Latest news with #Cisco
Cision Canada
14 hours ago
- Health
- Cision Canada
Cisco Canada and Peterborough Regional Health Centre Transform Transitional Care Français
PRHC's Reactivation Care Centre is improving patient recovery outcomes through digitally-supported transition from hospital to home Cisco and Peterborough Regional Health Centre have partnered to deliver technology solutions for the Reactivation Care Centre, supporting patients as they transition from hospital to home. With support from Cisco's Country Digital Acceleration program, the centre uses smart technology to improve care and efficiency. The project serves as a national model for using digital innovation in transitional healthcare. TORONTO, July 30, 2025 /CNW/ - Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking and technology, and Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) have collaborated on the deployment of a next-generation Reactivation Care Centre: a safe, digitally-enabled space designed to support short-term recovery for patients transitioning from hospital to home. "With growing demands on healthcare, innovation is critical to delivering the best in care," said Wayne Cuervo, Director of Cisco Canada's Digital Impact Office. "Our partnership with PRHC demonstrates how technology can transform healthcare delivery, improve patient outcomes, and set a new standard for recovery across Canada." As healthcare systems face rising pressures, including an aging population and limited acute care capacity, this new facility helps alleviate hospital strain, frees up much-needed hospital beds for those in need of urgent medical attention, while enhancing recovery outcomes for a broad range of patients. "The Reactivation Care Centre at PRHC goes beyond providing a setting for patients to recover from their acute illness," said Dr. Lynn Mikula, President & CEO at PRHC. "Supported by investment and innovation through our partnership with Cisco Canada, each patient has access to specialized and restorative care to prepare them for a successful discharge from the hospital. The targeted care being offered on this unit will help to address the increasing demands of our growing and aging community." Healthcare innovation powered by partnership As the primary technology partner, Cisco provides the digital foundation within the Reactivation Care Centre to enhance patient care and enable clinicians to focus on what matters most: patients. The centre is equipped with an integrated suite of secure, digital tools to optimize communication, safety, and patient support. This smart technology also securely harnesses data for AI and analytics that can be used to improve care, operations and experiences within the centre. Key solutions include: Webex Boards & Room Navigators: Real-time collaboration tools connecting care teams, patients, and families. Cisco Spaces & Badges: Location-based services that monitor patient flow, improve safety, and support contact tracing. Corsano Cardio Bands: Wearable devices that track mobility and vital signs, offering real-time insights into recovery progress. Seamless Data Integration: All technology is securely connected to PRHC's custom-built data platform, Peregrine, enabling clinicians to make informed, personalized decisions. The project is made possible by Cisco's Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program, which helps organizations accelerate their digital transformation by providing technology, expertise, and partnerships where it can have the most impact. A model for transitional care across Canada The Reactivation Care Centre at PRHC represents a scalable blueprint for transitional care across the country. By combining clinical expertise with digital innovation, PRHC and Cisco are demonstrating how health systems can evolve to meet the complex and diverse needs of patients leaving acute care. "At PRHC, we've set a bold vision for ourselves, including a strategic commitment to transform data, analytics and technology to support people today and into the future," said Evan Lyons, PRHC's VP, Digital & Information Services and Chief Information Officer. "As demand continues to grow in our region and across the healthcare system, investments in innovative digital solutions to support the patient journey will be critical as we continue striving to provide the best possible care and support, and to carve out a spot for PRHC amongst some of the best and most forward-thinking hospitals across the country." Together, Cisco and PRHC are showing that the future of patient-centred recovery lies in forward-thinking partnerships that deliver compassionate, connected, and technology-enabled care. Centre made possible by support from generous donors through the PRHC Foundation "It's because of our community's generous support of the $60 million Campaign for PRHC that the Foundation can respond quickly to PRHC's most urgent needs – such as the Reactivation Care Centre – as they arise," says Lesley Heighway, President & CEO of the PRHC Foundation. "Community donations made it possible to fund $400,000 in vital infrastructure for the reactivation unit, including patient beds, vital signs monitors, and specialized wheelchairs, to help patients return home after hospital care. This is a great example of the power of philanthropy in our community. Thank you, donors." About Cisco's CDA Program Cisco's Country Digital Acceleration program is a global initiative that partners with governments, industry, and academia to accelerate national digital priorities. In Canada, CDA is helping advance innovations in healthcare, education, infrastructure, and more — bridging the gap between public need and technological potential. About Cisco Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry-leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity and strengthen digital resilience. With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on X at @Cisco. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word 'partner' does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) PRHC is the region's largest employer, with more than 3,100 staff, 450 physicians with privileges and a core group of 250 volunteers delivering acute healthcare to a rapidly growing population of more than 300,000 in Peterborough and the surrounding communities, including the First Nations of Curve Lake, Alderville and Hiawatha. Last year, PRHC released its 2024-2029 Strategic Plan, which highlights our commitment to provide timely and excellent care and to transform data, analytics and technology to support people today and into the future. Learn more about PRHC's strategic plan here.
Forbes
14 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Why You Don't Need To Buy Individual Stocks
Rory O'Hara, CFP®, CRPC®, is the founder and senior managing partner at Ausperity Private Wealth. According to a recent report, 65% of actively managed equity funds underperformed their benchmarks after one year; 'across asset classes, underperformance rates typically rose as time horizons lengthened,' and after 15 years, no one outperformed. Data like this helps illustrate why I don't buy individual stocks. Even so, much of the market-focused media, especially television networks like CNBC, Bloomberg or Fox Business, devote a significant portion of their programming to discussing individual companies. Who's the day's top performer? What's Tesla doing today? What did this CEO say about the earnings? None of these things matter to me. Still, it's what drives ratings and gets clicks, so that's how the media covers the market. As a result, many investors end up with a distorted view of how to invest for the future and what their portfolios should look like. This is not to say investing in individual stocks is always a bad idea. Try to convince someone of that who invested in Apple on the day it went public and has never cashed out a dime. However, evidence suggests that consistently getting it right over the long term is extremely unlikely. Investors, Influencers And FOMO Over time, many of the catchy names have changed: Nifty Fifty, FANG, FAANG, the Magnificent Seven and the Incredible Eight. And even the mediums have evolved, with influencers today—many of whom have hundreds of thousands of followers on platforms like Instagram, X and TikTok—eager to offer advice. Their strategy is the same as the legacy media: Grab the most eyes and ears by spotlighting trendy, headline-grabbing companies, and do so with hyperbolic gusto. Of course, none of them knows what the future holds either. But no one will admit that. The inescapable truth is that, over time, the broad market will outperform most individual stocks, even ones that most feel 'can't miss.' Consider Cisco. In early 2000, before the dot-com bubble burst, it was the it stock. If you didn't own Cisco back then, you weren't a serious investor—or at least that's how many felt. It was Nvidia before Nvidia, regularly delivering outsized returns. At the time, it would have seemed inconceivable that it would trade for about five dollars less today than it did then. By comparison, over roughly the same period, the S&P 500 posted an average annual total return of 7.84%, meaning that anyone who put $100,000 in an index fund at the beginning of this century and didn't touch it would have enjoyed a gain of almost $560,000. Getting Lost In The Weeds (Or Rough?) Part of the problem is the sheer volume of information that's available. In some ways, getting investment advice online is like a golfer whose Instagram algorithm is nothing but instructors and influencers offering quick, 30-second tips. Some of the suggestions are good. Many of them are not. Either way, though, the more you watch these clips, the worse you will get. The reason? You won't have a single swing thought, as most golf teachers suggest—you'll have about 25 of them. Maintain your spine angle. Shallow the club. Keep your arms close to your body. Clear your hips. It's all too much to think about while trying to put a good swing on the ball. The better approach is to focus on doing a couple of things well and keep it simple. The same general principle applies to investing. The more TV you watch and the more you listen to pundits, the worse you're likely to do. Too much of your attention will go to trying to get in early on the hottest new stock with the most upside. While you might end up investing in the next Apple that way, making mistakes that could harm your long-term financial well-being is the more probable outcome. Beyond Active Management And Toward Active Engagement Alpha is great. It's also elusive. When looking for an advisor, therefore, be wary of anyone who says they will actively manage your portfolio. Instead, prioritize one that will stay actively engaged with you, including everything from shielding you from too much risk to staying on top of your financial, tax and estate planning. That's where the real alpha is. The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation. Forbes Finance Council is an invitation-only organization for executives in successful accounting, financial planning and wealth management firms. Do I qualify?
Tahawul Tech
20 hours ago
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
'Security is embedded at every layer with our solutions'
Mohamad Sabra, Regional Director SMB – Middle East, Africa, Türkiye, Romania & CIS, Cisco and Renton D'Souza, Vice President, Comstor MEA took a moment to speak about their respective views on how SMB solutions help businesses overcome challenges and enjoy the benefits of digital transformation and cloud adoption. Answered by Mohamad Sabra Q: What are the main challenges SMBs face in today's digital landscape Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are the backbone of local economies, driving innovation, job creation, and community growth. Yet, as the digital landscape evolves at unprecedented speed, SMBs face a unique set of challenges that demand strategic focus, adaptability, and resilience. They need to adopt technology to build and run a digital business, but typically lack the human and financial resources to create and manage their own IT infrastructure. Specifically, SMBs face challenges in cybersecurity, technology integration, remote and hybrid work complexities, as well as cloud adoption, Q: How do Cisco's SMB solutions empower small and medium businesses to thrive in today's digital-first world, and what sets Cisco apart from other providers in this space? Cisco's SMB solutions are designed to help small and medium businesses build the foundation needed to compete and grow in a rapidly evolving market. Our approach combines cloud-managed networking, built-in security, and seamless collaboration tools that are easy to deploy and manage, even for organisations with limited IT resources. What sets Cisco apart is our ability to deliver enterprise-grade technology in a simplified, cost-effective solution tailored for SMBs. For example, our cloud-managed Meraki platform allows businesses to control their entire network from an intuitive dashboard, enabling remote management, automatic updates, and real-time analytics—features that traditionally required large IT teams. Security is embedded at every layer, with solutions such as firewalls, intrusion prevention, and zero-trust access controls to protect sensitive data without sacrificing usability. For collaboration, tools like Webex keep distributed teams connected and productive, whether they're in the office or working remotely. Finally, Cisco offers award-winning support and a broad ecosystem of partners to ensure SMBs have the guidance and resources they need at every stage of their digital transformation. Our goal is to make advanced technology accessible, so SMBs can focus on what matters most – growing their business. Answered by Renton D'Souza Q: How does Comstor support partners in delivering Cisco SMB solutions to the market? Comstor acts as a strategic distributor and advisor for partners, providing enablement, training, and access to Cisco's full SMB portfolio. Recent initiatives include launching a white-labelled Managed SOC (Security Operations Centre) built on Cisco's XDR platform, allowing partners to offer advanced cybersecurity services under their own brand, supported by 24/7 monitoring and expert guidance. This approach reduces partners' operational burdens and accelerates their entry into the cybersecurity services market. Q: How are Cisco and Comstor enabling SMBs to benefit from digital transformation and cloud adoption? Cisco and Comstor help SMBs embrace digital transformation by providing cloud-native, automated networking and security solutions that scale as the business grows. Comstor's partner support includes guidance on cloud migration, access to training, and technical enablement. Cisco's solutions allow SMBs to control their networks from anywhere, streamline operations, and adopt hybrid work models securely and efficiently. Image Credit: Comstor & Cisco
Techday NZ
20 hours ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Linux Foundation adopts AGNTCY to standardise agentic AI
The Linux Foundation has announced that it is welcoming the AGNTCY project, an open source initiative aimed at standardising foundational infrastructure for open multi-agent artificial intelligence (AI) systems. AGNTCY delivers core components required for discovery, secure messaging, and cross-platform collaboration among AI agents that originate from different companies and frameworks. The project has the backing of industry players including Cisco, Dell Technologies, Google Cloud, Oracle, and Red Hat, all of whom have joined as formative members under the Linux Foundation's open governance. Originally released as open source by Cisco in March 2025 with collaboration from LangChain and Galileo, AGNTCY now includes support from over 75 companies. Its infrastructure forms the basis for the so-called 'Internet of Agents' - an environment where AI agents from diverse origins are able to communicate, collaborate, and be discovered regardless of vendor or execution environment. The increasing adoption of AI agents across industries has led to concerns about fragmentation and the formation of closed silos, constraining agents' ability to communicate across platforms securely and efficiently. AGNTCY's infrastructure aims to address these issues by standardising secure identity, robust messaging, and comprehensive observability. This allows organisations and developers to manage AI agents with improved transparency, performance, and trust. Compatibility is a focus for AGNTCY, which is interoperable with the Agent2Agent (A2A) project, also part of the Linux Foundation, as well as Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP). The project supports agent discovery through AGNTCY directories, enables observable environments using AGNTCY's software development kits (SDKs), and utilises the Secure Low Latency Interactive Messaging (SLIM) protocol for secure message transport. "The AGNTCY project lays groundwork for secure, interoperable collaboration among autonomous agents," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "We are pleased to welcome the AGNTCY project to the Linux Foundation to ensure its infrastructure remains open, neutral, and community-driven." The AGNTCY project's infrastructure offers several key functions for multi-agent environments. Agent discovery is facilitated using the Open Agent Schema Framework (OASF), allowing agents to identify and understand each other's capabilities. Agent identity is supported via cryptographically verifiable processes to ensure secure activity across organisational boundaries. The agent messaging component supports various communication modes, including human-in-the-loop and quantum-safe options via the SLIM protocol. Observability functionalities provide evaluation and debugging across complex, multi-vendor workflows. "Building the foundational infrastructure for the Internet of Agents requires community ownership, not vendor control," said Vijoy Pandey, general manager and senior vice president of Outshift by Cisco. "The Linux Foundation ensures this critical infrastructure remains neutral and accessible to everyone building multi-agent systems." The project is underpinned by real-world applications, including AI-driven continuous integration and deployment pipelines, multi-agent IT operations, and the automation of telecom networks. This underlines the diversity of use cases benefitting from AGNTCY's open source approach. Various leaders and members have shared their perspective on the announcement: "Interoperability is central to Dell's agentic AI vision. The ability of agents to work together empowers enterprises to reap the full value of AI. Additionally, interworking technologies must accommodate agents wherever they are deployed whether in public clouds, private data centres, the edge or on devices. Dell is working hand-in-hand with industry leaders to establish open standards for agentic interoperability. Being a formative member of the Linux Foundation's AGNTCY project is one such step towards fulfilling the promise of agentic AI." – John Roese, global CTO and chief AI officer, Dell Technologies. "We've been building AGNTCY's evaluation and observability components from day one because reliable Agents cannot scale without purpose-built monitoring. Moving all components of AGNTCY to the Linux Foundation ensures these tools serve the entire ecosystem, not just our customers. As a founding member of AGNTCY, we're eager to see neutral governance accelerate adoption of standards we know enterprises need for production agent deployments." – Yash Sheth, co-founder, Galileo. "Open, community-driven standards are essential for creating a diverse, interoperable agentic AI ecosystem. We're pleased that Cisco is moving AGNTCY to the Linux Foundation, where it will be neutrally governed alongside the Agent2Agent protocol to advance powerful, collaborative agent systems for the industry." – Rao Surapaneni, vice president, business applications platform, Google Cloud. "Enterprise customers need agent infrastructure they can trust for mission-critical workloads. We welcome AGNTCY's move to the Linux Foundation and are proud to be a formative member of this project. A tight control over data security and governance helps discovery, identity, and observability components work reliably across the entire enterprise technology stack, not just specific vendor ecosystems." – Roger Barga, senior vice president, AI & ML, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. "Our customers and partners, as well as the open source communities we work with, are actively exploring agentic capabilities to bring the inferencing benefits of vLLM and llm-d to their applications. Red Hat welcomes AGNTCY's move to the Linux Foundation and we look forward to working with the community to help bring open, agnostic governance to the agentic AI ecosystem." – Steve Watt, vice president and distinguished engineer, Office of the CTO, Red Hat. Follow us on: Share on:
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Agntcy Framework For Agentic AI Moves To The Linux Foundation
The Agntcy collaborative open source project, which aims to harmonize interactions among AI agents, ... More is moving to The Linux Foundation. Agentic AI promises to unlock enterprise transformation through massive improvements in the automation of workflows. The potential benefits are enormous. However, agentic workflows are a complicated engineering undertaking, to say the least. Agntcy is an open source collective formed in March 2025 with a vision for building a framework for what it calls the Internet of Agents. Since it was founded by Cisco's Outshift incubation unit — which then recruited other members — the collective has focused on the coordination and orchestration of agents while ensuring proper identity access management protocols as those agents access enterprise data, open-source tools and customized large and small language models. Endorsing this approach — and giving the framework firmer grounding in the industry — The Linux Foundation welcomed the Agntcy coalition to its governance model on July 29. Agntcy's Background — And The Importance Of Building Tech Ecosystems Ever since agentic AI started to gain wider attention in the tech world about a year ago, it's been clear that it could have fundamental impacts on enterprise IT transformation. It's simple enough to understand today's agents that take on bits of workflows more complicated than a chatbot can handle. But soon orchestration super-agents will be required to carry out larger — and more impactful — tasks such as creating fully autonomous networking infrastructure that can self-diagnose faults and heal dynamically. Or imagine a set of super-agents that can harden enterprise cybersecurity protection with dynamic, real-time adjustments made through runtime analysis. The sky's the limit. AI agents are highly promising for automating complex tasks to increase productivity in IT, business ... More operations and beyond, but they require a lot of orchestration — and ultimately standards-based design so that agents from different makers can work together. That said, plenty of applied research is needed to unlock the innovation that agentic can enable, along with coordination efforts that bring more entities — vendors, enterprise customers, research organizations and so on — into a harmonized agentic ecosystem. Previous generations of open source attest that an ecosystem approach can advance R&D efforts rapidly, as evidenced by the impacts of open technical standards for Linux, Android and countless other open-source projects. Agntcy's core tenets aim to ensure openness, interoperability and scalable, secure agentic problem solving, all within a quantum-safe environment that addresses concerns about future quantum-based threats to security encryption. Besides Cisco's in-house Outshift incubator (more on that in a minute), until this week Boomi and MongoDB were the most recognizable members of Agntcy. These more recognizable names have anchored a host of early- and late-stage startups that hope to capitalize on the agentic AI gold rush. To me, Agntcy's most noteworthy efforts so far are its software development kits that address the friction associated with inter-agent communication. Agntcy is also providing multi-agent sample applications that can be leveraged to accelerate developer innovation and reduce time-to-market. And a GitHub repository was recently launched to streamline access to these tools and applications. Cisco Outshift's Incubation Of Agntcy And Other Initiatives I learned about Agntcy in detail several weeks ago when I attended Cisco Live and had the opportunity to spend time with the Outshift leadership team to discuss the unit's ecosystem-focused innovation efforts. (Note: Cisco is an advisory client of my firm, Moor Insights & Strategy.) Outshift is Cisco's in-house incubator for emerging technologies. The unit has a stated objective of focusing on emerging technologies, ideas, solutions and resources for tomorrow's tech teams. From a research standpoint, Outshift directs its efforts into AI and machine learning, quantum networking, security and other vital subjects, often through collaboration with academic institutions from around the world. Through Outshift, Cisco is also partnering with more than 75 tech companies, including AI tool developers, model providers and multi-agent software companies, to strengthen Agntcy and accelerate its adoption. I liken Outshift to an incubator/startup mashup with a mission of taking emerging technical concepts, scaling them into real-world solutions and doing so across a broad ecosystem. I have followed many corporate-funded technical innovation and R&D initiatives over the years, and most are inwardly focused to benefit the company itself. What is inherently different about Outshift is that it follows a partnership model by design, one that can potentially accelerate the success of the broader industry. Outshift's accomplishments to date with Agntcy have been impressive, especially in just the few months since the collective launched. However, when I was first briefed on it, my immediate thought was that Agntcy would benefit from broader participation by more established IT infrastructure providers. The open-source community has demonstrated that competitors can come together to advance standards and innovation, for example with the Data Plane Development Kit initiative to accelerate data packet processing across the industry. Agntcy Graduates To The Linux Foundation With this background in mind, Agntcy's move to The Linux Foundation is significant for two reasons. First, it has the potential to dramatically scale and accelerate the development and adoption of Agntcy's agentic framework. As a Linux Foundation project facilitated through working groups, Agntcy will further refine agent discovery, identity, messaging and observability. These core features are the right ones to focus on, in my opinion. One of the biggest challenges in realizing the full potential of agentic workflows will lie in identity access management and orchestration. Second, with Agntcy's graduation to the Linux Foundation, it is now joined by new members including Dell Technologies, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Red Hat. From my perspective, this validates the work that Outshift has been doing, plus it marshals formidable resources to ensure Agntcy's success. The Future Of Agentic AI Is Bright The promise of agentic AI is exciting. Recent solution announcements from both Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise point to its potential to help us reimagine networking and security infrastructure with highly autonomous capabilities. However, concerns about proper identity access management, provisioning and agentic sprawl must be addressed to ensure unencumbered adoption. The efforts of Agntcy — backed by Cisco and now the new members and The Linux Foundation — should help agentic achieve its promise in enterprise networking and IT.
