Cisco on Zero Trust

Good piece on the topic.  Full article at the link.

There’s no better time for zero trust

By Neville Letzerich

Security resilience requires strong, user-friendly defenses

The concept of zero trust is not a new one, and some may even argue that the term is overused. In reality, however, its criticality is growing with each passing day. Why? Because many of today’s attacks begin with the user. According to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report, 82% of breaches involve the human element — whether it’s stolen credentials, phishing, misuse or error.

Additionally, today’s businesses are hyper-connected, meaning that — in addition to your employees — customers, partners and suppliers are all part of your ecosystem. Couple that with hybrid work, IoT, the move to the cloud, and more emboldened attackers, and organizational risk increases exponentially.

Adopting a zero trust model can dramatically reduce this risk by eliminating implicit trust. It has become so crucial, in fact, that several governments including the U.S., UK and Australia have released mandates and guidance for how organizations should deploy zero trust to improve national security.

However, because zero trust is more of a concept than a technology, and so many vendors use the term, organizations struggle with the best way to implement it. At Cisco, we believe you should take a holistic approach to zero trust, starting with what you have and adding on as you identify gaps in your defenses. And while layers of protection are necessary for powerful security, so is ease of use.

Strengthen security resilience with zero trust

Zero trust plays a major role in building security resilience, or the ability to withstand unpredictable threats or changes and emerge stronger. Through zero trust, the identity and security posture of users, devices and applications are continuously checked and verified to prevent network intrusions — and to also limit impact if an unauthorized entity does gain access.

Organizations with high zero trust maturity are twice as likely to achieve business resilience.

– Cisco’s Guide to Zero Trust Maturity

Eliminating trust, however, doesn’t really conjure up images of user-friendly technology. No matter how necessary they are for the business, employees are unlikely to embrace security measures that make their jobs more cumbersome and time-consuming. Instead, they want fast, consistent access to any application no matter where they are or which device they are using.

That’s why Cisco is taking a different approach to zero trust — one that removes friction for the user. For example, with Cisco Secure Access by Duo, organizations can provide those connecting to their network with several quick, easy authentication options. This way, they can put in place multi-factor authentication (MFA) that frustrates attackers, not users.

Enable seamless, secure access

Cisco Secure Access by Duo is a key pillar of zero trust security, providing industry-leading features for secure access, authentication and device monitoring. Duo is customizable, straightforward to use, and simple to set up. It enables the use of modern authentication methods including biometrics, passwordless and single sign-on (SSO) to help organizations advance zero trust without sacrificing user experience. Duo also provides the flexibility organizations need to enable secure remote access with or without a VPN connection. ...' 

Full Stack Observability

 I admit I did not know the term, but OK, lots at the link.

From Cisco

Full-Stack Observability

Deliver and optimize digital experiences by connecting application performance to business context.

What is full-stack observability?

Cisco full-stack observability moves beyond domain monitoring into full-stack visibility, insights, and actions across the technology stack in the multi-cloud environment, so operation teams can deliver and optimize customer experiences.

Get the IDC Report

Hear from the experts at IDC on the impact of full-stack observability in this white paper.

Read the at-a-glance

Understand the benefits of full-stack visibility, insights, and action.

See the infographic

Explore the difference between observability and full-stack observability.  .... ' 

A Cisco Futurist Talks the Future of Human-Machine Interactions

 A Cisco Futurist talks the future of Human-Machine Interactions  

Human-Machine Interactions of the Future: Unpopular Opinions [Part 1]  By Annie Hardy

This is part 1 of a 3-part blog series on a Cisco futurist’s perspectives on some buzzy terms and technology trends.

At Cisco, I’m responsible for looking at the future of human-machine interaction. The future of human-machine interaction spans an exploration into all kinds of futures — from the future of trust and higher education to the future of quantum internet and IoT. And when looking at, and projecting out likely futures, there is no lack of differing perspectives, conflicting information, and challenges to the groupthink that is driving our companies and cultures in certain directions.

I recently listened to the Money in the Metaverse episode of Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View podcast, which addresses blockchain, cryptocurrency, and the Metaverse. The podcast’s two speakers, Azhar and Citi’s Rohit Ghose, discussed a couple of perspectives that I’ve also expressed and advocated for within my circle – opinions that have been considered unpopular ones.

In this series, I’d like to share some of my own perspectives and opinions on Web3, the Metaverse, and the future of human-machine interaction. Perhaps together we can challenge and grow and ultimately all end up better prepared for the Internet that will actually develop in the next decade.

Defining terms for the future of human-machine interactions

A natural part of my role and responsibility has revolved around the Metaverse, which we’ve been actively engaged in exploring and building the infrastructure for over the past several years. For many, the Metaverse is a mysterious concept that brings to mind virtual reality gaming and blocky Roblox avatars. Some identify Second Life as the original Metaverse, with a robust GDP worth a shocking $500MM.

It makes sense for me to share a few definitions here to set the stage for the next installments in this blog series on human-machine interactions in the future.

What is the Metaverse?

Definitions of the Metaverse vary, but these are some of my favorite interpretations:

“The metaverse is the moment in time where our digital life is worth more to us than our physical life.”

— Shaan Puri, former Twitch Manager

“The ‘Metaverse Continuum…’ is a spectrum of digitally enhanced worlds, realities, and business models poised to revolutionize life and enterprise in the next decade.” ... ' 

Amazon Callisto Heading to the Moon

 Following the specifics of this. 

NASA Mission Carrying Voice Assistant Tech to the Moon 

Space.com,   Brett Tingley, August 26, 2022

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Artemis 1 mission scheduled to launch today (but delayed) will carry an Alexa-enabled voice assistant called Callisto into lunar orbit. Designed by engineers at Lockheed Martin, Cisco, and Amazon, Callisto aims to enhance future spaceflights with real-time data, augmented connectivity, and mission-specific feedback. Lockheed Martin said Callisto will show "how voice technology, AI [artificial intelligence], and portable tablet-based videoconferencing can help improve efficiency and situational awareness for those on board the spacecraft," as well as providing "access to real-time mission information and a virtual connection to people and information back on Earth." Amazon said Callisto will link to mission controllers using NASA's Deep Space Network, and will feature Local Voice Control, which "allows Alexa to process voice commands locally, rather than sending information to the cloud."

Future of Work Reimagine IoT and Smart Buildings

One of a number of good pieces 

The Future of Work Part 4: Reimagine IoT and Smart Buildings

Greg Dorai  in the CISCO Blog

Part 4 of the 6-part Future of Work Networking Series: Reimagine IoT and Smart Buildings

The Internet of Things (IoT) and Operational Technologies (OT) in Smart Buildings are essential to make hybrid work safer and better for people and better for the planet. The importance of environmental sustainability continues to increase as a growing percentage of consumers rate how “green” organizations are as a factor in whether they want to work for them or buy products from them.

Smart = Sustainable, Simple, and Safe

A key element of environmental sustainability is reducing an organization’s carbon footprint, especially in terms of energy consumption in buildings. Smart buildings can support a more sustainable hybrid work experience on campus by efficiently powering IoT and OT devices with Power over Ethernet (PoE) and continuously adapting building environments by automating management of lights, shades, and HVAC based on changing occupancy, weather, and time of year.

Smart building updates like these can have a significant impact on energy consumption and result in significant operational cost savings. Ideally, these benefits are achieved without creating a separate and independent network for smart building management by converging IoT and OT with the enterprise network in a simple, secure manner that provides end-to-end visibility, monitoring, and management from a single pane of glass. Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and BLE enabled environmental sensors can use the same access points to join the enterprise network yet be segmented from corporate traffic to maintain security policies.

Smart buildings are an important part of the future of hybrid work and driving wireless use cases in the coming years. Operational resources like printers, lights, shades, cameras, screens, HVAC, doors, and vending machines will be integrated through converged IT and OT networks, with a building’s operational technology interconnected and managed by the IT network.

The most compelling part of this approach are the new levels of automation that will make managing buildings be easier while at the same time driving down operational costs. In fact, by tracking people and their real-world work patterns through artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI and ML), the smart building will learn to manage itself.

Instead of just maintaining a temperature range, reimagine the thermostat. You probably already have a smart home thermostat, programmable and monitored from your smart phone. Imagine a building with thousands of these in workspaces, galleries, and conference rooms. They all interact with other sensors to detect the density of people in rooms and adjust the temperature, airflow, shades, and lighting accordingly.

Smart buildings will also simplify our hybrid work experience. The same IoT capabilities that conserve energy can also be used to make work more frictionless. For example, people can get real-time availability of meeting rooms and other office resources and services through Cisco DNA Spaces. A smart system can “know” when a large group of people is going to meet and turn on the HVAC ten minutes earlier to cool down the room to prepare for the incoming crowd. .... ' 

Alexa to Take AI to the Moon

 Like to see this, will follow.  Will conversational AI be good enough by then?  I don't think it is yet. 

Amazon’s Alexa and Cisco’s Webex are heading to deep space on NASA’s upcoming Moon mission

Meet Callisto, the companion of Artemis

By Loren Grush@lorengrush   in TheVerge

When NASA debuts its new massive deep-space rocket for the first time in the coming months, a familiar voice assistant and video teleconferencing tool will be going along for the ride. A version of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant and Cisco’s Webex videoconferencing platform will be included on the flight to space, part of a technology demonstration to see if these tools might benefit future astronauts flying to distant destinations like the Moon and Mars.

The upcoming flight is known as Artemis I, and it’s the first test mission in a series of flights planned for NASA’s Artemis program — an initiative to send the first woman and the first person of color to the surface of the Moon. Tentatively set for March, Artemis I will mark the inaugural flight of NASA’s next-generation rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, a gargantuan rocket that Boeing has been developing for the last decade. The SLS is designed to launch people and cargo into deep space, with passengers riding on top of the vehicle in a new crew capsule called Orion, developed by Lockheed Martin.

“A FUTURE IN WHICH ASTRONAUTS COULD TURN TO AN ONBOARD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR INFORMATION”

For Artemis I, SLS will launch an Orion crew capsule around the Moon on a weeks-long flight — the first time the two vehicles will fly to space together. This is a critical test launch, so no people will be flying inside Orion, save for a mannequin. However, the fake passenger will have some machine companions. Lockheed Martin teamed up with Amazon and Cisco to mount a “human-machine interface” in the spot where Orion’s control panel will be in the future. Called Callisto after the companion of Artemis in Greek mythology, the box will have a voice-activated Alexa speaker, with its iconic blue ring light, and an iPad that runs Webex.  .... '

Securing Industrial Operations at Scale

Essential.

Now is the time to secure industrial operations at scale!   Internet of Things (IoT)  

By Fabien Maisl   in Cisco.

Cyber attacks to industrial organizations and critical infrastructures are now making headlines regularly. As Talos pointed out in a recent research blog, we’ve entered a new world of critical infrastructure security where threat actors are structured businesses.

Nevertheless, few industrial organizations have implemented comprehensive security programs to protect their operational technologies (OT) and even fewer have deployed at scale. At the same time, the pandemic is highlighting how digital transformation can help industries be more agile and transform their infrastructure to operate in the new normal. But for this to happen, industrial networks must have a strong security foundation.

For all these reasons, we’re seeing heightened demand from industrial organizations all over the world for a new generation of OT security solutions. They all include a mix of similar requirements:

Easy to deploy throughout the industrial network, without added costs or complexity to the existing infrastructure. Provide comprehensive visibility into OT devices so security policies can be built for the industrial network

Help teams focus on immediate threats so they can prioritize actions and quickly improve the organization’s security posture even if they are not experts in OT or cybersecurity

Scale to massive deployments so that the entire organization can be protected properly. Integrate seamlessly with existing IT security tools so that a converged IT/OT security strategy can be implemented.

With the release of Cyber Vision 4.0, Cisco is offering a unique OT security solution that addresses these requirements, that will be made available beginning July 2021.  ... ' 

Extending Zero Trust Security

Security in Industrial Networks

Extending Zero Trust Security to Industrial Networks

Ruben Lobo, Cisco

Recent cyber attacks on industrial organizations and critical infrastructures have made it clear: operational and IT networks are inseparably linked. With digitization, data needs to seamlessly flow between enterprise IT and industrial OT networks for the business to function. This tighter integration between IT, OT, and Cloud domains has increased the attack surface of both – the industrial and the enterprise networks.

The traditional security perimeter that industrial organizations have built over the years by installing industrial demilitarized zone (IDMZ) is no longer sufficient. While this is still the mandatory first step to protect operations, embracing the digital industry revolution requires additional security measures, assuming that no user, application, or connected device are trustworthy anymore.

The Zero Trust Security model that many are now implementing to secure the enterprise workforce, workloads, and the workplace must be extended to industrial operations. It continuously verifies resources to establish trust and compliance in every access request. It identifies not just users, but endpoints, and applications to grant them the absolute minimum access they need.

I recently presented a webinar explaining the specific Zero Trust requirements for IoT/OT networks:  ... '

On the Ethics of AI

Concise piece on the topic from Cisco

Analytics & Automation

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence  in Cisco Blog

Utkarsh Srivastava

Intelligent machines have helped humans in achieving great endeavors. Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined with human experiences have resulted in quick wins for stakeholders across multiple industries, with use cases ranging from finance to healthcare to marketing to operations and more. There is no denying the fact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has helped in quicker product innovation and an enriching user experience. However, few of these use cases include context-aware marketing, sales forecasting, conversational analytics, fraud detection, credit scoring, drug testing, pregnancy monitoring, self-driving cars – a never-ending list of applications.

But the very idea of developing smart machines (AI-powered systems) raises numerous ethical concerns. What is the probability that these smart machines won’t harm humans or other morally relevant beings? Matthew Hutson, a research scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mentioned in one of his studies that AI algorithms embedded in digital and social media technologies can reinforce societal biases, accelerate the spread of rumors and disinformation, amplify echo chambers of public opinion, hijack our attention, and impair mental well-being. Earlier discussions related to this concept of “Data and AI ethics” were only limited to non-profit organizations and academic institutions. But with the rapidly changing industry spectrum, global tech giants are putting together fast-growing teams to handle the ethics of AI. And as these companies have invested more due diligence into the challenge, they’ve discovered that the majority of these ethical issues arise during the lifecycle of data resulting from the widespread collection and processing of data to train AI models. ... '

More on Endpoint Security

More on this topic by Cisco, see the other parts of this pointed to. Note its particular relevance for remote work.

Why Endpoint Security Matters in Protecting Remote Workers – Part 2    By Pat Correia

As attack surfaces expand customers see improved visibility with AMP for Endpoints!

In part 1 of this blog series we discussed how securing your workforce on any endpoint, anywhere, at any time, is more important now than ever before, and that Cisco AMP for Endpoints plays a critical role in the new Cisco Secure Remote Worker solution that connects and protects people and devices working remotely.

In the first entry of this blog series we promised to take a more in-depth look at our customer’s thoughts on the value that AMP for Endpoints brings to their business.  As a quick recap the Top 3 business values from that Endpoint survey are:

-Better visibility – for insights and protection to stop threats from the expanding attack surface
-Better efficacy – to remediate faster and fully expose, contain and resolve threats
-Getting time back – for improved security effectiveness, eliminating complexity and enhancing security admin productivity  ... " 

Cisco on Post Quantum Security

Full considerable article at the link, a good overview of the direction of quantum Crypto, with predictive time line.

It’s Not Too Early to Start Thinking About Post-Quantum Security
By Eve Griliches

In networking and communication, information security is absolutely necessary when transmitting over any untrusted medium, especially the Internet. Interestingly, people have been trying to securely encrypt information for 1000s of years, mostly using intuitive methods of encrypting, which is a good reason why we need cryptography. Cryptography protects data from being stolen or altered and is also used for individual authentication.

Physics proposed a solution known as quantum key distribution (QKD) which uses the quantum property of the particle to create and transmit a secure key. This is an interesting solution because a quantum particle state cannot be copied, so it is inherently possible to validate that a transmitted key is secure.

Actual quantum computers are still in early development but the threat to communication security has triggered investigations into alternative methods to distribute encryption keys. As mentioned before one of the methods proposed to address post-quantum security challenges is the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) because of its theoretical promise to be intrinsic unbreakable and offering an easy method to detect the eavesdropper presence. Unfortunately, implementation flaws and side-channel attacks could open up a vulnerability, and while current commercial QKD systems are designed to have no exploitable implementation flaws and be resistant against known side-channel attacks, it leaves open the question about side-channel attacks which have yet to be discovered.

It is believed that quantum computing will have a huge impact on areas such as logistics, military activities, pharmaceuticals (drug design and discovery), aerospace design, nuclear fusion, financial modeling, polymer design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, fault detection, Big Data, and capital goods, especially digital manufacturing. According to an analysis by Nature, private investors have funded at least 52 quantum-technology companies. The market for quantum computing is projected to reach $64.98 billion by 2030 from just $507.1 million in 2019, growing at a CAGR of 56.0% during the forecast period (2020–2030). According to a CIR estimate, revenue from quantum computing is pegged at $8 billion by 2027.

How quantum computing will scale, while quantum error correction itself is an implementation challenge, and still needs to be solved. Real quantum cryptoanalysis is most likely ~10 years away. Quantum key exchange has proven fantastic and unbreakable when implemented correctly, but it is limited by the physical infrastructure. There may be a niche application for relatively short distances, but it will not be a general solution. Cisco is tracking all of the solutions in this area and will bring to market a flexible solution that will enable our customers to use whatever PQ secure solution they feel more appropriate for them.

Read the full Cisco Post-Quantum Security Brief here: 

Cisco's Ava Telepresence Robot

Saw something similar demonstrated at the Cisco smart home innovation center in the late 90s.  Somewhat surprising that this coming for them now, would like to see more. Perhaps the time is now right.  Note 'telepresence', e.g remote human controlled, not autonomous.  Also, Ava was mentioned here before in 2018, see the tag below.

Webex Powered telepresence robot.
Collaboration
Ava: A Virtual Best Friend
Madisen Andersen

The Customer Story blog series highlights how Cisco’s collaboration technology has helped customers solve their business challenges. Learn how Cisco is meeting customers where they are helping them achieve their business goals.

An Easy and Fast Way to Stay Connected with Ava

 Wouldn’t it be great to have a way for patients in hospitals, nursing homes, rehab centers, and other long-term care facilities to stay connected with their loved ones during the current time and beyond? Connected in a way that it seems they are together, in person?  After all, being with family is what helps us get through tough times. Unfortunately, during these recent challenging times, most of these facilities have been forced to close their doors to their patient’s loved ones.  

Strict rules put in place have made it nearly impossible for patients to have any in-person interaction with their families. So how can healthcare facilities enable patients to communicate and connect with their families in a secure, safe, and simple way? 

Fortunately, there is a way: Ava.  Ava is like a friend to everyone in need.    ... "

Cisco and IBM Team at the Edge

Considerable piece on the Cisco Blog.  The participants in the work make sense. Mention of AI and machine learning but no Watson.

Cisco and IBM: Teaming at the Edge
By Keith Dyer in the Cisco Blog

The convergence of 5G, Edge computing and AI is sparking a whole new level of innovation”, says Evaristus Mainsah, general manager, IBM Cloud Pak Ecosystem, “and this in turn will enable and fuel a broad ecosystem of providers to co-create solutions for a growing set of edge opportunities.”

To enable customers to take advantage of these opportunities at the edge, IBM has brought to market IBM Edge Application Manager. Built from a combination of IBM and Cisco components, solutions deploying IBM Edge Application Manager represent the latest output from the Cisco and IBM global alliance, which began more than two decades ago. This multidimensional alliance covers a variety of technologies, such as networking, data center, hybrid cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), security, collaboration, and professional services to bring our joint edge capabilities together for the benefit of our mutual customers. ... " 

Design Thinking, Improv

Upcoming short free talk.

You are invited to attend:

ISSIP Service Design Speaker Series

Radical cross-collaboration at Cisco with Design Thinking & Improv
on Wednesday, February 26th 2020, 11:00 AM - 11.45 AM US Eastern Standard Time

Plants need nourishment from the soil, water, and sun. Humans need an authentic connection, empathy, understanding, being seen and heard, a sense of direction and understand what comes next. How Might We Achieve Radical Collaboration with Design Thinking & Improv?

Speaker:   Asli Ors – Cisco

About the speaker:

Asli Ors is a Design Thinker, Innovation Catalyst, Improviser and helps teams create empathic solutions built on intelligent networks that solve our customers’ challenges with design thinking. Believes, when Play and Work tangles magic happens. By magic, she means meeting the business goals by aligning on core requirements, design principles and project priorities in a timely manner.
Service Design Series Chaired by - Payal Vaidya and Daniela Sangiorgi

Zoom information provided on registration. 

Register

Cisco Validated Designs for IOT

Of interest via Cisco, new to me, much more below:

Internet of Things (IoT)
New Cisco Validated Designs offer customers more recipes for IoT success
Bryan Tantzen

In the kitchen, you strive to use the highest-quality ingredients possible. But you don’t typically serve one or two ingredients on a plate. Instead, you build a plan for what to serve and how to combine the ingredients to achieve the desired results. Unless you’re a culinary whiz, you probably want that information from someone who has experience preparing that meal – and a track record of creating a great-tasting result.

In other words, you want a recipe from a proven expert for a proven result. Anything else is just a science experiment.

The same holds true in the IoT realm – where the stakes, are considerably higher than the quality of a dinner. That’s the driving principle behind Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs). We know our products have proven to be the industry’s best “ingredients” for IoT networks. But we also know there can be complexity in designing, deploying and managing those products into a “meal” – a complete solution to support all courses of a real-world use case.

For every CVD, our engineers create detailed design and implementation guides that use Cisco and our partners’ products to address critical business needs. We then engineer, test and validate each design for our customers’ industry specific requirements, to guide their own deployments.

At Cisco Live Europe in Barcelona, we unveiled new and enhanced CVDs for oil and gas, manufacturing, power utilities and any organization seeking to extend its enterprise network beyond traditional carpeted spaces: ... " 

Technology and the Future of Utilities

In the Cisco Blog, a good overview of how tech is helping redesign and enable energy utilities.  Making them more efficient and secure.   

Energy - Oil & Gas and Utilities
The Future of Utilities
By Wes Sylvester

As we power through our #FutureofPublicSector blog series, today we make a stop at the future of energy as we explore the energy sources of the future and how technology is enabling greater outcomes at each stage of the energy continuum.  

For centuries, society has relied on hydrocarbons like oil, coal and natural gas to generate energy. These fossil fuels are burned at power plants to create electricity which then moves through our communities using a complex grid of electricity substations and power lines. Higher voltage electricity can be moved more efficiently although lower voltage electricity is safer for everyday use. Transformers at substations work to adjust electricity voltages at different stages of the journey from the power plant to homes and businesses where they power our days. 

Sparking the Next Generation of Energy
Not only are these fossil fuels depleting, they generate air pollution and greenhouse gases that are directly contributing towards climate change. As a result, the entire energy landscape is evolving: from where energy comes from (generation), how it gets to communities (transmission) and how it gets to homes and businesses (distribution).

The future of energy is shifting in a definitively renewable direction as more countries, companies and consumers push for a move away from using fossil fuels to generate energy: driving the adoption of more natural resources like solar and wind power. To survive today and prepare for tomorrow, energy utility companies must focus on delivering a more reliable and efficient service, generated from more sustainable and renewable sources. 

Here’s a look at how technology is helping to solve these challenges in the electric utilities industry: 
.... " 

Voicea Acquired by Cisco for Webex

Just Received, we tested the Voicea system last year as a potential means for an 'in meeitng' participant-assistant'.    It seemed to have great potential.   Now it is part of Cisco and Webex as a 'core capability of the Webex Experience' ...

Alyson from Voicea  .....

Dear Customer,
Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”) acquired Rizio, Inc. d/b/a Voicea (“Voicea”) on September 6, 2019. Since then, Cisco has been in the process of integrating Voicea into Cisco. You are receiving this notice because you are a user of Voicea and accepted the Voicea.com Terms of Service (“the Agreement”). Cisco Webex is the leading collaboration and communications platform for business, and we are very excited to have Voicea services become a core capability of the Webex experience. As part of that ongoing integration effort, Cisco is moving the Voicea services to a Cisco Webex + Voicea integrated offering (“New Offer”).   .... ?


For more see: Voicea: 

Automated Minutes
EVA, your Enterprise Voice Assistant transcribes and highlights your meetings so you never miss a detail. Then, follow-up quickly by sending meeting details to your integrated workflow tools.  ... " 

4 Keys to AI Success

Good, completely non technical piece in the Cisco Blog. Needs much filling out but starts the conversation.

AI and the 4 Keys to its Success: Diving Deeper
By Anthony McKinney, Cisco Blog
October 31, 2019 - 0 Comments

Like the internet, artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more powerful as the number of people using the tools grows. The utility of AI in this context depends on the user themselves. How? By providing their “voice samples” through applications like Siri, Alexa, Cortana and Google Assistant back to the developers. This helps build better algorithms. But these solutions need a solid foundation. One that supports the collection and the processing of the algorithms. But also an infrastructure that can adapt and support to scale, creating a robust solution for optimal utility.  ..." 

Cisco On IOT in New Orleans Preventing Crime

Used to spend quite a bit of time in New Orleans.  Never thought of it as particularly low crime, based on what I saw in the papers.   Like to see that change.  But aims to be better yet with IOT as Cisco outlines in their blog.  How much this will be bashed with bias implications remains to be seen. 

Keeping the City of New Orleans safe with Cisco IoT

While the Big Easy has long been famous for letting the good times roll, New Orleans is increasingly recognized for good times AND less crime. In fact, since the 2017 launch of its Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC), the City has become a leader in using Cisco IoT solutions to support public safety.
Core to the City’s IoT solutions are hundreds of IP cameras installed on nearly every corner. These cameras – powered securely by a wireless network of ruggedized Cisco ISR with the Cisco IR829 integrated service routers (ISR) – stream live video to the RTCC. In a matter of minutes, the RTCC processes and shares relevant footage with officers in the field. It also gathers and analyzes video footage as part of longer-term investigations of criminal activity and quality-of-life concerns.

“The Cisco IR829 has supported everything we’ve asked it to do. It has been extremely reliable and very robust in every aspect of every solution we’ve thrown at it.”   Richard Couget, Network Manager, City of New Orleans

Imagine it: Rather than showing up at a scene with little or no background information, police arrive armed with critical insights. In the past, it might take an officer 20 minutes to interview both parties involved in a car accident. With accident footage in tow, the officer can handle the situation and return to the field far more quickly.

In other cases, the City’s IP cameras catch crimes in progress. Within minutes, the RTCC sends footage to nearby walking-beat police officers who can quickly identify and arrest the culprits. And whether responding within minutes or days after a crime has occurred, having concrete evidence in hand enables greater police efficiency when interviewing witnesses and suspects.  .... " 

How AI will Improve Networks

Extensive first piece, more to follow, by Cisco on Networks and AI.  Click through below.

Enterprise Networks
Improving Networks with Artificial Intelligence

John Apostolopoulos, Ph.D.
June 5, 2019  

Artificial intelligence is changing how we manage networks, and it’s a change we need. Because as we rely more every day on networks and networked applications to keep businesses agile, secure, and competitive, we also need more advanced tools to keep on top of the networks themselves. AI will us make network operations simpler, smarter, safer, and speedier. They help us manage our networks at machine speed.

In this and upcoming blog posts I’m going to discuss how AI technologies will apply to networking.

Before I do, please keep in mind that AI is a large and growing field, with several branches. In networking, there are three subfields of AI that are most relevant:

Natural language processing (NLP), which includes speech recognition and natural language understanding.

Machine learning (ML), in which we use data to learn patterns, so we can form inferences on new data for tasks like classification or prediction.

Machine reasoning (MR), which includes using domain-specific knowledge bases (facts, relationships, and rules) and manipulations of the knowledge to answer questions.

I’ll refer to “AI” if I mean multiple of the above or related techniques. I’ll refer to a single technique if I want to be more specific. ... "