Light Reading founder Steve Saunders recently visited the University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) where Cisco's Tetration application is providing data center analytics, simplifying SDN, helping with cloud migration and overseeing white-list security policy.

Steve Saunders, Founder, Light Reading

March 5, 2018

2 Min Read
Cisco Goes Back to School With Tetration

I have seen the future of communications, and it's pretty cool.

I recently had the opportunity to spend a day at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), where the team has built out a super-dooper advanced network using Cisco's Tetration application, which provides data center analytics, simplifies SDN, helps with cloud migration and oversees white-list security policy (all in one sesame seed bun).

UNCC's Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enterprise Infrastructure, Jesse Beauman, gave me the tour. (FYI, Jesse's business card says he has an M.S.; not having had a formal education myself, I assume this means he's a Master of Suspense... pretty cool, right?)

Anyhoo, Jesse points out that Cisco's software has turned up some surprising insights about network usage, and has produced at least one counterintuitive outcome. Specifically, most of the conventional wisdom around packages such as Tetration has it that enterprises and service providers will use the information they deliver, automagically, to cut costs by reducing the number of staff running the network. Master of Suspense Beauman says it's the opposite -- by providing a wealth of information about what's happening (and where) on the network, Tetration has actually created an opportunity to create more interesting applications, which require staff to develop and run them.

More staff, not less staff. Isn't that interesting? And potentially good news for the employees of communications service providers and large enterprises around the world!

Another thing that was interesting -- to see firsthand that Cisco is still delivering cool next-gen technology to customers.

Check out the video to learn more about what UNCC and Cisco are up to these days.


— Steve Saunders, Founder, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Steve Saunders

Founder, Light Reading

Steve Saunders is the Founder of Light Reading.

He was previously the Managing Director of UBM DeusM, an integrated marketing services division of UBM, which has successfully launched 45 online communities in less than three years.

DeusM communities are based on Saunders' vision for a structured system of community publishing, one which creates unprecedented engagement among highly qualified business users. Based on the success of the first dozen UBM DeusM communities, the UBM Tech division in 2013 made the decision to move its online business to the UBM DeusM community platform – including 20 year old flagship brands such as Information Week and EE Times.

Saunders' next mission for UBM is the development of UBM's Integrated Community Business Model (ICBM), a publishing system designed to take advantage of, and build upon, UBM's competitive strengths as a leading provider of live events around the globe. The model is designed to extend the ability of UBM's events to generate revenue 365 days of the year by contextually integrating content from community and event sites, and directories, to drive bigger audiences to all three platforms, and thereby create additional value for customers. In turn, these amplified audiences will allow business leaders to grow both revenues and profits through higher directory fees and online sponsorship. The ICBM concept is currently being discussed with a broad group of business leaders across UBM, and is earmarked to be piloted in the second half of 2013 and early 2014.

UBM DeusM is Saunders' fifth successful start-up. In 2008, he founded Internet Evolution (www.internetevolution.com), a ground-breaking, award-winning, global online community dedicated to investigating the future of the Internet, now in its fifth year.

Prior to Internet Evolution, Saunders was the founder and CEO of Light Reading (www.lightreading.com), Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com

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