Cisco Subnet

March giveaways from your friends at Microsoft Subnet and Cisco Subnet

Cisco Subnet — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:18:01 -0500

Welcome to March and welcome to another month packed with goodies to win from your friends at Microsoft Subnet and Cisco Subnet. Microsoft Subnet is giving away a free training course worth up to $2,500 courtesy of New Horizons; your choice of cool gadgets courtesy of Global Knowledge; and 15 copies of the book Administrator's Guide to Office 2007 Servers. Cisco Subnet is giving away to one lucky reader free access to Cisco training partner Tech 2000's CCNA Lab Simulator. Cisco Subnet also has 15 copies of the Cisco Press book Cisco Networking Simplified, 2nd Edition up for grabs.

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CCIEs and the money they make

lleung — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:40:18 -0500

If you're feeling bogged down by your CCIE exams, think of the Benjamins (if that rocks your boat). My fellow blogger Michael Morris, who blogs for Cisco Subnet, is a CCIE and was approached by a recruiter pitching him a job in the DC area that paid between $135k to $155k. Michael says that's a bit less than what he thinks is the going rate in a high-cost area. CCIEs in the SF Bay Area for instance, won't get out of bed for less than $200k ... Read his blog here.

Winners of Cisco Subnet's January giveaways

Cisco Subnet — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:06:15 -0500

This is our favorite blog to write every month - the blog that announces the winners of the previous month's Cisco Subnet giveaway competitions. Let's recap on the prizes and the trivia questions that readers had to answer to win ....

* Trivia question to win one of 15 copies of Firewall Fundamentals by Wes Noonan and Ido Dubrawsky: In November, Network World's Clear Choice Testers tested UTM firewalls. What does UTM stand for?

Answer: Unified Threat Management. See the UTM test here.

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Why is San Antonio, Texas the hot spot for talented Cisco engineers?

Brad Reese — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:40:03 -0500

San Antonio, Texas has emerged as one of the hottest hiring locations for Cisco Certified Network Engineers seeking to fast-track their careers into hyperspace. Aggressive hiring by Cisco powered network and managed hosting giant Rackspace has certainly contributed to San Antonio's growing reputation as a Cisco engineer career advancement paradise. As part of the Brad Reese on Cisco effort to bring the latest Cisco hiring trends to Network World Cisco Subnet readers, we are publishing the following 4 questions below that were asked and then answered by Bryan Powell - director of recruiting for Rackspace.

1. Why did Rackspace choose to make San Antonio, Texas their headquarters? Rackspace was founded by three local college students, Dirk Elmendorf, Pat Condon and Richard Yoo, as well as two San Antonio entrepreneurs, Graham Weston and Morris Miller. San Antonio was their home, and they wanted it to be the home of Rackspace—even when advised otherwise by investors who thought all tech companies needed to be based in either Silicon Valley or Austin. San Antonio has been a great decision, too—real estate is less expensive, power prices are less expensive (which is important as a data center operator), and we employ more than 1,300 San Antonio Rackers today! 2. What are the five things that make San Antonio, Texas a more attractive place to live than Austin, Texas? San Antonio has proven to be a valuable location for Rackspace headquarters. Five things that make it attractive to live:

1.	Cheaper living/real estate.
2.	The San Antonio Spurs! Go Spurs Go!
3.	Strong military community with Lackland Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base, Brooks City Base and Fort Sam Houston.
4.	San Antonio has a strong Latin-American culture with museums, restaurants, festivals and other arts and entertainment celebrating the Latino culture.
5.	Multiple higher-education institutions including Trinity University, University of the Incarnate Word, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Our Lady of the Lake University, and St. Mary’s University.

3. Why is a position at Rackspace based in San Antonio, Texas a wise career move? For what reasons? Rackspace employees not only learn about the importance of great customer service, but we also invest heavily in Rackers’ career development. Rackspace spends more than $3,000 a year per employee on training, and all quarterly technical programs are tied to career tracks for Rackers. Rackers also have the chance to work with a slue of experts including Red Hat Certified Engineers (Rackspace officially employs more RHCEs than any other hosting company in the world), Microsoft Certified Professionals (including MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, MCT, MCDST) and a multitude of Cisco-certified professionals. Rackspace Data Center As a service provider with more than 15,000 customers, our technicians get a ton of good experience working on technical issues that most in-house IT professionals may only see every once in a while. We have people that come to Rackspace with very seasoned skills, but once they are exposed to all of the different environments here at Rackspace, it takes their knowledge to a new level. 4. What advantages would I have as a Cisco professional working for Rackspace in San Antonio, Texas vs. working for another employer based somewhere else? Cisco professionals also have the opportunity at Rackspace to work with a multitude of technical experts including Cisco-certified and other network-certified professionals: CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, CCDA, CCDP, CCIP, CCSP, RHCE, LP11, LP12, A+, Server+, RHCT, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, Network+ and Linux+. As we mentioned earlier, they also are exposed to all sorts of IT environments and issues when working with a base of 15,000+ customers. It takes their expertise to a new level. Cisco professionals also have access to our top-notch internal training department, Rackspace University, and every employee is eligible from day one for more than $3,000 worth of training each year. Training includes professional development classes such as IT services management essentials, technical courses and certification training—all of which are tied to career tracks for Rackers. Last but not least, they also get to have fun! We take care of our Rackers by providing a fun work environment where they work in teams and are empowered to make business-decisions that affect their customers. Rackers celebrate successful quarters through celebrations like Racker Battle of the Bands, Racktoberfest, Rackspace Circus and more. Each department is also rewarded for meeting quarterly goals with a quarterly team off-site of their choosing – some team off-sites have included lake outings, philanthropic activities (e.g. volunteering at the San Antonio Food Bank), outings to the Chairman’s river house and more.

Obviously, Cisco Certified Network Engineers seeking to fast-track their careers into hyperspace are going to need plenty of experience and additional Cisco certification to achieve their goals. With San Antonio, Texas becoming the hot spot for talented Cisco engineers to advance their careers, Brad Reese on Cisco presented the following question below to Ed Gonzales - director of network security at Rackspace.

1. How will working for Rackspace in San Antonio, Texas increase my technical expertise and development of my learning, passing more advanced Cisco certifications? One of our primary concerns, within the Network Security arena at Rackspace, is to leverage theory with practical, real world application. Not only is this fostered within the culture, it is a business need as the breadth of technology increases when managing 15,000+ hosting customers. The leveling requirements, for career development, hinge upon CISCO certifications so that theory continues to be the foundational aspect of a Network Security Administrator’s base knowledge – a tiered approach to education mixed with active mentoring and hands-on experience. Currently, Administrators to Architects range in certification from CCNA to CCIE with various flavors of certifications in between. We find that encouraging technical ability through education and hands-on experience greatly affects the quality of the customer experience by ensuring confidence and overall mastery of content.

With sales up 63% in their most recent quarter, Rackspace headquartered in San Antonio Texas, is one Cisco powered network accelerating at warp speed! http://www.BradReese.Com

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Tech moves that matter to Cisco Subnet bloggers

Cisco Subnet — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:28:54 -0500

Read Network World's story "Tech moves that matter - for good and bad" in which Cisco Subnet bloggers Michael Morris and Jeff Doyle give their views on what the industry got right and wrong in ‘07 and why the moves matter. The story is part of a bigger package entitled "Everything that matters: Exploring what's most important in IT today." Begin your exploration here.

More Cisco Subnet items:
* Win an iPod Touch; win a copy of 'Firewall Fundamentals' book

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Introducing Cisco Subnet's newest blogger: Joe Panettieri

Cisco Subnet — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:20:37 -0400

Cisco Subnet is very pleased to welcome our newest blogger: Joe Panettieri, who has covered Cisco's business and financial operations since 1992.

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The past 7 days on Cisco Subnet: Chatting about IP routing, Cisco's new advanced design certifications

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:38:26 -0400

Finally, you've dug yourself out of the e-mails that accumulated while you were at Networkers! If you missed any of the past 7 days on Cisco Subnet, don't worry, here's a digest of what occured in Ciscoland while you were out firefighting.

We chatted with Jeff Doyle

Network World held its inaugural Network World Chats session and its first guest was Cisco Subnet resident IP routing expert Jeff Doyle. Read the full transcript of the hour-long session here, and check out the other chats that are being lined up in the coming weeks.

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Wecome to two new Cisco Subnet bloggers

Cisco Subnet — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:15:49 -0400

Cisco Subnet welcomes two new bloggers to the Cisco Subnet community.

Say hello to Ken Presti, whose Channel Surfing blog will look at how products and services in the Cisco channel are sold.

And say hi to Michael Morris, who will write about network architecture considerations on his From the Field blog.

For a blog roll of our Cisco Subnet bloggers, go here.

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Cisco Subnet: The past 7 days in Ciscoland

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:30:55 -0400

We thought we'd get away with having a month with no security alerts, but on Wednesday Cisco issued 2 alerts, warning customers of DOS vulnerabilities in its Unified Communications Manager and Unified Presence Server.

Cisco co-founder Len Bosack returned to the news through a story about XKL, his new start-up that will enable IT departments to deploy in-house metropolitan optical networks without the need to buy services from carriers.

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Win a free data center book; plus a sneak peek of a chapter

Cisco Subnet — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:50:24 -0400

This month's book giveaway is Build the Best Data Center for Your Business. The book is written by Doug Alger, an IT Architect at Cisco, where he creates architectural standards, policies and roadmaps for physical infrastructure of the company's business-critical facilities.

Here's the book blurb from Cisco Press:

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Did John Chambers get a free iPhone, plus other Cisco talk

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:41:19 -0400

While we mull over whether Steve Jobs swept away his past differences with John Chambers by offering the networking boss a free iPhone, here are some quick highlights of what occured in the past seven days at our favorite routing company to watch:

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The past 7 days on Cisco Subnet

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:50:33 -0400

Here's a quick highlight of what went on in Ciscoland over the past 7 days: Cisco, which last year clocked 13th on the list of the U.S.'s largest H-1B users, denies that it has moved American jobs to India; Network World announced that it will be hosting an online chat with IP expert Jeff Doyle on Aug.

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Cisco: End of a religion - part 2

Brad Reese — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 19:31:52 -0400

Alterpoint vice president, Dave Barry, created quite a stir with his first blog equating Cisco to a religion waning in popularity. That in turn, became the subject of Cisconet's recent controversial Cisco Subnet blog - Cisco: The end of a religion? Well, Dave Berry has just authored a second part to his orginial blog, Cisco: End of Faith Part Deux

Apparently, I’m not the only one who has concerns about whether Cisco’s success is ultimately sustainable (Will Cisco suffer IBM’s fate?). Let me first say that Cisco is a very well-managed company that has added a lot of value since their inception. But what is Cisco good at? 1. Marketing, particularly in building loyalty 2. Acquiring companies 3. Assembling technologies What are they less good at? 1. Providing open, flexible solutions 2. Making products that lower the cost of ownership 3. Making products that are manageable Like death and taxes, certain things are inevitable as companies and markets evolve: 1) products - especially in technology - become more complex 2) the threat of new entrants increases 3) the threat of commoditization increases

Personally do not agree with Dave Berry. Cisco Systems has thrived because it has executed better than its competitors. And when Cisco gets lucky, it has taken advantage of that luck by parlaying it into even more "luck." Does Cisco have its problems? You bet, but that is where opportunity is born. http://www.BradReese.Com

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Cisco Subnet community is growing

Cisco Subnet — Mon, 14 May 2007 19:04:16 -0400

We launched Cisco Subnet at the beginning of the year to provide daily Cisco-related news, views and resources to the community of Cisco customers, resellers, partners and observers. We are very happy to report that Cisco Subnet has grown into a vibrant community that has attracted a number of industry professionals to set up blogs with us. We'd like to give a shout out to the following bloggers who are making Cisco Subnet a must-visit resource for Cisco customers. Check out their blogs and respond to their postings, or feel free to set up your own blog with us and write about your views of the Cisco market. If we missed you off this list, please let us know (lleung@nww.com).

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