Cisco and HP this week took their rivalry to the branch office. Each announced, separately but simultaneously, broad extensions to their switching and routing portfolios to improve application delivery and performance between data centers and branch offices.

So in effect, Cisco and HP are extending their rivalry from the data center… (read the article at NetworkWorld)

Now available at the Cisco website – https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/learning_center/cert-practice-exams?

Okay…so it's been a while since our last get-together, but we would like to start planning one for the month of July.

If anyone has an idea of a topic that would be a good fit for the group (and a good subject for July), please let me know and we'll attempt to line it up.

We will be in touch soon with more details.

In the mean time, happy networking!

-Carl

Tests find that most AV is still not blocking Aurora exploit

At the RSA Conference in San Francisco last week, security vendors pitched their next-generation of security products, promising to protect customers from security threats in the cloud and on mobile devices. But what went largely unsaid was that the industry has failed to protect paying customers from some of today's most pernicious threats.

The big news at the show had to do with the takedown of the Mairposa botnet — a massive network of hacked computers that has infected half of the Fortune 100 companies. So-called advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks, such as the one that compromised Google systems in early December, were another hot topic.

Netezza changes the game. Again. : View nowBoth Mariposa and the Google attacks illustrate the same thing, however. Despite billions of dollars in security spending, it's still surprisingly hard to keep corporate networks safe.

Read the rest at NetworkWorld
 

We are excited to welcome you and your members to the program! Please see below for our introductory message. Beyond that, I’d also like to take the opportunity to highlight some pertinent information –

• The Cisco Press User Group program is under the umbrella of our larger Pearson Education User Group Program on InformIT.com. All Cisco Press User Group Program member groups get to take advantage of all of the InformIT offers, as well as what is exclusive to them on CiscoPress.com and our hidden-URL User Group page (http://www.informit.com/usergroupwelcome). Also, every group member is entitled to a 35% discount on all books from Cisco Press and InformIT.

 Please see below for discount information -

 InformIT General Discount Code:

1. Go to www.informit.com/join to register
   
2. Enter the following optional member code: USERGROUP
   
3. You are only required to register and apply the member code once, but you must be logged-in to automatically receive the special pricing.

Cisco Press General Discount Code:

1. Go to https://memberservices.informit.com/my_account/register.aspx?partner=7  to register
   
2. Enter the following optional member code: CISCOUG
   
3. You are only required to register and apply the member code once, but you must be logged-in to automatically receive the special pricing.

For more information, contact:

Emily Nave, PR Coordinator
Representing Imprints of Pearson Education
T:  317.428.3072
F:  317.428.3310
emily.nave@pearson.com
800 E. 96th St., 3rd Floor
Indianapolis, IN 46240

Some of the PACUG group members attend the Pittsburgh Geek Night at the Church Brew Works at 3525 Liberty Ave. (Lawrenceville) and hope you'll join us! The group meets every other month, with the next gathering being on April 1.

For more than 10 years, geeks from the Pittsburgh area have been getting together to socialize, network, and ingest adult beverages. It's always a great time, and the food at the Church Brew Works is awesome!  There is no fee to attend, and sometimes the sponsors provide some appetizers (have to get there early for them).

Click here for details and directions.

PACUG meeting Wednesday February 24 – Cisco Systems North Shore office

Subject – MPLS
The presentation will be given AT&T employees George Long and Mike Kaehly. MPLS was our #1 vote getter on the pacug.com website! This should be a great topic for the group.

We will also, as always, have an informal meet and greet session at Bettis Grille directly following the meeting. I look forward to seeing everyone there! Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Gathering Date & Time:
Wednesday February 24 at 6:30pm

Location:
Cisco Systems
323 North Shore Dr
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

A new edition of the top-selling Cisco certification title is now available! CCNA 640-802 Exam Certification Library, Simulator Edition combines the popular Cisco CCNA® Certification Library with network simulator software containing 250 simulation labs in a discount-priced package. Both created by Wendell Odom, the library and software will let you learn and get hands-on experience from the most popular CCNA author of all time!

[more information - click here]
 

SAN JOSE, California – December 18, 2009 – Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced it has completed its acquisition of Starent Networks (NASDAQ: STAR), a leading supplier of Internet Protocol (IP) based mobile infrastructure solutions targeting mobile and converged carriers.

With the Mobile Internet at an inflection point as IP-enabled Smartphones and other connected mobile devices gain rapid acceptance, service providers have been actively investing in this market. Global mobile data traffic is expected to more than double every year through 2013, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index.

Starent Networks' mobile infrastructure solutions play an important role in enabling service providers to scale their mobile infrastructure and monetize their investments via differentiated experiences. They provide the multimedia intelligence, core network functions and services to manage access from any 2.5G, 3G and 4G radio network to a mobile operator's packet core network. Starent Networks' access-independent technology is deployed in CDMA2000 (1X, EV-DO), UMTS/HSPA and WiMAX networks.

[READ MORE]

Core Knowledge Questions Now Available for All CCIE Labs

Effective January 4, 2010, the Cisco CCIE^® Service Provider, Storage, and Wireless lab exams will add a new type of question format in a section called Core Knowledge. In this new section, candidates will be asked a series of four open-ended questions that require a short written response to be entered into the computer, typically several words. The questions will be randomly drawn from a pool of questions on topics eligible for testing. Candidates can review the topics by visiting the CCIE track information on Cisco.com or the Cisco Learning Network. No new topics are being added as a result of this change.

Candidates will have up to 30 minutes to complete the Core Knowledge section and may not return to it once they have moved on. A passing score on the Core Knowledge section is required to achieve certification. Core Knowledge questions were implemented on Routing and Switching labs in February 2009 and Security labs in June 2009, and allow Cisco to maintain strong exam security and ensure that only qualified candidates are awarded CCIE certification. Candidates with exam dates on January 4, 2010 or later should expect to see the new question format on their lab exam.

 [more information]