We recently had some more fun with our friends on Spiceworks. You may remember the Cisco Haiku contest we ran a couple months ago? Well, we decided to do a caption contest this time.

The contest was simple. Create an IT-related caption for a picture of Mr. Miyagi. We chose some of our favorites and sent the contributors a sweet t-shirt. It was a lot of fun. Check out some of the best responses!

Mr. Miyagi says,

“Hacking is always last answer to problem.”
“WAN on… WAN off.”
“Problem not with computer, User-san, but between chair and keyboard!”
“Daniel-san, show me patch the server.”
“How I do that? Don’t know. First time.”
“We make sacred pact. I promise teach [Systems Administration] to you, you promise learn. I say, you do, no questions.”
“No such thing as bad computer, only bad user.”
“Called Reboot Technique. If done right, PC no can defense.”
“Just remember; IT helpdesk should never replace eye, ear, and brain.”
“Man with disaster recovery plan never afraid.”
“Power off, power on. Fix all problems.”
“Man who Ctrl-Alt-Del with chopstick accomplish anything.”

We had a lot of fun with this contest and we’re sure to do more. It’s always great to see the creativity and humor of the Spiceheads! You should join in the fun – follow us on Spiceworks and get in on the action.

Doing your job without the proper essentials is not an easy task. And when the responsibility of your job entails looking after the security and efficiency of an entire organization, it gets a lot harder. As companies continue to depart from server based storage and move into virtual databases, IT leaders across the country are scrambling to make do with reduced budgets and a lack of resources.

In fact, based on a study by Cisco, 18 percent of IT managers claimed they “would rather break out of prison or train for a triathlon than ask for additional budget.”

While this might not come as a surprise, it is posing big problems. Since IT teams can’t maintain critical infrastructure, the hardware they are responsible for keeping up to date is failing. And the hardware is not the only problem.

As evidenced by ta survey done by CXtec, 28 percent of those surveyed felt that their organizations’ primary problem had to do with budgeting. This also led to a lack of staffing.

Here are some chief findings from the survey:

• 16 percent of those surveyed opt to throw away used and unwanted IT equipment instead of re-selling.
• 46 percent of those surveyed placed “green” IT solutions and recycling near the top of their IT priorities.
• 64 percent of those surveyed have virtualized less than half of their data centers.

The executive survey, which was taken from various informational seminars across the U.S. throughout 2012, provides critical answers to questions such as how companies are handling data and prioritizing the needs of data centers. It also provides statistics on matters such as particular problems that are posing budget restraints to companies, such as what companies are doing with their old VoIP phones or used printers.

“We really enjoy these events because they provide an opportunity to gain valuable feedback and insight from some of the industry’s top professionals,” claimed CXtec President Peter Belyea in this press release. “By understanding the state of the industry and the challenges currently being faced by IT executives, we are able to support our customers and prepare for the future more effectively.”

So, how does your organization measure up? For a more detailed analysis you can view the survey results in its entirety here.

Hooray – it’s Friday and it’s contest time! We know how much IT pros love contests…especially when there’s an opportunity to win free stuff.

Here are the rules:

• Take a look around our website (www.cxtec.com) and check out all the wonderful and useful information you can find.
• Pay careful attention and look for an Easter bunny that will be hidden on one of the pages.
• When you find the bunny, simply fill out this form to win one of our awesome CABLExpress Respect Layer One Super Heroes!
• The contest will run from 10 a.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Easter Sunday.*
  *While supplies last.

CABLExpress Super Hero

This contest may seem pretty easy, but if you don’t pay close attention – you just might miss it!

Once you’ve found our Easter bunny, check out some other fun digital Easter eggs by Googling “do a barrel roll” or “tilt” – pretty cool stuff.

Ready, set…SEARCH! Good luck!

With so much going on in the IT world every day, sometimes it seems almost impossible to keep up on all the latest news and updates. We decided we wanted to start compiling all the most important news stories of the month to use as a resource for both our team – and yours. This post will be specifically on Cisco news.

Be sure to check back often to take advantage of this resource and stay up-to-date!

1. Cisco sells Linksys brand to Belkin

While this news initially broke in January, the acquisition was finalized mid-March. According to Computerworld, this move is significant because it shows a “continued a shift by Cisco away from consumer products and toward large architectures for enterprises and service providers.” It will be interesting to watch the shift as Cisco abandons the consumer market and dedicates its attention to the larger IT solutions industry.

2. Cisco Announces Platform that Provides Unified Access for Wired and Wireless Infrastructures

The Unified Access Data Plane, or UADP, is a way for enterprises to combine traditional data networks and mobile platforms. Enterprise Networking Planet states, “This proposal represents an entirely new class of networking hardware that allows people to build unified networks from the ground up, essentially uniting two distinct logical networks into one.” This development is important as demand for seamless solutions continues to grow and organizations look toward next-generation infrastructures.

3. Cisco Password Implementation Error Puts Hardware at Risk

 This news hit the IT world last week after research uncovered the security risk. Cisco then issued a warning about password weaknesses in some of its routers, switches and appliances that are using the Cisco IOS and Cisco IOS XE. According to InformationWeek, “The problem stems from Cisco’s use of the Type 4 password algorithm in the operating system, and its failure to salt – add random bits to – passwords or use PBKDF2, which randomizes passphrases and adds a salt, thus deriving a cryptographic key that’s more difficult to crack.” The company recommends that organizations search for any Type 4 passwords they’ve generated and replace with Type 5 passwords.

4. Cisco Owes $70 Million for Patent Fraud

A federal jury decided on Friday that Cisco owes XpertUniverse Inc. $70 million for patent fraud, alleged to have occurred during a partnership between the two companies. According to the Wall Street Journal, Cisco was found guilty of “fraud by concealment” in addition to violating two patents. Cisco continues to reject the allegations and states that it may pursue an appeal.

In a previous post, we shared some Cisco haiku.   They were fun, so we decided to share a few more.

So let’s get right to it.

Cisco Haiku

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