Cisco investigates embezzlement scheme in China

Cisco has launched an investigation into an embezzlement scheme in which employees in China allegedly made payments to various third parties, including workers at state-owned enterprises.

Cisco disclosed the “self-enrichment scheme” in this week’s 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The alleged participants no longer work for the company.

Cisco said the employees allegedly made or directed payments from funds they received to the third parties, which included people working at state-owned enterprises. Many companies operating in China are government-owned.

“We take such allegations very seriously,” Cisco said in the SEC filing.

Cisco voluntarily disclosed its investigation to the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC. The company plans to provide both agencies with the results of the probe.

Cisco did not expect the investigation’s outcome to have a “material adverse effect” on its consolidated financial results, operations or cash flows.

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, passed by Congress in 1977, prohibits U.S. companies and individuals from paying foreign officials to receive favorable treatment. The law applies to employees of state-owned businesses.

The in-house investigation comes a month after China’s State Administration for Market Regulation approved Cisco’s acquisition of optical networking company Acacia Communications. Cisco agreed to pay $4.5 billion for Acacia, and expects to complete the transaction by the end of March.

Verizon unveils Cisco SD-WAN offerings
Verizon has introduced three SD-WAN managed service offerings based on Cisco technology.
The new services announced this week include a Cisco Viptela SD-WAN that provides companies with the option of controlling and self-managing security and application policies. Verizon takes care of fault, performance and configuration management.

The co-managed approach lets companies hand off the day-to-day running of the network to Verizon, while controlling changes to SD-WAN policies and configurations.

Verizon has launched an appliance running Viptela on Cisco’s ISR 1100 Series platform for small branch offices. Verizon touted the offering as providing “highly secure SD-WAN services on a high-performance, low-cost branch appliance.”

Finally, Verizon unveiled a tiered managed SD-WAN service powered by Cisco Meraki. The latter is Cisco’s cloud-based management system for Meraki switches running its SD-WAN.

Verizon has added to the service the management of Meraki MV smart cameras. Features also include deployment and troubleshooting from the Meraki console.

Aruba offers tech for pandemic-safe spaces
Aruba has launched wireless access points (APs) that work with its partners’ IoT devices to help keep spaces pandemic safe.

The Hewlett Packard Enterprise company introduced this week Wi-Fi APs that operate with compatible IoT devices from Aruba partners. The hardware uses the APs to monitor hoteling spaces, room occupancy, air quality, and cleaning and disinfecting schedules. The APs use EnOcean 800/900 MHz radios that are separate components inserted into the devices.

The EnOcean radios enable communication with wireless IoT air quality monitors, presence detectors, light level sensors and other devices that use EnOcean-developed protocols. Companies can manage the network using the Aruba Edge Services Platform, which is available as a service. SearchNetworking