Cisco and Apple Now Support Better Wi-Fi, QoS for Apps

Rich Stroffolino reviews the results of Apple and Cisco partnership after roughly a year. The two major announcement help add QoS to iOS apps, and improving wireless performance. The Fast Lane technology allows administrators to setup whitelists for specific apps. These apps mark outgoing packets with QoS qualifiers that will be recognized on a Cisco network, and otherwise won’t impede performance. Wi-Fi roaming is improved by using native Cisco Access Point intelligence on top of the already supports 802.11k/v protocols. Overall, its a promising initial set of announcements from the collaboration.


Thoughts on Consumer and Industrial IoT

Massimiliano Mortillaro shares some thoughts on the current state of IoT. From the enterprise side, he likes the fact that we’re leaving the pure hype phase of the segment, something that couldn’t be said in 2016. At Cisco Live Europe, he saw some very practical implementations, particularly Cisco’s LoRaWAN technology, which enables devices to operate up to 10 years on an embedded battery. He also considers some of the security and, perhaps most importantly, ecological considerations of the coming age of IoT. It’s a really interesting overview of the space, and will get you thinking about how to prepare for the coming IoT deluge of devices.


Revisiting Cisco HyperFlex, One Year After

Max Mortillaro take a look back on Cisco’s hyperconverged infrastructure solution, HyperFlex, a year later. It’s all the more important to the company, since HPE’s acquisition of SimpliVity. Max got an update at Tech Field Day Extra during Cisco Live Europe last week. Over the year, Max has moved from neutral on it to “neutral+”. Overall, he’d like to see more commitment to their development cycle if this is going to be their sole HCI play going forward. He sees their roadmap as competitive, but they’ll need to tighten up their release cycle to deliver this to their customers on a timely basis. HCI is a crowded space. Cisco’s HyperFlex shows a path to compete with all the big players, but Max thinks they’ll need to consistently deliver on their roadmap.


Cisco DNA Series: DNA Goes Virtual

Cisco updated their DNA strategy, and Justin Cohen has a nice write up of all the implications. For Justin, this is a complete network virtualization in a box solution. Cisco has updated hardware that’s more than capable of doing this, with the released ENCS 5400 Series, which can be a combined ISR and a UCS server. Combined with flexible licensing and deployments, Justin thinks this shift in DNA could really shake things up.


Cisco’s Wireless Partnership With Apple

Ethan Banks got an update from Cisco on their partnership with Apple, previously announced at Cisco Live US 2016. Cisco went into detail about their framework to allow for application prioritization from Apple devices across the network. This is done by a white list, and developers providing QoS marks on specific packets. They also revealed improved roaming support between access points, reducing the time of switching between to from 0.5-0.7 seconds to sub-50ms. Overall, Ethan found these both to be laudable efforts from Cisco.


Caffeine for the Tech Brain: TFDx at CLEUR this Wednesday

Lauren Friedman previews what she’s excited to see at Tech Field Day Extra. She really enjoys the atmosphere of TFD presentations, from the in-depth technical discussions, to the poignant questions from the delegates. We hope she enjoyed the live streams, and remember, we’re posting full videos of the sessions too!


Two Takes On ASIC Design

Tom Hollingsworth saw a presentation from Barefoot Networks that made him rethink ASIC design. Competing designs from Cisco put some programmable elements inside the ASIC. But Barefoot fully abstracts functionality via it’s P4 programming, the ASIC is completely configurable in code. This combines reduce complexity and increase speed. In an impressive ground-up rethink of what a network switch can do!


Cisco MetaPod: Managed OpenStack for enterprisy enterprises

Cisco MetaPod: Managed OpenStack for enterprisy enterprises


Cloud Field Day – Everything CloudCenter

Cloud Field Day – Everything CloudCenter


Why I care about Segment Routing

Why I care about Segment Routing


Cloud Tech Field Day – Everything Cisco Metapod

Cloud Tech Field Day – Everything Cisco Metapod


What is Segment Routing?

What is Segment Routing?


Episode 12 – Fiber and Twisted Pair Cabling Plants

Episode 12 – Fiber and Twisted Pair Cabling Plants


CFD1 Prep: Cisco

CFD1 Prep: Cisco


Cisco Umbrella Branch

Cisco Umbrella Branch


Tech Field Day Extra at #CLUS 2016 – Part 1

Tech Field Day Extra at #CLUS 2016 – Part 1


QoS? Really?

QoS? Really?


CMX Cloud with Mobility Express is here

CMX Cloud with Mobility Express is here


Prevent 90% of Malware with Cisco Umbrella Branch with 3 lines of config

Prevent 90% of Malware with Cisco Umbrella Branch with 3 lines of config


Post-TFD Segment Routing Roundtable Thoughts

Post-TFD Segment Routing Roundtable Thoughts