Issues that can be anticipated when using a Web 2.0/social media platform in the Enterprise?

To name a few issues that you would face if you do not enforce policies to control the use of Web 2.0 technologies in the enterprise:

• Very difficult for all the systems to interoperate, users may never adopt them - in the real world we have the average teenager using Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Digg.com, Del.icio.us, MySpace, and other tools. These all need to interconnect to make it successful. Take a look at Facebook's ability to have applications talk to it. For example, Twitter can update Facebook's status, and you can show your diggs in your Facebook profile.
• People get bored of them easily - the fad runs away sooner or later, and MySpace gets displaced by Facebook. Blogs get displaced by Twitter. You may experience a boom of one tool that fades away in a few months.
• Employees leaving the company can't take their networks with them - like a computer backup, you'd like to take your social networks with you, outside of your job, and this needs to be simple and possible
• Employees leaving the company can take confidential information - if you make it easy for employees to fully personalize their web 2.0 environment outside of the company, they may take and share internal information
• Since people like to keep pleasure and work separate, employees may not adopt these technologies in favor of leaving them for personal use - if, for example, you were to use Facebook or MySpace for inside of the company, few employees would like to have their bosses as friends in Facebook.
  

Now, here's my disclaimer. I don't favor policing and strictly enforcing control over Web 2.0 deployments for company use. Quite the opposite, I favor the full freedom for employees to utilize these tools as they see best fit. Also, they should be open to the public; not only for internal use, so that productivity may be expanded in all directions: customers, partners, coworkers, managers, friends, and family.

Cisco Live Summary and Highlights

Last week I spent 4 days at Cisco Live 2008, Cisco System's technical conference. In general, this was a great conference about all Cisco-related industries and markets; e.g. Networking, Collaboration, Unified Communications, Service Providers, Wireless, Data Center…

The main topic for the conference was Collaboration. This, of course, translates into ways to increase employee productivity and reduce operational costs, such as travel, by engaging in collaboration practices. WebEx was a big name and the product spotlight was the Webex Connect suite. I personally was very impressed, and can't wait to start testing it. This is a collaboration client for staying connected with coworkers, friends, and customers from a single place. It is the result of mixing the following ingredients: Skype, AOL IM, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and WebEx's online meetings. It offers a space with Instant Messaging, Presence, WebEx Meetings, Personal Dashboard, Team Spaces, and Business Widgets. This was demoed by John Chambers during the conference; check out how it integrates with the iPhone here.

Almost all Keynote speakers addressed the topics of how obvious it is that to increase productivity you have to collaborate in the Web 2.0 era, and to reduce operational cost you have to go green by collaborating more online and virtualizing the workplace. For example, if you know the presence information of a person you need to talk to, you can be more effective at how to reach him. Say you need to speak to Jim about last week's report. If you know that Jim is at a meeting, you avoid calling his desk or cell phone and use IM or Email instead. That's what a collaboration client can do for improving that.

The entire conference applied the collaboration and going green theme. First, this year they did not provide with printed copies of the technical training sessions, but gave out USB thumb drives with 1GB worth of presentations. Second, and more importantly, they incorporated a virtual component to the conference by having sessions at Second Life and a full blown virtual version of the conference called Cisco Live Virtual.

When it comes to the expo, it was called World of Solutions Expo. Big partners had great booths. In my opinion, the best ones were Intel, WebEx, Lancope, and Nokia. Intel showed their advances in Wireless (WiMax and 802.11n) and their 10Gbps interface for servers. Lancope had a great security appliance for MPLS type of networks, and Nokia had the latest mobile phones. Actually, thanks to my Nokia E61i I was able to log on to the conference site, check my calendar of events, reply to surveys, and Twitt my update in real-time (see my posting with my Twitter Timeline)

Finally, some relevant links for further getting what you missed if you did not attend:

• Official Cisco Live 2008 Site
  
• CISCOPR Channel on YouTube
  
• My Twitter Timeline with my real-time update (Blog Summary Version)

Cisco Live 2008 Twitter Timeline

[This is a collection of my real-time updates of the Cisco Live 2008 event via Twitter]

leoboulton Getting ready to go home. Had a great time, learned a lot, and met new people. 08:29 AM June 26, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Returning from the Customer appreciation event. Even though the "blue man group" was a fiasco, we ride The Mummy about 5 times... 12:45 AM June 26, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton @padmasree Great presentation this morning. i missed the funny guy during Jim's demo though :) 04:33 PM June 25, 2008 from web in reply to Padmasree     

leoboulton Going back to hotel to get ready for tonight's event: Blue man group. I hope I can see some of my customers. 04:28 PM June 25, 2008 from web     

leoboulton At the Intel super session, under a major thunderstorm. Talking about wireless, security, and mobility 03:07 PM June 25, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton They have booths around the expo to do vloging... Video blogs. 02:41 PM June 25, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Http://www.cisco.com/go/efficiency 10:43 AM June 25, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Answering to polls while she speaks.... She encouraged us all 10:30 AM June 25, 2008 from web     

leoboulton Attending the Cisco CTO super session. I like the SMS use for answering questions on the board 10:11 AM June 25, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Nokia Throws Open Mobile Software http://snipr.com/2ooiy 09:55 AM June 25, 2008 from twitterfeed     

leoboulton You can gain access to the main presentations thru Cisco-Live Virtual. It's an online space created for attendees 08:36 AM June 25, 2008 from twhirl     

leoboulton Attending my first session of the day: Interconnecting Voice and Video Networks with CUBE http://www.cisco.com/go/cube 08:19 AM June 25, 2008 from twhirl     

leoboulton Just left the Network World super session. Going back to hotel to pick up my car for dinner with customer. 04:21 PM June 24, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton At the Network World panel about collaboration. sitting next to Ramesh 03:36 PM June 24, 2008 from txt

leoboulton The AXP session was very good. Explained the entire development process, how to package software, and the Cisco needs to sign the app. 03:15 PM June 24, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Now... back-to-back Developer track with the AXP Session. Looking forward for this one!. 01:59 PM June 24, 2008 from web     

leoboulton
Now... back-to-back Developer track with the AXP Session. Looking forward to this one!. 01:59 PM June 24, 2008 from web     

leoboulton The MeetingPlace and Presence API session for the developers track was very high-level. It was biref and concise; but too high level. 01:52 PM June 24, 2008 from web     

leoboulton Now: Learning about Presentity, Watcher, and Notify. In other words, Presence API. 01:12 PM June 24, 2008 from web     

leoboulton After lunch, I spent somre more time on the Expo Floor. Great booths at Intel, Lancope, and Nokia. Was disapointed with Fluke 01:11 PM June 24, 2008 from web     

leoboulton @CiscoLive it does rock... 10:59 AM June 24, 2008 from txt in reply to CiscoLive     

leoboulton Webex Connect demo with John and Jim 10:48 AM June 24, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Listening to Chambers: "why would you invest on IT? Only if you trully believe that a collaboration wave is coming to raise productivity" 10:25 AM June 24, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton There is a full track of MPLS for those who want to deploy an MPLS infrastructure. "MPLS is a technology for delivery of IP services" 08:15 AM June 24, 2008 from web     

leoboulton Off to the first breakout session: Intro to MPLS 07:18 AM June 24, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Great day 1: orientation was informative; solutions center expo had great partner booths (Intel, IBM, and GlobalKnowledge standed out) 10:30 PM June 23, 2008 from web     

leoboulton Having dinner with some engineers in downtown disney 07:28 PM June 23, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton At the expo. Not that big, but great booths.... Check out the Emergency response vehicle 06:10 PM June 23, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Registered. The convention center is pretty large. Got my bagpak and lots of notebooks and other goodies 02:56 PM June 23, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton It appears that the Customer appreciation party will be at Universal Studios on Wednesday. 02:56 PM June 23, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Riding the bus from hotel to the convention center. My room wasn't ready, so I will register and then figure it out. 02:10 PM June 23, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Arrived early. Will go to hotel first, and take the shuttle 01:21 PM June 23, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton If this is your first time at networkers, attend the Cisco Live Orientation today at 4pm at Chapin Theater. 12:30 PM June 23, 2008 from txt     

leoboulton Done... now printing (on PDF) directions. I'm planning to leave around 11am. It will take me about 4 hours. 07:42 AM June 23, 2008 from twhirl

leoboulton Before we start. I'm filling my Cisco Live Connect profile to collaborate with attendees. You can look for me: leoboulton. 07:20 AM June 23, 2008 from twhirl

Nokia Throws Open Mobile Software

Buying Symbian and making its mobile operating-system software open source should keep the likes of Apple and Microsoft on their toes

read more | digg story

Top Twitter institutional accounts to follow

I found out that Cisco-Live, Cisco's annual conference, will broadcast updates via Twitter. I added it to my list of top institutional Twitter accounts to follow:

1. The Wall Street Journal - http://twitter.com/WSJ
   
2. NPR News - http://twitter.com/nprnews
3. BBC News Tech - http://twitter.com/bbctech
4. CNN Breaking News - http://twitter.com/cnnbrk
5. Cisco Systems - http://twitter.com/ciscosystems
6. Network World - http://twitter.com/NetworkWorld
7. Cisco RSS Adivsors and updates - http://twitter.com/CiscoRSS
8. Webex Green - http://twitter.com/WebExGreen
9. Red Cross - http://twitter.com/RedCross

Please send me yours....

Getting your own IP Telephony PBX at home

It's been a while since my last post; and it's been even longer since my last technical post. This time, I've decided to get a Cisco router as my IP PBX for home, and offer SIP service to my family abroad, and I would like to briefly document it all.

It started when I got my Nokia E61i dual mode mobile phone. I wanted to use it with my SIP provider at home, but I discovered that it will not let me have both, my cell-phone and home ATA registered at the same time. Therefore, I decided to bypass it by having a home IP PBX.

Here are the overall steps. This is not a step by step process of how to do it all, but rather as what needs to be setup for getting it done. So here we go:

Ingredients:

• A Cisco router with Cisco CallManager Express and Cisco Unity Express - I am using a UC520 with 8 user license; it has wireless connectivity, 4 FXS ports, 4 FXO ports (I will not use them) and 8 Ethernet ports with PoE.
  
• A third-party SIP phone or adapter - I will be using the Linksys PAP2T.
  
• A dual-mode Nokia E61i - this acts as a third party SIP phone
  
• A SIP provider for the phone line - I use Broadvoice.
  

The overall steps are:

1. Install CME/CUE on the router
   
2. Configure CME
   
   1. Create Data and Voice VLANs
      
   2. Create and setup two SSIDs in the wireless interface: one for data, one for voice
      
   3. Assign IP addressing to the interfaces. The router will have to be set-up using irb (bridging wired and wireless).
      
   4. Configure IP Phones (SCCP phones and SIP phones).
      
   5. Generate a dial-plan that does not require to dial 9 to call the outside world.
      
   6. Configure analog voice ports as e-phones with STCAPP (details here)
      
   7. Configure hunt-groups, so all the phones will ring with the same DN
      
   8. Configure interaction with CUE (Voicemail)
      
   9. Configure SIP Trunking for outgoing line
      
3. Setup the Nokia SIP client as a third-party SIP phone
   
4. Setup the Linksys ATA as a third-party SIP phone

How to read a business book

Great blog post with three specific things to do, when reading a business book:

1. Decide, before you start, that you’re going to change three things about what you do all day at work. Find those in the reading.

2. Make it productive. Use a postit to write what to change.

3. Share what you learn. Teaching someone else, helps you learn too.



read more | digg story

AT&T and Cisco team to push intercompany telepresence

AT&T and Cisco have teamed up to offer the Cisco Telepresence high resolution 'virtual reality' videoconferencing technology for installation in the offices of client companies as a fully managed service, enabling inter-copmany TelePresence service

read more | digg story

Apple- it's time to stop playing with yourself

Before I start down the path of bashing the fine folks who work on Infinity Loop, let me say that I am a big fan of their products. I own a Mac, use an Airport Express, and stare jealously at the people who casually flick through songs or phone numbers on their iphone. Macs have made computer sexy- easy to use, but powerful enough for almost any task and in some instances superior to their PC counterparts.

However, lately I have been dealing with a number of issues with Apple and wireless. As Macbooks become more prevelant in the home, people are starting to clamor for them at work or bring their own. Just as people want one number, one cellphone, or one microwave, people are starting to want just one computer they can take with them that has everything they need. In this arises my gripe with Apple. They have long implemented their own version of doing lots of things. You want a song for your ipod? Better buy it on itunes. You want access to the itunes store? You need to load the itunes player. You want to do WPA2 WDS with an Airport Express? You better use an Airport Extreme base station. The music ones don't bother me- I mostly still buy CDs and LPs, but the Airport Express issue and wireless in general has bothered me for a long time.

Wireless relies on standards. Heck, most of networking relies on standards. That's why you can rest assured when you plug in one device to another, it is going to work as you please. This kind of interoperability is what drove wireless to where it is today, and why people know that when you take your dell laptop with its Intel chipset you are going to have a connection at your local Starbucks. Apple uses these standards, but then tweaks them just enough so that if you don't use an Apple base station you aren't going to get as strong performance. I understand that you want to protect your company and create that beautiful "Halo Effect," where a desire for one product like an iPod causes us sheep to buy a $3,000 computer to plug it into. It's wonderful and I love capitalism, so cheers.

However, if you are going to make inroads into the enterprise market-and Apple has not been shy about saying that it has the hardware to do it and thinks it can- then you better start doing some interoperability testing. They have no infrastructure play in the enterprise space, and given the fairly high barrier to entry and the inflexibility of most IT staffs, they would have a tough time proving they had enterprise-grade equipment. Apple has high margins based on the fact that it carries a lot of cachet with consumers (I don't want to hear how you can do all these great unix programs on there because the majority of Apple users aren't doing anything more than typing term papers) and its stuff isn't able to handle the beating that companies will put on it. You cannot connect that many people to an airport base station and expect it to work, so there will be a very significant investment there. The hardware that Apple really cares about and believes can be in the workplace is the laptop. Laptops are replacing desktops at a very fast rate, so we know from the trends (and if Apple understands anything it is trends) that Apple will be pushing the laptop as the hardware. Anyway, given that we now have Apple in the workplace and no Apple access points, it means we need interoperability and Apple is not at all fond of working with other partners or companies.

The famous iphone incident at Duke which crushed their network was rightfully blamed on the Cisco infrastructure, which unfortunately had no idea that Apple had implemented DHCP addressing using a different RFC. A quick patch was put out that fixed the issue, but it could have been avoided entirely if Apple had listed the RFCs it was using. Which products were already using those RFCs? Why, Apple's, of course. With this next generation of iphone soon hitting shelves, Apple has turned to using Cisco's VPN technology and seems to be more willing to work with Cisco to ensure it will work in the enterprise environment. Apple has also signed on to the CCX program (or at least trial it for some time).

This is what really had me upset- Apple always backed away from joining CCX, which provides vendors a way of ensuring special capabilities with Cisco wireless equipment), saying that they would rather do it their own way. They didn't see the great benefit to them. This was being said while they were also being touted as the educational device of choice, while most universities were using Cisco APs. Because Apple did things differently or authenticated into the wireless network, most IT staffs refused to support Macs. Since they are becoming a larger part of the population, they have no choice but to support them. Here's where my problem arose- From a wireless perspective, you don't have to follow every one of the 802.11 standards. You may not use 802.11e for Qos, or 802.11d for world domain control, but most chip manufacturers understand that you need to include most of these because you have to work within a number of vendors. Furthermore, macs are notoriously hard to debug without knowing a lot of hidden commands. Wireless is no exception, and a lot of the time it is a matter of hitting a button and hoping for the best.

I am glad to see Apple joining CCX. Not only does it help the people running the network and those of us who have to figure out what is happening, but it ultimately helps Apple. They are pushing into a very lucrative and large market that they will not be able to control from end-to-end and by joining the consortium they are allowing themselves to be successful.....and letting me sleep.

Cisco acquires Nuova; release unified fabric switch

Cisco announced another excellent acquisition that opens the door to the new Nexus 5000 switch: Unified SAN and LAN fabric with 10 GigE for data center and virtualization.

read more | digg story