1. Cisco just smashed a huge ransomware operation
On Tuesday the firm announced that its Talos security researchers had taken out 50% of the Angler Exploit Kit, which is being used for malvertising and ransomware, and earning the perpetrators up to $60m a year.
2. The firms is building small, startup – like, teams
Executive vice president and chief development officer Pankaj Patel regularly referred to the "small, agile teams" that Cisco is building. The teams are called "Alpha Teams", and they are the firm’s way of bringing startup culture and flexibility to its enormous corporate structure.
3. Cisco has the boardroom of the future
It’s got a touchscreen the size of the wall, taking in information from a number of sources, two more smaller wall-mounted touch screens, two motorised cameras that pick out whoever is speaking, and fully integrated audio.
The man leading on collaboration for Cisco, Rowan Trollope, told CBR that soon their systems are going to be commonplace in companies’ conference rooms, not just the big boardrooms.
4. Cisco is getting faster at finding cyber security threats
The firm claims that it now has time to detection down to 46 hours. This is in contrast to the almost 200 days that it typically takes in the industry. Its aim now is to boost its analytics offering so that threats can be detected in near real-time.
5. 80% of the world’s traffic is routed through Cisco
At its core Cisco remains a router and switch company. The result is almost all of the world’s web traffic still goes through it systems.
6. There are 81 malware attacks a second on Cisco systems
Because of its huge footprint, Cisco systems are under constant attack, and they have to battle back 81 cyber security attacks a second on its customers infrastructure, which add up to 10s of millions of a year.
7. Some SVPs at Cisco have robot assistants
One, called Holly, is in Texas, while the headquarters is in San Jose, California. These robots can fully rotate, go up and down, and guide you down the corridor.
8. Cisco and FANUC are partnering to work on robots in manufacturing
The two companies working together to connect industrial robots used in manufacturing. It’s part of the new Connected Machines product from Cisco, and the firms say it will allow preventive maintenance on machines, to stop unnecessary downtime, by sending information from the robots up to Cisco’s Cloud.
9. Its working in the energy sector too
Cisco has partnered with Schneider Electric to enable new pipelines to give realtime monitoring of the structural integrity of those pipes. Both this and the partnership with FANUC are part of its new Digital Industrial Solutions.
10. A lot of people apparently want John Chambers to run for President
Apparently people keep asking the highly political former CEO to run for President, although it does not seem to be on the agenda at the moment. Chambers is busy being what he describes as "the grandpa" at Cisco.
