In November, just a few months back, John Chambers, Cisco’s CEO announced a rough timetable of his retirement.  With 19 years at Cisco’s helm Chambers is the 5^th longest serving CEO in the technology world.  Chamber’s believes he will retire sometime in the next two to four years.  Within that time period, Chambers would like nothing more than to turn things around for Cisco.   

Last week on April 7th the web was rocked by a security bug called Heartbleed.  It’s a flaw in a commonly used security system, OpenSSL, which nearly two-thirds of all websites globally out there use to keep information secure.  The media has had a field day with this news and unless you live under a rock you’ve probably already heard about the Heartbleed Bug or seen its logo.  The flaw in the system lets attackers eavesdrop on Web, e-mail, and some VPN communications.  Not only are servers using OpenSSL affected by this vulnerability, network gear from Cisco and Juniper Networks using OpenSSL are affected as well. 

• At a launch event for its new NCS core router line, Cisco (CSCO -0.5%) states its recently-announced nPower X1 network processor (NPU) won't displace EZchip's NPUs.
• EZchip shares, which tumbled when the X1 was originally announced, have shot higher. Oppenheimer had estimated the nPower X1 could hurt EZchip's top line by 20%-25% if used in future Cisco edge routers.
  
• Cisco states the X1, which (per John Chambers) cost $250M to develop, will power the NCS line, as well as its mainstay CRS-X core routers.
• The NCS line is meant to provide better support for diverse traffic loads than the CRS-X line. Cisco touts the programmability of its new hardware, as well as its advanced management tools (both physical and virtual resources can be provisioned across systems) and support for the company's ONE SDN platform.
• The high-end NCS 6000 supports line cards with densities up to 1Tbps; that exceeds the 400Gbps supported by the CRS-X and supports arguments the former will be viewed as a replacement for the latter, even if it isn't officially marketed as such.
• The NCS 6000 is already shipping, as is a complementary 100G optical transport system known as the NCS 2000. Japan's KDDI and Australia's Telstra are among the first clients. A less powerful router known as the NCS 4000 will ship in 1H14.
• Juniper (JNPR -1.2%), whose successful PTX Series routers are being targeted by the NCS line, is ticking lower.

News courtesy of SeekingAlpha.

While it might be a tad reminiscent of The Truman Show, complete with hidden cameras at every corner, Cisco has announced its first Iconic Smart+Connected City, Lake Nona Community of Orlando, Florida and it’s pretty darn impressive.  The Monday, October 23, 2012 announcement makes Lake Nona technology giant Cisco’s, first Iconic Smart+Connected City.  Lake Nona - a 7,000-acre master planned community within the city limits of Orlando will be a 15 year project for Cisco and Bahamas-based private investment firm Tavistock Group. They plan to turn Lake Nona into a modern day "Aerotropolis," or an urban area whose economy is centered around an international airport, and the global workforce that enter and leave through it.