a retake exam for FREE!*. Both exams must be taken before this offer expires on October 15, 2008, so it’s important that you schedule your exam soon, in order to allow adequate time for you to take advantage of the free retake.

Visit www.pearsonvue.com/cisco/comeback for more details or to schedule your Cisco exam.

Wishing you the best on your career investment,
Cisco Career Certifications

*Both the full price and free “Come Back” exams must be taken between April 15, 2008, and October 15, 2008.  The free exam must be the same exam number as the exam you failed.

And for the Bad News….!

You’re going to need it.

It’s one thing that in September of 2007, Cisco raised prices on the exams above what they were at the time – Account for the 09/2007 changes of:

• CCNA Composite – $150
• CCNP/CCDP Composite – $225
• ICND 1/2 – $125
• CCIE Written – $315
• CCIE Lab – $1400

But now this they drop this bomb shell on us, in June 2008 of this year!

• CCNA Exam – $250 —– 67% increase
• CCNP/CCDP – $300 —– 34% increase
• CCIE Written – $350 —- 12% increase

This leads me to wonder if this is the price of security in their certification process.

It’s nice to see they’ve introduced this "Our exams are expensive so you have a chance to retake if you fail for a few months"  It’s a shame they didn’t take a page from Microsoft’s book and give you a TAD more time for this Second Shot at an exam.

I received this email today… see below! It’s amazing!

These new exam security measures are part of Cisco’s overall strategy to protect the value and integrity of its certifications. Other measures include simulation-based testing, dynamically generated questions and emulations to help ensure that Cisco certified networking professionals continue to have the knowledge, skills, and credentials to perform well on the job.

So, you might be thinking “What does this mean to me?”

This means a new era is upon us! A new way of testing! A whole new paradigm shift…
Well, not exactly.

Am I confusing Cisco – the company who guarantees your certification will expire in 2 years (sometimes 3!) with another company? I must be confused.

No, alot of people WILL get burned, that’s a fact. This is the positive out look on it.
Walk in, expecting this to be painful, and I think we’ll be fine.

I expect and imagine a lot of very good things from this, hopefully inclusive with this is a reform of the entire Cisco Certification track to make it more applicable, viable and useful – Too much memorization involved.

Good Luck!