Earning specialized certifications is a surefire way to advance your career in the IT field, regardless of industry or current career level. The right certification validates your skills and knowledge, which makes you more desirable to future employers who want to attract and retain the best employees. Below, we’ll explore the top IT certifications and share how to examine your goals to choose the right path forward. 

Cisco Systems is boosting its network analytics chops for its service provider customers and MSP partners.

The San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant Thursday said it plans to acquire Singularity Networks, a privately held provider that offers real-time infrastructure and traffic analytics across cloud and premises-based environments.

Singularity Networks' customer base includes enterprises as well as service providers and managed service providers with a security practice. Together with Cisco, Singularity Networks' technology will give service providers actionable information across their entire network 24/7, the two companies said.

[Related: Cisco 'Data Center Anywhere' Vision Includes ACI, HyperFlex, CloudCenter Updates]

Cisco and Singularity Networks are not disclosing the financial terms of the deal.

Englewood, Colo.-based Singularity Networks will join the automation group within Cisco’s Service Provider Business Unit. Specifically, Cisco said it will integrate Singularity Networks’ analytics capabilities into its Crosswork Network Automation portfolio. Cisco's Crosswork Network Automation software portfolio helps service providers automate their networks.

"Service providers today are challenged to meet intense demands for always-on connectivity powered by reliable, high-speed bandwidth. They need a holistic view of network performance to anticipate and proactively manage their traffic patterns," said Rob Salvagno, vice president of corporate development and Cisco investments, in a blog post on the news. "With network automation software and innovative data collection techniques, they are helping their service provider customers transform how they operate their infrastructure."

The integration of Singularity Networks’ networks analytics software into Cisco's network automation portfolio will let MSPs and service providers extract and manage large volumes of data to identify threats ahead of time, and to help avoid downtime or outages, according to Cisco.

Cisco in August acquired Duo Security for $2.35 billion for its unified access security and multifactor authentication technology. Cisco is working to integrate Duo's products into its own cloud security portfolio.

The two companies expect the acquisition to close during Cisco's 2019 third quarter.

‘The service provider business is really important to Cisco. Players like Acacia have the next-gen technology needed to support optics, and Cisco wants that intellectual property,’ says one Cisco solution provider.

Cisco Systems’ planned purchase of Acacia Communications will help service providers build fast and resilient networks and could also help cement the tech giant's leadership in the global market against competitors like Huawei, according to Cisco solution providers.

Cisco revealed its plan Tuesday to buy Acacia Communications, a Cisco provider of its high-speed, optical interconnect technologies, for $2.6 billion. The deal, according to Cisco, will boost Cisco's software and networking portfolio and help service providers and data center operators meet exponentially growing demand for data.

"The service provider business is really important to Cisco. Players like Acacia have the next-gen technology needed to support optics and Cisco wants that intellectual property," said Faisal Bhutto, executive vice president of networking, cloud and cybersecurity for Computex Technology Solutions, a Cisco Gold partner.

[Related: Cisco DevNet Certs Will 'Validate' Partners' Software Development Expertise]

The deal may also be driven by Cisco's desire for leadership in the service provider world, especially as competitor Huawei continues to compete against Cisco in global markets and as relationships are potentially starting to thaw between U.S. companies and Huawei, Bhutto said.

"If U.S. suppliers are allowed to sell chips to Huawei, Cisco will want first dibs on premium technologies," he said.

Bill Gartner, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's Optical Systems and Optics Group, called silicon, optics and software "strategic and necessary" in helping to differentiate Cisco's core networking products during a call with media and investors Tuesday.

While the San Jose, Calif.-based company has been investing organically to build a strong portfolio of switches, routers, and intent-based networks, Cisco has also grown out its optics business via acquisitions. The company in 2010 bought privately held CoreOptics, a designer of digital signal processing offerings for high-speed optical networking applications, and in 2012, acquired privately held advanced optical interconnect technology provider Lightwire.

Cisco has been continuously adding to its networking arsenal. The company in February closed on its $660 million deal for semiconductor company Luxtera, whose technology Cisco says is helping it meet business customer demand for faster and high-performing network service.

Growth in the number of video users, social networking and demanding business applications have created the need for infrasturure that is open, programmable and automated, Cisco's Gartner said. Acacia's technology will further enhance Cisco's silicon and optics portfolio while simplifying network operations for service providers, hyper-scale and data center customers, he added.

The deal is aimed at service provider customers, but solutions geared to large cloud and service providers often trickle down to enterprise customers, said Jason Parry, vice president of client solutions for Force 3, a Cisco Gold Partner and one of the tech giant's top federal partners.

Force 3 is building data center and networking infrastructure for some of its federal clients. "Our government customers, they would argue, are all large enterprise customers and are creating networks similar to service providers," Parry said.

Acacia's technology offers higher speeds and lower power consumption for cloud and service providers, and the company's customers include Cisco competitors. Acacia CEO Murugesan Shanmugaraj said during the joint call with Cisco Tuesday that it intended to continue to service both existing and new customers, including these third-party vendors.

"Acacia will continue to sell [products] to third parties and competitors, and they expect them to continue these relationships," Gartner said.

As an arm of Cisco, the Service Provider Video Software Solutions Group was a cog in a much larger machine, Yves Padrines CEO of Synamedia is excited that now Synamedia will have the chance to flourish within its own right and concentrate on end-to-end video services. 

"We want to focus on helping their customers to embrace IP," he explains. "To complement their offerings for better consumer choice and convenience. Our online video platform can target any type of device, it could be a set-top box, connected TV, mobile devices, tablets, games consoles, etc.  from one single cloud-based solution."

Interestingly, Padrines sees broadband players as a growing market for the business. "We are looking to help broadband players to be the aggregator of OTT applications because some of these players don't want to spend too much money on acquiring content. They can help them to still be the one controlling the user experience on the video and TV side by having a unified view and search and aggregating all the different OTT applications. And, they can also help them to generate some additional revenue, by providing targeted advertising solutions."

With content now coming in from everywhere on the IP side, securing revenue streams will remain a priority for the new business. Illegal credential sharing, or unauthorized password sharing, is one area that Synamedia will be focusing on. "Credential sharing will impact negatively and there will be a loss of revenue of around $10 billion for pay-TV operators by 2021," says Padrines. "We want to help their customers to keep honest people honest. So they will help them to offer flexible packages, such as home plus college packages for families with kids in college, for example."

There will also be a push to help pay-TV customers generate new revenue streams, using the huge wealth of data that they hold on their customers, to create targeted advertising.

“While they are in a golden age of TV, our customers face challenges including the rising cost of content, soaring piracy levels, and the impact of large OTT challengers on the market. As an independent entity focused on this sector, we will help our customers optimize their current infrastructure and capitalize on OTT and IP distribution to expand consumer choice and convenience, secure their income and generate new revenue streams,” sums up Padrines.

Dr. Kostas Arnaoutakis is a globally recognized medical provider teaching the next generation of doctors in Arkansas important info about cancer and treatment.

emirates computers recognized by cisco as a telepresence authorized technology provider

Emirates Computers announced today that it has achieved the TelePresence Authorized Technology Provider (ATP) status from Cisco.  This designation recognizes Emirates Computers as having the fulfilled the training requirements and program prerequisites to sell, deploy and support Cisco TelePresence.
Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution is a revolutionary new category of products that create live, "face-to-face" meeting experiences over an Internet Protocol (IP) network, empowering users to interact and collaborate in ways they could not before.  It combines the reach, intelligence and reliability of the network with the simplicity of a telephone interface to deliver an entirely new way for people to meet and collaborate. Cisco TelePresence Meeting is the first application of Cisco TelePresence technology.
“We are happy that Cisco chose us to be a TelePresence Authorized Technology Provider. Cisco has constantly been innovating to offer customers the latest and best technology. Our team is dedicated and committed to providing the best service, support and technical expertise in promoting Cisco TelePresence in this region,” said Mr. Dani Diab, Vice president and General Manager - Emirates Computers Abu Dhabi.
"Cisco TelePresence is an innovative, new application that changes the entire realm of communications and collaboration," said Mr.Richard McLeod, director of unified communciations for worldwide channels at Cisco.  “Our TelePresence ATP partners, such as Emirates Computers, will help Cisco drive the technology across the chasm by delivering the sales, technical and lifecycle services capabilities customers need to successfully deploy the entire solution.”
 The Cisco Authorized Technology Provider (ATP) Program is a key part of Cisco’s emerging technology go-to-market strategy.  The program helps define the knowledge, skills and services that channel partners need to successfully sell, deploy and support a subject technology.  As markets mature and technologies progress along the adoption curve, some ATP programs may migrate to Cisco Specializations. 
 

Editor's note: Abilene Reporter News has asked the community to nominate people as Everyday Heroes. Over the next few weeks they will be highlighting those nominees.

Ever since Becky Almanza was a little girl, she found herself in the kitchen. Her passion for cooking led her on a path to ministry and service in the community of Abilene.

Almanza is an active member of Abilene’s Highland Church of Christ serving as the director of the Highland Food Pantry. In this position she organizes various programs and finds opportunities to help every person struggling to keep food on the table.

Additionally, she collaborates with the Abilene Big Country Hunger Coalition to ensure Abilene ISD students have hot and nutritious meals to eat during holiday and summer breaks.

Depending on the time of year, Almanza said the programs she coordinates feeds 300 to 500 people daily.

Instilling a passion for food and feeding others

Growing up in a traditional Hispanic family with 12 siblings, Almanza knew her way around the kitchen. At 13 years old, she remembers making tortillas for her family. Those experiences strengthened her love of cooking and feeding people.

With so many people to feed, Almanza experienced hunger in her household. Her father, a retired minister for the Church of Christ, was adamant on providing for the family and refused benefits available for large families like food stamps and Texas Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

“A lot of times I remember just being hungry,” Almanza said. “My mom was resourceful with how she cooked food and fed us.”

Meals of beans and Spanish rice with small portions of proteins was the norm. Almanza remembers watching her mother cut a whole chicken into 16 to 18 pieces so every family member had protein on their plate.

At school, Almanza and her siblings helped in the kitchen before school to "earn" their meals for the day.

“I have a vague memory of being at elementary school and going into the kitchen early — earlier than all the other kids arriving at school — and my brothers and I folded and rolled up the silverware and napkins that they would use for lunch. I think it was my dad who said, ‘Even though my kids are getting free reduced lunch, I want them to work for it,’” Almanza said.

Feeding students and relationships

After graduating high school, Almanza attended college at University of Texas in Arlington. Because of her involvement in the church during her younger years, she joined a Christian faith-based social group that would serve luncheons twice a month as an outreach to students.

Almanza found a mentor in the group director’s wife and attributes a lot of her knowledge in feeding large crowds to her.

Almanza took a break from college because of family circumstances but continued to feed others through her self-owned catering business. She remained involved in the church and felt a calling for ministry but did not consider pursuing it as a career.

“I knew ministry was a calling for me, but I guess back then, women didn’t do that. I grew up in an age where you could do it personally. I could do Sunday school or Bible class teaching, and I could teach other women in their denomination. But they just didn't do that,” Almanza said.

During that same time, she met her husband, Joe. His background with the Texas prison system made Almanza’s parents disapprove of their relationship initially, but in her heart, she knew he was determined to change his life for the better.

They married and moved to Abilene in 2004 to begin their ministry at Highland Church of Christ.

Fulfilling the lifelong calling

Almanza’s husband joined the Highland staff and had several responsibilities in his position, including the church’s food pantry. He enlisted Almanza to help with the food pantry and administrative tasks.

“I’ve always had a passion for ministry, and the opportunity came that he needed somebody. So Highland hired me to be able to help him. We’ll always be a pair,” she said.

Her years of service to the soup kitchen and food pantry made an easy and natural transition into full-time leadership as director of Highland Food Pantry.

Almanza’s memories from her childhood drive her to serve the community of Abilene through Highland’s various programs.

“My most favorite thing to do is to organize programs,” she said. “We provide comfort spiritually and physically through food.”

In her position, she coordinates the Highland Food Pantry, Free Meals Program for Abilene ISD and Freedom and Grace Fellowship — the weekly soup kitchens through Highland.

Part of her job requires communication and organization with local agencies like Love & Care Ministries, Food Bank of West Central Texas and AmeriCorps.

In 2023, Almanza organized all the food and volunteers to serve breakfast, lunch and snacks to participants and dental service providers at the Texas Mission of Mercy Dental Clinic.

“We take examples of feeding people from the Bible,” Almanza stated. “Jesus fed thousands of people so they started ministries by feeding people.”

An unconventional college experience

Almanza shared that during their first years in Abilene, her niece wanted her family to adopt her child to be raised in a Christian home. At the time, the couple’s two children were grown, and they were unsure if they could care for a newborn.

Faced with the probability of the child going into Child Protective Services, Almanza and her husband took in her niece’s baby in 2007.

“We ended up falling in love with him, and they adopted him a couple of years later,” she said. “We started all over because their older children were 16 years older!”

On top of starting all over, Almanza wanted to go back to college once she realized her true purpose for service. She attended Cisco College and graduated from Abilene Christian University in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in child and family services.

After that experience, Almanza said she did not want to go back to school, but with years of work with a nonprofit organization under her belt, she wanted a degree to showcase her abilities and knowledge.

She participated in an online master’s degree program through ACU alongside her eldest daughter and graduated in 2018.

Differences made, lives changed

Almanza was nominated by two friends within her parish, Gail Donaghey and Sue Thomesen.

“Becky is a behind-the-scenes hero who organizes, arranges funding, finds volunteers, and feeds Abilene on so many occasions. As a minister of Highland Church of Christ, she has the opportunity to see the basic need for food in their community. There are so many heroic things I could say about my friend Becky and what a huge blessing she is to Abilene,” Donaghey wrote in her nomination message.

Almanza's natural ability to cook and feed people comes across as "magic," according to a compliment from Almanza’s daughter.

“One time my daughter said, 'When you're in the kitchen, it just seems like it just turns into magic.’ ‘What do you mean?’ I asked her. ‘Well, you just do everything and then you know, sit down it's magically there.’ That was one of the biggest compliments I've ever gotten,” she said.

Throughout her years with the food pantry and at Highland Church of Christ, Almanza has learned many lessons along the way.

“My husband taught me what it means to be a servant to others, being humble and leading by example. To me that is true leadership,” she said. “We are always looking for ways to better feed people.”

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: 'A behind-the-scenes hero' feeding Abilene one meal at a time