Cisco

Cisco, be quick or you will be dead!

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:46:04 -0400

3com 5500g is really very fast!

The 10 most interesting entries from the Cisco iPrize contest

Cisco Subnet — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:18:12 -0400

Cisco is famous for its venture capital interests. (The company says it currently has more than $2 billion in venture capital investments under management.) But its i-Prize Contest is a little different. Like a reality T.V. show, the winner of the i-Prize will be financed by the router giant for the next two years, Cisco says. Who knows, maybe the winner will be the company's next billion-dollar business?

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Happy 4th of July from Cisco Subnet!

Cisco Subnet — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:36:34 -0400

Cisco Subnet will be off celebrating U.S. Independence Day on July 4 through July 7. (Yes, Network World is generous with a two-day Independence Day holiday for employees.) In honor of the four-day holiday weekend, we rounded up some interesting statistics about Cisco and patriotism:

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Welcome

Rus Healy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:51:11 -0400

Welcome to my new blog page! I'm glad to be here as a guest blogger for the month of July on Network World's blog pages. By way of introduction, you may have seen my name before--I've written a few times before on networkworld.com, as a guest blogger for Wendell Odom. He and I cowrote the 2007 Cisco Press CCIE Routing and Switching Exam Certification Guide, Third Edition. We've also worked on several other projects together, and it's a pleasure to "be on the same page" as Wendell in a different medium than we're used to.

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5 Tips For Better Telecom Security

Matthew Nickasch — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:40:09 -0400

Telecom security often goes unnoticed. It's not that security isn't important in PBXes, media gateways, access servers, and other equipment, but security in the Convergence field can be forgotten. Here are 5 Tips For Better Telecom Security:

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Reader Panel

New dual-N band Linksys router geared for multimedia home networking

Cisco Subnet — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:36:07 -0400

Cisco subsidiary Linksys introduced a new wireless router today, tailored to the needs of home digital media content especially high-def video. What's cool about the new WRT610N is that it is a simultaneous dual-N band wireless router that operates in both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz spectrums. Users can connect entertainment-oriented devices, such as a media center extenders, audio players or personal video recorders via the wider 5GHz band..

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Michael Kyereme pleads guilty to $6.9M Cisco SMARTnet fraud

Brad Reese — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:27:30 -0400

Yesterday, 41 year old Michael Kyereme a/k/a "Michael Appiahkyeremeh" of Piscataway - New Jersey, pled guilty to charges of mail fraud and tax evasion. In his mail fraud guilty plea, Kyereme admitted defrauding Cisco out of $6.9 million in replacement parts by scamming the Cisco SMARTnet Service program. Here is how Kyereme's SMARTnet scam worked: As an independent contractor hired to provide information technology support to the City of Newark, Kyereme was responsible for assisting Newark employees when computer problems arose that required technical support or trouble-shooting by a computer technician. If it was determined that a computer related problem could not be solved without outside assistance or a replacement part, Kyereme was authorized to contact Cisco for technical assistance and if necessary, to request a replacement part under Cisco SMARTnet. Starting in January 2003, Kyereme would falsely claim that certain Cisco parts in the City of Newark's computer systems were malfunctioning and thus required replacement. In response to those numerous requests, Cisco sent approximately 280 replacement parts to Kyereme on behalf of the City of Newark. Instead of installing the parts into the City of Newark's computer system, Kyereme would sell the parts to a third party in California, pocket the illicit proceeds and return parts of lesser value to Cisco. In all, Kyereme failed to return 148 parts to Cisco and of the approximately 132 parts that he did return, only 33 of those parts matched the type of part originally sent by Cisco to Kyereme. Kyereme did not dispute that on or about November 7 - 2006, he requested a replacement part for a one-port optical card, falsely claiming that the part in Newark’s computer system was not responding to his trouble-shooting efforts. According to the information to which Kyereme pled guilty, Cisco then sent Kyereme via Federal Express a replacement part of the exact type alleged to be inoperable – a working one-port optical card, with a commercial value of approximately $260,000, and Kyereme returned a different part – an eight-port adapter worth approximately $2,000. It is interesting to note that upon his arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on March 2 - 2007, Kyereme had $3 million in stolen Cisco parts stashed within his home and car. Kyereme faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the mail fraud offense and a fine of up to $250,000. In his tax evasion guilty plea, Kyereme admitted that on or about April 15, 2007, he filed a fraudulent personal tax return, with the IRS, which stated that his taxable income for the calendar year 2006 was approximately $81,494 and claiming a refund of approximately $4,034 was due to him. In fact, Kyereme admitted his tax return failed to report $1,242,483 of income in 2006 that he illicitly derived from the sale of stolen Cisco parts. He also admitted that an additional tax of approximately $429,826 was due the United States. Kyereme also admitted that he filed personal income tax returns with the IRS for 2003, 2004 and 2005, which understated the amount of taxable income he received for those calendar years. Additionally, he admitted that for tax years 2003 through 2006, a total additional tax of approximately $669,234 was due the United States. He faces a statutory maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 for the tax evasion offense. Sentencing is scheduled for November 5th - 2008, meanwhile Kyereme remains free on electronic monitoring and a $500,000 bond secured by five properties. View the United States of America vs. Michael Kyereme

Since he is currently free on bond, do YOU think Kyereme will still be around come sentencing time this November 5th? http://www.BradReese.Com


	Cisco's immigration law firm audited for improper behavior by U.S. Department of Labor
	Former top Cisco executive becomes new Chairman of enterprise mobility vendor Agito Networks
	AirTight Networks vs. Cisco: Promises are not always kept
	NetFlow is not being used by 77 percent of IT professionals
	Closer look: sFlow better than NetFlow?
	Brad Reese on Cisco Story Archives

Cisco Repair Cisco VoIP Gateways Cisco Power Supplies Cisco Aironet Wireless

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Cisco invests in Russia

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:43:30 -0400

Cisco became the anchor investor in a venture capital fund that will be focusing on tech startups in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The fund, Almaz Capital Partners, has been initially stocked with $60 million. Notes the economics blog paidContent.org, this certainly isn't Cisco's first investment in Russia. In April, 2007, it joined Index Ventures which in turned funded etailer Ozon to the tune of $18 million. Cisco says it is eyeing eastern Europe for its anticipated fast growh, particularly in Internet ventures, but also telecom and media.

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$700??

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:19:55 -0400

So is $700 the real cost of the test? At the networkers session it was mentioned that the exam would be priced similarly to the CCIE practical Lab? I would assume the $700 will be for those whom have participated in the written beta?

CCIE Voice / CCVP Exam Objectives #7: RTP and cRTP

Mark_Lewis — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:47:16 -0400

While protocols like MGCP, SIP, H.323 (H.225/H.225 RAS/H.245), and SCCP provide signalling in VoIP/IP telephony/unified communications networks, the Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) is used to transport the voice and video media packets.

RTP has a number of important characteristics, including the following:

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Here's a great idea

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:22:28 -0400

To go more green - Cisco should implement Nortel in their Data centers...that would cut their energy by 50% immediately.

What does Cisco have against Quebec?

Paul McNamara — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:37:46 -0400

Answer: In plain English, it seems as though the network equipment giant doesn't like being strong-armed by Canada's French-speaking province. And I can't say that I blame them ... in either language.

Perhaps you've read of Cisco's I-Prize contest. In a nutshell, the best idea for a company wins a bunch of money and the entrepreneur gets taken under a big-time corporate wing. No surprise to see more than 1,100 entries, which Cisco has whittled down to a final dozen.

What was surprising was to read the eligibility requirements and see this classic example of the old grade-school quiz: "Which one is not like the others?" For not eligible to participate in Cisco's contest were residents of Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan ... and Quebec?

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July giveaways from Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet: win training, books, cash and more

Cisco Subnet — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:10:11 -0400

July giveaways from Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet: win training, books, cash and more

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Cisco's immigration law firm audited for improper behavior by U.S. Department of Labor

Brad Reese — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:16:16 -0400

The U.S. Department of Labor is auditing all the permanent labor certification applications filed by Cisco's immigration law attorneys at Fragomen - Del Rey - Bernsen & Loewy LLP. The purpose of the audit is to determine whether the nation's largest immigration law firm improperly instructed clients to contact Fragomen before hiring apparently qualified U.S. workers. Such activity would be considered improper attorney involvement in the consideration of U.S. worker applicants. U.S. Department of Labor regulations specifically prohibit an employer's immigration attorney or agent from participating in considering the qualifications of U.S. workers who apply for positions for which certification is sought, unless the attorney is normally involved in the employer's routine hiring process.

"The department's decision to further investigate these applications will help ensure the integrity of the permanent labor certification process and ultimately protect job opportunities for American workers," said Gregory F. Jacob - Solicitor of Labor for the U.S. Department of Labor. "The department takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that American workers have access to jobs they are qualified and willing to do and that their wages and working conditions are not adversely affected by the hiring of foreign workers."

The American Immigration Lawyers Association immediately went on the offensive in support of Cisco's immigration law firm - Fragomen - Del Rey - Bernsen & Loewy LLP, by chastising the Department of Labor's use of conclusory statements in its press release. View Department of Labor Q&A on Fragomen Audit (2) What incident/incidents prompted this audit? The Department identified information indicating that in at least some cases the firm may have improperly instructed clients who filed permanent labor certification applications to contact their attorney before hiring apparently qualified U.S. workers. Specifically, several recruitment forms drafted by some Fragomen attorneys instructed their clients that:

"After interview, should any of the applicants appear to be qualified for the position, please contact a Fragomen attorney immediately to further discuss the candidate’s background as it relates to the requirements stated for said position," or some variation thereof.

View the CNN Lou Dobbs video of the above Labor Department audit: At the 1:38 time point in the above CNN video, network engineer David Huber is interviewed about his response to a Chicago newspaper employment advertisement. According to an email message from Norm Matloff - professor of computer science at the University of California - Davis, the unidentified software company/high tech internet company whose ad in the Chicago newspaper David Huber responded to in the above video, was in actuality an ad that was placed by Fragomen's immigration law client, Cisco Systems. Cisco ad that appeared in the Chicago Tribune: Note: Neither Megan Clarke at Fragomen's Santa Clara, CA office nor Cisco itself responded to telephone inquiries by yours truly for comment. At the 0:50 time point in the below video learn more about the Cisco job ad: Professor Norm Matloff describes the Cisco ad:

Now, I urge everyone to see another video (the one directly above), this one by journalist Sue Kwon at the CBS affiliate in San Francisco, there you'll see unemployed programmer David Huber, telling the viewing audience exactly what happened when he applied for a job at Cisco Systems. Turned out that the contact person stated in the Chicago Tribune ad was a lawyer with...Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Programmer Pete Bennett is also featured. Dave Huber has given me some details on his adventure with Cisco and Fragomen, permitting me to share here: Regarding speaking with [Fragomen's] Megan Clarke: If you recall, I saw the ad on Sunday, June 3, 2007. On Monday morning, June 4, 2007, I called Cisco's HQ in San Jose and spoke with a random operator. I confirmed that the person I was talking to was working at Cisco in San Jose. I asked the operator something to the effect I was trying to contact a M E Clarke. The operator said Clarke didn't work at Cisco, but that there was a Megan Clarke, who worked at Fragomen. I had never heard of Fragomen. (And, of course, I didn't even know about the C&G [Cohen & Grigsby] seminar.) So I googled Fragomen and found out it was an immigration law firm. I'm getting more curious now, so I decided to contact the closest Fragomen office to San Jose. This office happened to be in Santa Clara. I called the Santa Clara Fragomen office, and actually spoke with a Megan Clarke. I asked her about the ad I saw. I confirmed through my brief conversation with her, that she was the M E Clarke in the Cisco ad. At first, she seemed open, and somewhat willing to answer my questions about the ad. After about 2-3 minutes, I heard a sense of nervousness in Ms. Clarke's voice, and she sort of ended the conversation by saying I should just respond to the ad. My recollection of this was that I was even more perplexed, thinking that something just wasn't right: the newspaper ad; the immigration law firm referenced in ad. Well, I think the mystery was solved for me when I saw that C & G video. After about almost a month (end of June), I decided, just for grins, to respond to the Cisco newspaper ad. I sent my resume, via registered mail, to the Cisco address in the ad. I did get an eventual response from Cisco, which I think was a result of this specific ad I responded to with registered mail. An Indian contracting firm contacted me about a job at Cisco in San Jose, paying the princely sum of about $30 or $35/hour. This compensation was/is a joke, needless to say.

View Professor Norm Matloff's email message in its entirety. Once more, the U.S. Department of Labor specifically states: Where an employer does not normally involve immigration attorneys in its hiring process, there is no legitimate reason to consult with immigration attorneys before hiring apparently qualified U.S. workers who have responded to recruitment required by the permanent labor certification program. Resources: U.S. Department of Labor press release as well as Q&A on Fragomen audit. View the American Immigration Lawyers Association Complaint Letter chastising the Department of Labor's use of conclusory statements in its press release and Q&A. Pay special attention to Page 2, 2nd Paragraph, Last Sentence of the AILA letter: "This was a tacit acknowledgement of the role of the attorney in advising employers regarding what elements on those resumes they could or could not take into account when considering applicants." In the opinion of yours truly, the American Immigration Lawyers Association admits in the above statement, that a client could use the services of a knowledgeable immigration law firm to meet the letter of the law, while intentionally pushing away qualified U.S. workers in favor of non-U.S. workers when hiring skilled positions.

Why do YOU think Cisco's immigration law attorneys were the contact for this Chicago newspaper ad, which according to the Department of Labor would be improper attorney involvement? http://www.BradReese.Com


	Former top Cisco executive becomes new Chairman of enterprise mobility vendor Agito Networks
	AirTight Networks vs. Cisco: Promises are not always kept
	NetFlow is not being used by 77 percent of IT professionals
	Closer look: sFlow better than NetFlow?
	Cisco CBQoS delivers powerful QoS policy metrics
	Brad Reese on Cisco Story Archives

Cisco Jobs Cisco Repair Cisco Resumes Cisco Power Supplies

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Top 5 most valuable skills for security pre-sales engineers

jheary — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:35:51 -0400

Are you thinking of changing careers to security sales engineering? Need some advice on what skills are most needed? Well, here are my top 5.

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Cisco, others create organization to protect against patent suits

Cisco Subnet — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:28:10 -0400

Cisco is among several vendors banding together to fend off wayward patent licensing organizations, reports the Wall Street Journal. Patent trolls, as they are lovingly referred to by industry insiders, are companies that buy intellectual property with the hope of licensing it to others. Firms like Intellectual Ventures, a company founded by a former Microsoft exec, is one example.

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Former top Cisco executive becomes new Chairman of enterprise mobility vendor Agito Networks

Brad Reese — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:13:33 -0400

Along with announcing its latest round of funding and a new international strategic investor today - June 30th, Agito Networks also announced a new executive chairman of its Board of Directors. Network World readers will recognize the name of Agito’s new appointee. The latest member of Agito’s Board of Directors is David Leonard, former vice president and general manager of the Cisco Wireless Networking Business Unit and Desktop Switching Business Unit.

While at Cisco, Mr. Leonard helped grow Cisco’s wireless and Ethernet product lines to the number one industry ranking in their respective markets. Mr. Leonard has been gone from Cisco for six months, and we caught up with him recently to see what he’s been up to. When and how did you arrive at Cisco? I joined Cisco in October 1995 through Cisco’s acquisition of Grand Junction Networks. At Grand Junction, I served as an engineering leader charged with developing their first 100 mbs Ethernet switch.
What was your first job at Cisco, when did you get promoted to Cisco VP/GM, and what were your jobs in between? My first job at Cisco was as the Director of Engineering, as I continued to lead the team developing the stackable 10/100 Ehternet switching product line. I became the VP of Engineering for the Wireless Networking Business Unit in 2000. I was later promoted to VP/GM of the Wireless Network BU in 2005. Then, I moved over and became the VP/GM of the Desktop Switching Business Unit in October 2005, the position I had through January 2008.
How would you describe your experience at Cisco? Cisco was an excellent experience for me. It is an invaluable and deeply satisfying experience to achieve the kind of market success that we did, in both the Ethernet Switch and Wireless market places. Cisco is the kind of company that demands high quality solutions that can scale to massive volumes very quickly.
When and why did you leave Cisco and what have you been doing since leaving? I left Cisco in January 2008 so that I could start a new venture that is focused on energy conservation. Specifically it has to do with solid state lighting control. My company will be leading the way by making a control and power solution that will dramatically increase the value proposition for LED lighting and revolutionize commercial lighting. We are very close to closing our first round of funding.
When and how did you hear about Agito Networks? I had been a personal advisor to Agito’s two founders even before they got funding in 2006 as they were friends and former co-workers of mine at Cisco.
Why were you interested in continuing to follow Agito? With my background, I knew I could provide some guidance and experience for the company, as well as help make introductions to some key accounts and partnerships in the industry. I have been interested in making WiFi technology a key part of the voice infrastructure for the enterprise for many years now. Now, with the products that Agito is bringing to the market, this can become a reality. The team at Agito and what they have been able to accomplish has impressed me. With all the talk of FMC over the years from carriers and enterprise providers alike, these Agito guys that I knew while at Cisco have developed the industry’s only eFMC solution that is enterprise grade. This is important because high performance and highly available voice, as well as native integration into directory stores, is critical for today’s enterprise customers. The team at Agito has developed a solution that collects and uses an extreme amount of detail from the wireless networks around mobile users, and ensures that users are on whatever network makes the most sense. It’s this differentiation in the market that has led to numerous customer wins recently, and it’s why partners like Cisco are selecting Agito to partner with over other solutions.
How did you get to become Executive Chairman of Agito’s Board? I have been interested in helping Agito since it was founded. Now that I am not at Cisco, I am free to take on this kind of role for the company. When I was asked by the other board members to do this, I welcomed the opportunity.
How do you think you can help Agito? My experience in bringing wireless and wired networking products to market should be helpful to Agito. I can also help by advising on operational issues, and in recruiting top talent to their already impressive staff.
From your experience and what you’ve seen, what do you think are the prospects for Agito? I am very excited about Agito’s prospects. The Agito solution will make the enterprise cell phone an even better productivity tool. Agito can become a standard capability for most enterprises.
What does Agito need to do to succeed in this tough market? Agito needs to continue developing a deep understanding of their customers’ needs. The current solution is just the beginning. The Agito system needs to continue to increase the value it brings to the telecommunication infrastructure of a company. Key to Agito’s success will be continuing to work hard to make this solution even more valuable, while establishing great customer and partner relationships.
To change subjects here at the end, David, what can you tell us about your current venture? The company is called Redwood Systems. We are a team of networking and lighting professionals that will make LED lighting an incredibly valuable asset to the commercial buildings of the future. Our passion is for energy conservation through intelligent control. We will make workplaces more productive for employees while slashing the use of electricity for lighting by a factor of five.
Why do YOU think so many top executives of Cisco are leaving? http://www.BradReese.Com

AirTight Networks vs. Cisco: Promises are not always kept

NetFlow is not being used by 77 percent of IT professionals

Closer look: sFlow better than NetFlow?

Cisco CBQoS delivers powerful QoS policy metrics

Giancarlo vs. Chambers: Former number two at Cisco becomes number one at competitor Avaya

Brad Reese on Cisco Story Archives

Cisco Repair Cisco VoIP Gateways Cisco Power Supplies Cisco Aironet Wireless

Read more

Cisco, Nivis demo 6LoWPAN IPv6 network

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:16:18 -0400

When you think of convergence, do you tend to think of voice/video/data? In truth a lot of vendors are looking to converge many kinds of networks. For instance, Cisco and Nivis this week showcased an effort to bring sensor networks into the IP fold, with endpoints directly addressable by back-end enterprise applications. So reports John Cox in his Network World blog.

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CCNA Home Lab: Survival Guide

Cloudy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:48:00 -0400
I never thought building a well-balanced home lab would be so challenging. Sure, anybody can buy a 2500 router and have at it, but to put together multiple routers and switches for CCNA and have a starter lab for CCNP is more work than I thought. So this blog will be about my practical, ongoing experiences in trying to build this lab and is geared towards arming you, the aspiring CCNA, with practical information about facing the challenges of doing so. Just FYI, I began my self-study for the 640-802 exam about 3 weeks ago (June 1 2008) so I'm just getting started as well, but have already learned that a lot of the issues I'll mention here are not addressed anywhere in a single place that I could find.

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A real initiative or a PR stunt?

Cisco Subnet — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:13:12 -0400
This new consortium raises as many questions as it answers. See the Cisco Subnet blog post: "Real deal or PR move? Cisco, IBM, Intel, Juniper and Microsoft form new security consortium"