by Darren Kay,  Enterprise Architect of Dimension Data Australia

In November, Cisco announced the Cisco Intercompany Media Engine. The Intercompany Media Engine gives people business-to-business communications capabilities over any IP network. It’s a brand new product that enables boundary-less communications between organizations, including business partners,  customers, and suppliers. The idea is to make communications between separate companies and organizations as effortless as it is within a single organization.

With the Intercompany Media Engine, your communications travel over an IP network or the Internet, but you use the phones you are already using, the numbers you are already dialing,  and the contact lists you have already entered. It doesn’t even matter whether you’re working within or outside of your company. The ease, efficiency, and overall experience of communicating with each other will be exactly the same.

3/8/2010 -- Insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (MMC: News ) has put Kroll, its corporate investigations division, up for sale for about $1.3 billion, according to a report in the Financial Times on Monday.

According to the FT report, the sale has attracted private equity firms including the Carlyle Group, Apax Partners and General Atlantic. These firms entered bids by the deadline for first expressions of interest in late February, while BCPartners might be a potential buyer alongside one or two trade bidders, the report noted, citing people familiar with the situation.

Other expressions of interest for Kroll include from its founder, Jules Kroll, who sold the business to Marsh in 2004 for $1.9 billion. The founder of Kroll recently launched a new boutique investigations firm called K2. He no longer owns a significant stake in Marsh.

Working at Cisco, one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the variety of ways in which the company’s technologies are used. As a mom,  I’m very interested in ways children learn and in particular how technology enables learning. The story below is about the incredibly creative ways Earvin “Magic” Johnson is using Cisco technology to help children learn.

In addition to being a Hall of Fame basketball star, Mr. Johnson is a businessman and advocate for both urban growth and economic revitalization through his work with The Magic Johnson Foundation.  The Foundation is working with Cisco, using Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, to help extend distance learning, hold remote seminars and raise funds for Johnson’s 18 Community Empowerment Centers located in urban areas throughout the country.

Many variables and issues can cause damage and lower the roof’s performance. Read this Web Exclusive from Jay Rintelmann, president of Hartford South for five common problems affecting low-slope commercial roofs.

Secure Path Networks offers a Contractual Audit Service to assist companies, educational institutions, and government entities in identifying overbilling related to voice and data services.