A Look Behind Cisco Disaster Response


The next is an excerpt from our FY24 Objective Report, celebrating 40 years of impression at Cisco. Information and metrics are reflective of Cisco’s fiscal yr 2024, ending on July 31, 2024.

Right this moment, connectivity is now not a type of assist; as a substitute, it’s usually essential to even obtain assist. Beneficiary registration, digital money, aid advantages, and social service functions all require safe connectivity— and Cisco helps ship this important want.

Cisco Disaster Response (CCR) is a pacesetter within the non-public sector in responding to humanitarian challenges and works straight with authorities companies, humanitarian and emergency response organizations, and people affected by crises. 

 CCR’s help consists of on-the-ground connectivity, collaboration options, and safety options for each communities and help companies. As well as, we offer coaching to assist construct preparedness, response capabilities, and long-term resilience to NGOs supporting crisis-affected communities. CCR additionally affords money and know-how donations to humanitarian nonprofit companions, in addition to professional bono consulting on community design and emergency connectivity options. 

Highlight On: Powering Communications on the Floor  

Cisco’s Community Emergency Accountable Automobiles (NERVs) present quick and safe communications when present communications could also be disrupted or degraded. Supplied freed from cost, onboard NERV options embody: totally redundant Cisco Meraki networking elements for mission-critical communications; hyperconverged Cisco UCS compute cluster; Cisco Industrial IoT options for monitoring and management of auto programs; and a excessive capability, rechargeable, hybrid energy system that powers mission workloads and improves readiness, deployment longevity, and sustainability.  

In fiscal 2024, CCR launched new options to assist attain, energy, and join much more communities in want. This consists of Line-of-Sight 2.0 kits—comprised of Cisco’s Extremely Dependable Wi-fi Backhaul merchandise—which lengthen the attain of the NERV to distant networks past the constraints of WiFi or when wired networks are usually not possible. We additionally included a Starlink Excessive-Efficiency answer so as to add to the suite of backhaul choices.

Take a virtual actuality tour of the NERV and study extra concerning the set-up and options.

Listed here are a couple of examples of how our Cisco Disaster Response supported communities world wide in FY24:  

Combatting Homelessness 

In 2018, Cisco dedicated US$50 million in grant funding over 5 years—the most important company donation of its form on the time—to handle homelessness in Santa Clara County, California. We’ve got far exceeded our unique dedication and geographic scope— investing US$130 million to handle housing and homelessness globally. This consists of US$22 million in product donations to homeless service organizations and supportive housing developments world wide.  In Santa Clara County, Cisco’s versatile, non-public funding has leveraged over US$1.5 billion in public funding to create 3,500 properties, and our homelessness prevention efforts with Vacation spot: House have prevented 7,200 households from changing into homeless.

Study extra about Cisco’s efforts to handle homelessness. 

Responding to Wildfires in Maui  

In August 2023, wildfires broke out in Hawaii, prompting evacuations and inflicting widespread injury. The shortage of connectivity left many unable to make use of credit score or debit playing cards, entry ATMs, or pay for important objects like gasoline, meals, and medicine. CCR mobilized to restore essential Web, wi-fi, and telephone connectivity for presidency companies and nonprofits. We additionally launched an worker donation-matching catastrophe marketing campaign that raised US$360,000 to help the American Purple Cross, Americares, the Maui Meals Financial institution, and World Central Kitchen.  

Defending In opposition to Hackers  

Many nonprofits and NGOs lack enterprise-grade cybersecurity, giving dangerous actors the chance to both disrupt rescue operations or steal private, monetary, or authorities information. CCR and NetHope work collectively to spice up nonprofits’ cybersecurity capabilities and supply the know-how, cooperation, and experience that may thwart hackers, even throughout weak disaster conditions. Along with the world-class safety that’s constructed into each product, Cisco gives revolutionary cell networking kits which might be extremely efficient— and safe—in disaster conditions. We additionally use AI to investigate community exercise for malicious patterns that enable our response companions to establish and neutralize threats quicker, minimizing danger and defending weak populations’ information. 

 

To study extra concerning the progress we’re making to Energy an Inclusive Future for All, go to our Cisco Objective Reporting Hub.

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