• 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

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.

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

[more information - click here]
 

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]

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]

QOS for VOIP was our #2 vote getter on the www.pacug.com poll for the December meeting. Our #1 vote was for MPLS. We are planning an MPLS presentation for a meeting in the near future.

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 December 16 at 6:30pm

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

Thursday, Oct 29 at 6:30pm

Presentation – Cisco WAAS (Wide Area Application Services)

Introduction

WAN Optimization and Application Acceleration Using Windows Server on Cisco WAAS

Sony Ericsson improved user experience and reduced IT costs. (1:12 min)

Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) is a comprehensive WAN optimization solution that accelerates applications over the WAN, delivers video to the branch office, and provides local hosting of branch-office IT services. Cisco WAAS allows IT departments to centralize applications and storage in the data center while maintaining LAN-like application performance and provides locally hosted IT services while reducing the branch-office device footprint. 

Location:

Cisco Systems
323 North Shore Dr
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

See you there!

MAP

Read more on Cisco’s website…

See Cisco EOS for more detail