It’s been a bumpy ride for Juniper shareholders the past few months. With shares reaching under $19 in December after tumbling from nearly $25 per share in November, it looks like the manufacturer of networking hardware like high speed reliable switches, is now on the rise once again. Overall, Juniper predicted less than stellar quarterly returns and claims that a reduced demand for routers by service providers is to blame. While that may be the case, analysts are optimistic forecasting better results in the second quarter of 2012.

In 2010, the company reported $4.093 billion USD in revenue making it one of the industry leaders in networking hardware equipment.  In 2011, it also received the Ethics Inside Certification from the Ethisphere Institute given to companies that exhibit high levels of corporate citizenship and social responsibility.  Does anyone really care about that? Or do they just want to see the company turn a profit?

Recent trends suggest that people are caring more and more about patronizing companies that prove to be ethical, socially responsible, and green.  That’s good news for Juniper’s future, even though it may not alter revenue right now, especially during the economic crisis. As the economy recovers, however, and businesses begin to pour more money into things like network enhancements, they will likely begin to become more picky about who they do business with. Juniper’s history of producing high quality, reliable, innovative hardware as well as its dedication to corporate citizenship may be what it needs to tackle some of the bigger competitors like Cisco. Either way, it will be good for Juniper’s stock.

How much are you spending on social networking? It’s December, a great time to reflect on whether this year’s marketing dollars pulled in more business than you anticipated, and decide what your plans are for next year.

According to a research study, U.S. companies will spend approximately $2.1 billion on social media marketing. But again, is it worth it?  A little research on your part can go a long way.  Finding out which fans on Facebook and Twitter share the most can increase sales.  Typically, these people, the ones that constantly blog about your products, comment on your page, repost your posts, etc., are great influences on other people in their circles.

The old belief that word of mouth can be your best advertising is still true, it’s just taken on a new form in the 21st century.  Take the time to reward your true fans for promoting you. This is more valuable than hiring companies to blog about your product because these people already believe in what you do.

Upgrading your network so that it works well with mobile devices can enhance your social networking productivity. Sometimes, it’s as simple as adding a new router that increases mobility. However you choose to stay on top of the social networking scene, the more you do it, the more likely it is to pay off.

We keep hearing this phrase “the cloud” and figured there might be a few of you who didn’t know what it meant, so why not explain?  As ethereal as it sounds, it’s actually not. It’s a fancy way to denote that someone is accessing content online. For example, streaming movies off Netflix, checking ipad apps to get stock updates, and checking out your fave sit-com on Hulu are all activities that put you “in the cloud.”

Cloud stocks are some of the fastest growing stocks out there with entertainment and other technologies booming. Cisco, as the manufacturer of network hardware, is one of these companies and is actively trying to become more involved in home devices, software, and technologies other than the traditional high-performance router or switch.

Among others, Cisco is definitely a company to watch. So check the skies. And look for clouds.

In an article of Business Standard,

“Cisco today introduced in India, Linksys E4200, the latest and most advanced member of the Linksys E-series family offering network speeds of up to 450Mbps and a new innovative design.   It’s ideal for home entertainment – delivering the power you need for HD video streaming and connects all network devices in the home including laptops, smartphones, iPads, internet enabled TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles. E4200 is available in over 2000 stores across India, including in large format retailers like Reliance Digital, Croma, Staples, and Hypercity.”

What does this mean for the U.S. market?

Not much, but for U.S.-based Cisco, it could mean opening new doors in parts the of the world that are currently untapped by members of this market. And that’s good for the U.S. economy.

Last month, technology behemoth Cisco, based in San Jose, announced exciting new tech innovations across its Data Center Advantage portfolio. The Cisco Nesus 7000 family and Nexus 5000 series will be affected along with the Nexus 3000, Cisco MDS storage switches, the Cisco Unified Computing System, the Data Center Network Manager, and Cisco NX-OS.

According to Cisco’s press release, “With these innovations, Cisco continues to tightly integrate its Unified Fabric, Unified Computing, and Unified Network Services into a holistic data center fabric designed to be simple, scalable and highly secure, delivering any application across any location, within the data center, across data centers, or to the cloud. ”

The press release also explains that, “The Cisco data center fabric enables converged network management and ‘wire once’ agility from the server to the storage array for both physical and virtualized environments. With these additions, Cisco further enhances the industry’s most comprehensive and innovative standards-based data center portfolio, allowing multiple data centers and cloud services to be connected across a common intelligent fabric, delivering architectural flexibility, investment protection and operational simplicity.”

Is this really a surprise? Cisco has been an innovator in the technology market for years, producing some of the most efficient, reliable, high-performance switches and routers on the market. This is just another success to add to their ever-growing list.

You’re probably aware that Cisco is one of the most innovative tech companies out there, but here’s proof.  Recently, Cisco teamed up with Moses Cone Health System, a North Carolina nonprofit health network consisting of five hospitals and a wide range of outpatient services as well as teaching facilities.  Along with a New Jersey headquartered healthcare provider called Virtua, the trio have come together and are using the Cisco(R) Data Center Business Advantage architecture to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve patient care. In the wake of demand for health care reform, those seem like goals all healthcare providers should be putting at the top of their lists.

Moses Cone Health System chose the Cisco Unified Computing System(TM) to be its next-generation advanced computing platform which will support computerized physician-order entry in addition to helping the organization migrate to electronic medical records (EMRs). Both of these functions are top priorities in improving patient care.

The Cisco Unified Computing System has helped Moses Cone Health System create EMRs quickly,but also minimize the network infrastructure build-out. The technology provided by Cisco reduces the time necessary to configure servers.  Success is being attributed to the flexibility and high availability of Cisco’s Unified Computing System. Without it, updating real-time e-medical records would be a daunting task. Real-time is important as it supports  critical clinical applications like lab systems and radiology results.

Virtua deployed a different network. The organization added Cisco Medical Grade Network to its cache of technology to address the stress  placed on its data centers by medical images, new applications,  and a just-launched regional exchange of health information. To increase performance, Virtua deployed a sophisticated, advanced Cisco data center. This Ethernet-based network, including Cisco MDS storage solutions, Cisco Nexus(R) data center switches, as well as high-speed optical solutions has allowed Virtua to take its network to a new level.

That’s what Cisco is doing in healthcare. What can Cisco do for your company?

In a recent article in Forbes by Elizabeth Woyke titled ‘Cisco’s Vision of the Future of Wi-Fi’, Woyke discusses how the wireless carriers are, smartly, “cozying up to Wi-Fi more than ever.” According to Woyke, “The broad support, in turn, will help advance Wi-Fi beyond basic connectivity to a smoother overall user experience, says networking giant Cisco.”

“In North America, we’re at 60 to 70 percent in terms of people being able to detect Wi-Fi in the places they expect to,” says Chris Kozup, Cisco’s director of mobility solutions. “This year and 2012, you’ll see a shift around making Wi-Fi connections more seamless.”

The aim is to make it as easy to connect to third-party networks, such as those in airports and cafes, as to a person’s home Wi-Fi network. Another goal is to improve connectivity between certain applications, devices and networks so gadgets can move between cellular and Wi-Fi connections without a stutter.

Currently, when Wi-Fi smartphone users walk into their houses, their handsets can automatically switch over to their home Wi-Fi. Not all hand-offs are that seamless, however. While transferring e-mail on an iPhone is no problem, transitioning a streaming You-Tube video is more problematic. Most Wi-Fi networks can’t recognize the exact state of the video session when it is transferred from the cell network.

On their own, cellular networks handle this just fine. Cellular to Wi-Fi exchanges of voice applications also work well on some cellular networks, such as T-Mobile. But smooth cellular to Wi-Fi hand-offs are far from universal, especially with more sophisticated services like streaming video.

Cisco’s prescription is to upgrade Wi-Fi networks in the industry’s three main sectors: Internet service providers, enterprise/businesses and consumers. Each segment, says Kozup, could both beef up its own Wi-Fi technology and work to make Wi-Fi a more seamless experience across the three markets. “We need to create [seamlessness] in between cellular and Wi-Fi networks,” says Kozup. “This ability of networks to communicate intelligently with devices is the holy grail the whole industry is chasing.”

To read more about Cisco, Wi-Fi, and wireless carriers, check out Woyke’s article at:  http://blogs.forbes.com/elizabethwoyke/2011/01/24/ciscos-vision-of-the-future-of-wi-fi/?boxes=Homepagechannels