Next week is Cisco Live Europe (CiscoLiveEurope) in Berlin, Germany. I wanted to get a quick blog post our before the week to highlight some of the pre-events, workshops, and sessions.

For the second year, Cisco's Developer Network (CiscoDevNet) is hosting a hackathon the weekend before and is sold out. You can keep up to date on our hackathons here. These events highlight IoT/IoE, cloud native, and data analytics uses cases. The hackathons are a great way to get your hands on new innovations like Mantl.

This year we are co-sponsoring a Pre-Cisco Live party with our partner Container Solutions (containersoluti). You can register here.

I spend most of my time in the Devnet Zone and we make it very affordable with a Devnet Exployer pass. Please stop by and check out the open source innovations we are demoing.

Here is a sample of what you can do in the CiscoDevNet

Cloud

Learn about using analytics to control application performing by leveraging the Shipped UI to create applications that are cloud native using "elastic" microservices. Code an application for a hybrid cloud with performance, access, and availability in mind using Intercloud Fabric API. Use Cisco Metapod, Cisco's OpenStack Private Cloud as-a-Service, to manage a public cloud within your data center.

Analytics & Automation Software Platforms

Create usable APIs and publish them on to portals with access control and policy management using Cisco Automation and Integration Platform (AIP) Leverage Cisco Enterprise Mobility Services Platform (EMSP) to create engaging mobile experiences.  Learn new ways to engage customers on Kiosks and Interactive Displays using the Interactive Experience Platform (IEP).  Use Cisco Instant Connect for combining your communications into a single, powerful emergency dispatch

Collaboration

Learn how to enhance your application with cloud-based API-driven interactive voice and SMS text messaging using the Tropo API. Code mobile solutions that enable Push-To-Talk communications with Instant Connect (CIC). Use the Interactive Experience Platform (IEP) to develop solutions that bring together interactive applications, rich media, and real-time collaboration.

IoT

Learn how to create and deploy a project using the Cisco Connected Mobility Experiences (CMX) API. Code using Flare, IoX/Fog and the IoT Dev Kit to expand your abilities in the world of IoT. Use Big Data Management to analyse, capture, curate, search, share, store, transfer, visualize, and protect your IoT data.

Network Automation and SDN

Learn and explore using our Learning Labs for network related programming with hands-on technical support. Code on Cisco's SDN Controller API, APIC-EM to add dynamic network functionality to your applications. Install OpenStack within a VM on your own laptop, and use the CLI to view and operate an OpenStack cloud.

Whats of interest at CLEUR Sessions:

• DevOps in Devnet Zone
  Addressing the 'whats, whys and hows' in the New World of DevOps
  Tuesday, 2pm -3pm
  DevOps means different things to different people -developing and implementing software in an agile way, adding operations disciplines to application delivery -but what does it mean to you? How do you navigate through the myriad of DevOps tools available? How does a DevOps frame-of-mind and process affect your development and deployment of cloud-based micro-services applications? And what's this got to do with Cisco? Hear a panel of DevOps experts give you their perspective and clarify some of the 'whats, whys and hows' in this new world of DevOps.Mitchell Hashimoto, Founder, Hashicorp
  Brent Salisbury, Software Alliance Engineer, Docker
  Brian Wheeler, CIO/ Corp VP of Technology, NWN Corporation
  Markus Riedinger, Cloud Architect, SAP
• Open Source / Networking in the Devnet Zone
  Open Source -Is the Honeymoon Over?
  Wednesday, 3pm -4pm
  The tech industry experienced a love affair with open source in the past several years, and some brave souls have engaged in a long term relationship. As prototypes and lab trials progress to live deployments, we check in with our distinguished panel to see if the marriage with open source software and with the open source community has been all they hoped it would be. Listen in as our panelists share their experience and reflect on the good and bad of betting big on open source.Phil Robb, Senior Technical Director for OpenDaylight, Linux Foundation
  Chris Price, Open Source Strategist for SDN and Cloud, Ericsson
  Chris Wright, VP and Chief Technologist, Red Hat
  Ken Owens, CTO and Strategy, Cloud Solutions Group, Cisco
  Bernd Himmelsbach, VP and Cloud Infrastructure Engineering & Automation, SAP SE

Devnet Sessions

• Deploying a practical hybrid cloud infrastructure using Intercloud Fabric, Chhavi Nijhawan
  Many enterprises want to have a hybrid cloud infrastructure able to burst onto public cloud on-demand. But maintaining a hybrid cloud infrastructure has its fair share of challenges including security concerns on public cloud, vendor lock-in, different management tools for different cloud providers, and limited visibility of public cloud resources. This session will detail how Interclub fabric enables enterprises like yours to create a secure, flexible and easy to manage hybrid cloud infrastructure. We'll review several hybrid cloud use cases and how Intercloud fabric enables you to achieve use cases with the flexibility of using different public cloud providers. We will also cover Intercloud fabric services including network extension, portability and on-boarding existing cloud instances onto the Cisco Intercloud Fabric solution.
• Enabling Fast IT using Containers, Microservices and DAVROS models, Balaji Sivasubramanian
  As IT strives to become Fast IT, application architectures are undergoing fundamental disruption to enable faster development to deployment lifecycles. As part of this trend, the number of applications being created using microservices architectures and container technologies like Docker is exploding. This new "cloud native" framework allows deployment in on-prem or public cloud in seamless fashion. In this session, we will look at these evolving trends and how several Open Source technologies have converged to provide enterprises the ability to innovate at unprecedented levels.
• Choosing PaaS: Cisco and Open Source Options, Peter Lamar
  Confused by all the open source PaaS options out there? What criteria should you use to evaluate them? We seek to answer these questions in a systematic manner and will explore top technologies such as Mesos, Apprenda, Cloud Foundry and Kubernetes along with Cisco's Project Shipped and Open Source Mantl. The aim of this session will be to shed light on which platforms add value to your needs, applications and workloads.
• One stop shop for cloud developer tools: Cisco Intercloud Services and Cisco Intercloud Marketplace, Krishna Parab
  The Cisco Intercloud Marketplace is a global storefront for business applications and services from Cisco, ISVs, and developers. Providing cloud-based offerings spanning Big Data, Networking, and Collaboration for deployment across the Intercloud in partnership with Cisco channel partners, the Intercloud Marketplace enables deployment of applications for hybrid IT. In this session, we will discuss IoE/developer use cases; how to find and deploy offerings from the Intercloud Marketplace; and how ISVs and developers can partner with Cisco.
• Introducing Cloud Development with Project Shipped and Mantl, Brian Hicks
  Developers are driving the market for cloud consumption and leading each industry into the new era of software defined disruption. There are no longer questions about whether elastic and flexible agile development are the way to innovate and reduce time to market for businesses. In addition, businesses are moving to application development architectures leveraging microservices, which are becoming increasingly important to their business strategy. When making the decision to build and operate an application on a physical or cloud platform, microservices are becoming central to architecture and strategy.
• Deploying your apps in the cloud, Chris Ricker
  There are numerous ways to deploy applications within the cloud. The current rage is deploying within containers, but many applications continue to be deployed on VMs as well as on bare metal. In this session we will discuss the pros and cons and each approach and how to determine which method of deployment is best for your needs. While there is not one way to rule them all, OpenStack provides common APIs that can be used to orchestrate all your workloads regardless of the deployment options you need. OpenStack components and options covered include Heat, Murano, Kolla, and Magnum. Finally, we touch briefly on why you might want to consider building your application using microservices and how Shipped can help.
• How to Manage Big Data from the Internet of Things, Dmitri Chtchourov -Kartik K.
  Big Data and the Internet of Things are two of the hottest categories in information technology today, yet there are significant challenges when trying to create for an end-to-end solution. The worlds of "IT" and "IoT" differ in terms of programming interfaces, protocols, security frameworks, and application lifecycle management. In this talk we will describe proven ways to overcome challenges when deploying a complete "device to datacenter" system, including how to stream IoT telemetry into big data repositories; how to perform real-time analytics on machine data; and how to close the loop with reliable, secure command and control back out to remote control systems and other devices.

Open Stack Sessions

1. Developing Applications on top of OpenStack
Do you have an app deployed in public cloud today? If so, is cost becoming a concern? Are you adopting a 'DevOps" structure in your shop? Have you tried deploying OpenStack already? What was your experience? Attend this deep-dive workshop to learn how Cisco operates private clouds with Cisco Metapod, an OpenStack Private Cloud as-a-Service model, at a fraction of the cost of other public and private cloud options. This session will demonstrate how we use OpenStack to provide the best of the public cloud experience securely, at your site. We will show how you retain complete control over users, virtual machine images, storage, network and more with real-time visibility, while Cisco delivers OpenStack engineering and operations as-a-service, 24 x 7 x 365.
2. Upcoming services in OpenStack, Rohit Agarwalla
There are several new upcoming OpenStack projects/services that are built upon the core OpenStack infrastructure services. This session will first briefly discuss the new changes introduced for the project governance structure in OpenStack and highlight areas where Cisco is making significant contributions.
3. OpenStack Enabling DevOps, Will Snow
The DevOps model is rapidly transforming IT operations and development practices. But what are the precursors necessary to implement DevOps? To achieve an agile, virtualized, and highly automated IT environment, what technological requirements need to be in place? OpenStack has the potential to facilitate DevOps implementation and practices at several different layers in the data center. In this session we'll quickly discuss what DevOps is, then discuss many components that are logically required to move towards DevOps in your environment. Finally we'll explore in depth several ways OpenStack can provide these baseline components.
4. Getting Started with Open Stack, Charles Eckel, Chris Ricker
Hearing a lot about OpenStack and want to check it out for yourself? See how quick and easy it is to install and start using OpenStack within a VM on your own laptop. Acquaint yourself with the environment. Learn your way around Horizon (GUI) and the CLI to view and operate an OpenStack cloud, both from the perspective of a cloud administrator and as a tenant/user of the cloud. See how to automate typical workflows such as deploying a new multi-tier application. Best of all, take what you learn with you and experiment on your own to discover all OpenStack offers you.
5. Building a video-optimized private cloud platform on Cisco infrastructure, Rohit Agarwalla
The media industry is in flux and our biggest customers are gearing up for a huge shift in how they operate. To keep up with an exploding number of formats, devices, and consumption models, the industry at large is embracing a brave new world of IP networking, tapeless workflows, and cloud computing. Cisco is leading the way in building an on-premises private cloud solution based on OpenStack and optimized for media workloads. Across compute, storage, and networking, Cisco is offering a highly available, scalable, upgradable, and expandable end-to-end media data center architecture. In this demonstration, we'll showcase how you can use this video optimized cloud platform to automatically provision and deploy a complete media content factory from content ingest to playout. The audience will learn how a robust OpenStack platform, deployed on Cisco infrastructure, improves workflow efficiency and reduces.
6. OpenStack and OpenDaylight, The Evolving Relationship in Cloud Networking, Charles Eckel
OpenStack is well established as the public/private cloud platform, abstracting compute, storage, and networking resources behind a unified set of APIs. OpenStack Neutron provides the lion's share of networking resources and seems sufficient for many small private cloud deployments. As scale and increases and service providers with large network footprints come into the picture, new complications arise. Service provider networks have requirements and capabilities far beyond those addressable with Neutron. Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has given rise to modular network controllers in the service provider space. OpenDaylight is the open source world's answer, and service providers want to be able to marry OpenStack orchestration with OpenDaylight networking, as evident by the Open Platform for Network Function Virtualization project (OPNFV). Come learn how SDN controllers fit in this context vs. OpenStack with neutron drivers, when to use one when to use the other, and the benefits and functionality of each.

Workshops
1. Big Data as a Service on Open Stack, Kartik Kanakasabesan
Want to build the next killer application that leverages solutions like geolocation, streaming data etc. A lot of these underlying technologies are what under pin the current IoT/IoE, Mobile, Social Networking websites. The aim of this workshop is get you familiarized with these technologies in a cloud environment so that you can focus more on building applications instead of spending time managing the complex infrastructure that is usually associated with Big Data
2. Using Shipped, Ken Owens
Developers are driving the market for cloud consumption and leading each industry into the new era of software defined disruption. There are no longer questions about elastic and flexible agile development as the way to innovate and reduce time to market for businesses. However, Physical and cloud Infrastructure does not enable application development platforms natively nor provide the ability to create applications that are cloud native with elastic services. In addition, businesses are moving to application development architectures leveraging microservices which are becoming more strategic to their business strategy. When making the decision to build and operate an application on physical or on a cloud platform, microservices became central to your application architecture and strategy.
This workshop will take specific application code and enable elastic, flexible, and portable application workloads that can be deployed. We will leverage the Shipped UI to build and deploy a project quickly. Leverage the data analytics to understand the application performance and behaviors. The run interface will be leveraged and deployment models will be investigated.
3. Cisco Managed Private Cloud in Your Data Center: Public cloud experience on premise
4. Building Hybrid Cloud Applications with Intercloud Fabric, John McDonough
In this workshop, participants will gain an insight into the considerations and requirements of hybrid cloud applications. We will cover how to design for capacity augmentation of existing private cloud applications in the hybrid cloud environment, as well as how to explicitly design an application for a hybrid cloud with performance, access, and availability in mind.
(This workshop is the deep dive content companion to the DevNet overview session BER1626291, "Deploying a practical hybrid cloud infrastructure using Intercloud Fabric" and the DevNet demo BER1626111 "Cloud Demo: Intercloud Fabric for Hybrid Cloud".)

Demos
1. Metapod with Morpheus
2. Big Data as a Service
3. Docker w/ Cisco
4. Cloud Innovation Pod