For The Set of All People Who Enjoy Tattoos and Cisco

Look at this ardent Cisco fan's tattoo! (via Geekologie)

Cisco To Add Two New Certifications Soon?

There is a recent story about Cisco waffling over completing an acquisition that will have an impact on the existing state of Cisco training and certification. Cisco is unsure whether it wants to complete a deal to acquire Tandberg, a leading video conferencing technology supplier. Tandberg has over 40% of the global teleconferencing market. Cisco wants to complete the deal only if it can secure 90% acceptance from the Tandberg shareholders for the deal.

If Cisco does complete the acquisition, it would bolster significantly its collaboration technologies offerings. Additionally, two new certifications would be added to validate the skills that IT professionals need to implement and support Cisco TelePresence deployments.

Cushing Anderson, the program vice president of IT Education and Certification for IDC, a Cisco certification and training company, is quoted in the story as saying,

Market-focused education and certification programs for new job roles such as video, voice and telepresence specialists are essential to assure the return on enterprise investments in these new technologies is fully maximized.”

Sri Lanka's IT Industry Needs Training, Growth

Sri Lanka is experiencing some growing pains in its burgeoning IT industry. Since 1962 when the country passed a special act inviting IBM to establish a local branch to increase its data processing power in its government-run Insurance Corporation. Since then, many leading government companies have widely adopted IBM IT solutions, including Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the Department of Census and Statistics, and the Department of Examinations.

There have been some problems, however, that accompany fast growth. There are questions surrounding whether the IT tools have been used well for management, whether they fit into a robust Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) strategy, and whether they are being well implemented by well-trained IT professionals. This last concern has trumped many, since without properly-trained IT staff, expanding computing and networking power lays fallow.

The Sri Lankans liken themselves to the Indians, who also entered late into the IT field. India has become a center of business process outsourcing, including call-center operations and computer support networks. Sri Lankans are aware of a need to expand its IT operations in order to keep pace in the global economy. The Daily News proposes a few steps to stay in the game.

• IT education and training institutions must understand the country’s needs and develop professionals to meet market challenges.
• Our institutions must formulate prudent IT visions follow-up with IT strategies of practical nature.
• The commitment of senior management and the involvement of operational staff are essential in IT investments.
• IT investment should not be merely a profitable business for the vendor, but also, it should give the required competitive edge to the user’s business.
• Integrated software connecting different databases/ a centralized database of government institutions will improve the efficiency of public sector decisions.

Clearly, IT training and technological development needs to continue for Sri Lanka to stay competitive. It is important to maintain an emphasis on IT training and infrastructure development with an eye toward improving the country as a whole and not simply as a for-profit enterprise.

Cisco Rolls Out New Cisco Training Program To Help With Unemployment

Cisco has started a pilot program to train for free out-of-work individuals interested in working in the IT field. The program is currently centered in Vallejo, CA. These Cisco training classes are an attempt to lure government investment in the idea in the hopes of scaling it up. On the free market, such Cisco training classes can cost up to $3,000.

Company spokesman David Everette has said, “We could train up to 50,000 people,” and that Cisco simply wants to demonstrate that such training can be done and is effective. Cisco hopes to roll out the program nation-wide by next year.

Vallejo County has an astonishing 11.5% jobless rate. Cisco hopes to impress California Congressman George Miller and gain money from the federal Workforce Investment Act. The Solano Employment Connection, which is a jobsearch and employment resource center, is hosting the classes. Prospects look good on paper for the program. Given a $3,000 cost for the classes, students can better hope to gain employment in the IT field, where average salaries are about $65,000 annually. The program has so far been hugely popular with a second session boasting thirty-seven people on a waiting list.

Hopefully, this pilot program can gain national attention and funding, thereby increasing the number of qualified IT professionals, who are needed in a variety of industries and employment sectors.

Coffee and RFID?

I've heard that coffee and cigarettes go well together, but I've never heard of anyone making a film about coffee and RFID. But an ingenious inventor has found a way to make the pairing nearly as sublime. Chris Hallberg has created an insulated travel coffee mug that houses an RFID tag. The RFID tag allows would-be coffee purchasers simply to wave the cup to pay for that morning cup of joe.

Hallberg’s invention is called the Smug Mug, and it being tested in limited trial by the London Underground and some other coffee shop chains. There are hopes for the Smug Mug to find use by next year in Milwaukee at the coffee chain Stone Creek Coffee, as well. The suggested retail price for the Smug Mug is $15, and that includes a $5 credit for use in the store at which it is purchased.

This seems like a brilliant idea. It promotes re-using your coffee mug, which is good for the environment. And it precludes the need to dig bleary-eyed through your pockets, purse, or wallet to pay for that morning wake-me-up.

Mind-Blowing RFID Video

Check out this video from Timo Arnall of the Touch project and Jack Schulze of BERG. It depicts a technique they've devised to show the functional range of an RFID reader. It is very cool.

Immaterials: the ghost in the field from timo on Vimeo.

New Fujitsu RFID Can Handle The Heat

There’s a new RFID application, driven by an advance in the technology. While RFID tags are already appearing in school uniforms, they are now finding their way into the uniforms of medical supply and semicondunctor manufacturers. A barrier to entering these fields was that their uniforms call for being sterilized regularly with high temperatures. Now, Fujitsu has created a flexible, UHF-band RFID tag that can withstand temperatures of up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

These 1 gram, flexible tags can help track and update the status of batches of up to 100 uniforms, scanable simultaneously. They withstand much more than the 212 degrees Fahrenheit that such uniforms undergo for sterilization.