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Cisco feels sting of economic downturn

Technology bellwether Cisco Systems gave a glum outlook Wednesday as the company sharply felt the effects of the financial crisis and weakening economy during its first fiscal quarter 2009.

Cisco's CEO John Chambers told analysts and investors on a conference call after it announced its earnings that the company saw a dramatic drop in enterprise sales during the last two months of the quarter, as its customers reigned back spending in light of the financial crisis and uncertain economy.

Chambers said the downturn, which the company first saw among U.S. customers, has now spread to customers in Western … Read more

Cisco: Don't panic but it's awful and getting worse

Cisco Systems' John Chambers may not be the top manager in techdom, but he's right at the top of anyone's short list of the best and the brightest. That's why when he says it's hairy out there, pay attention.

So it was that about a year ago, while the bozos inhabiting Cramerica were yammering about the Dow soaring past 15,000, Chambers was one of the first big-time CEOs to warn of cracks in the edifice. (At the time he described demand as "lumpy." That turned out to be the mother of all understatements.) … Read more

Cisco Powerline adapters get a makeover

It doesn't matter how powerful your home wireless router is, there might still be some corner in the basement the signal can't reach. This is when you need an alternative solution, such as a pair of Powerline adapters. Powerline adapters basically extend the length of the network cable by using the existing electrical wiring--this means you can bring your network port anywhere in the house where there's a power outlet.

For that reason, it's pretty exciting that Cisco on Monday will announce its third release of Linksys by Cisco Powerline adapters. The new lineup includes both … Read more

Manage your home network better with Network Magic 5.0

Cisco announced on Thursday Network Magic 5.0, a suite of network management software. This is the first product released by Cisco since its acquisition of Pure Networks earlier this year.

The suite provides an array of tools for people to visualize, manage, and get a variety of network tasks done. These tasks include: connecting and sharing computers' content or printer, controlling how computers on the network access the Internet, repairing connection and performance problems, optimizing performance and reliability, and so on.

I tried the software briefly and really liked the Network Map function where all devices that connect to … Read more

Cisco: All the open source that's fit to ship

If you were to rate the companies that use the most open-source software in their products, who would be top of your list? Red Hat, given that it's a pure-play open-source company? IBM, given its massive investments in Linux and Apache?

Or how about Cisco, with this impressive list of open-source licenses used for software embedded in Cisco's security appliances?

This list includes just the licenses for the APA and PIX security appliances, and doesn't cover the open-source software embedded in other Cisco products, like Unity Connection. It also doesn't address the open-source work that Cisco … Read more

The hole in Cisco's collaboration story

I wrote previously about Cisco potentially becoming "the great open-source consolidator," and I continue to believe that Cisco has much to gain from open source.

But in looking through its collaboration offerings today, it's clear that Cisco needs to quickly fill a big hole in its product portfolio, open source or not: content management.

Why? Because Cisco is playing the collaboration game against companies that are rich in content management and seem to be getting the communications part down.

On Monday, IBM launched the beta of its "Bluehouse" product, designed to be a Cisco WebEx … Read more

Cisco study highlights data loss risks worldwide

In Germany it's apparently OK to have non-employees roam the offices, while in Brazil corporate secrets are commonly shared with family members, and even with total strangers. These are some of the results of a survey (PDF) commissioned by Cisco Systems and released Tuesday.

"It's interesting to see the cultural differences in terms of what's allowed and what's not allowed in different countries," said Marie Hattar, vice president of network and security solutions at Cisco. "If you look towards doing a data leakage prevention strategy, you've got to consider physical security as … Read more

When will Web 2.0 translate well for the IT world?

Who would have thought look and feel would ever become important to the enterprise? But the decades-long push--maybe we can trace it back to the Macintosh--to make it easier for regular human beings to work with technology has infiltrated the thinking of the high priests of IT. Up to a point, of course. After all, we are talking about the enterprise :).

Still, there's a move underway to make enterprise apps, if not more friendly, then at least more useful. So it is that recent announcements out of Oracle with Social CRM Beehive play up the concept of integrating different … Read more

Cisco ramps up collaboration software portfolio

As Wall Street struggles to redefine itself, Cisco is busy this week introducing its latest wave of collaboration products to compete with Microsoft, IBM and Oracle.

"It's a major launch for us, including a comprehensive update to our Unified Communications platform, a new collaboration client for WebEx and Telepresence Expert on Demand," said Rick McConnell, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Unified Communications division.

Cisco's Unified Communications release 7.0 adds support for Windows Mobile, in addition to Symbian and Blackberry. iPhone support is in the works, McConnell said, but Android support is not … Read more