When I was little,my father kept our family car in tip-top shape. He overhauled brakes,rebuilt engines, tuned carburetors, and swapped out suspensions. He could do just about anything, and he knew every component, inside and out.

From an early age, I enjoyed "helping" my father whenever there was a chance. I handed him wrenches, brought him cool glasses of water on hot summer days, and held the flashlight when the repairs went late into the night. Perhaps he could have managed without my help, but we both enjoyed our time together. Even more importantly, I learned from an early age how a little help could make a big difference.

At Cisco, we believe in the power of people helping people. We believe everyone could use a little help sometimes to save time, energy, and to get the most out of what they already have. We may not have a cool glass of water to offer, but we can hand you a useful tool or two while you're working "under the hood" of your network. This is why we created Cisco Active Advisor.

What is Cisco Active Advisor?
Cisco Active Advisor is afree, automated, web-basedadvisory service that:

• Discovers and inventories Cisco Enterprise products in your network
• Keeps you up-to-date on the overall status of important product milestones and alerts
• Recommends improvements to get the most from your Cisco network investment

With Cisco Active Advisor, there is nothing to buy and nothing to install. To get started, you simply need a Cisco.com account and a web browser.

How does Cisco Active Advisor work?
It's really pretty simple. Anyone with a Cisco.com account can visit the portal, find and register Cisco products inside their network, and use the tools and reports the service provides.

The service will discover Enterprise Network Switching, Routing, and Wireless devices as well as any line cards or modules that might be installed.

Active Advisor will continue to look for new alerts and important product milestones and send email notifications based on your preferences.

Cisco Active Advisor is updated with cool new features, additional product support, and bug fixes every few weeks.

If you find something you like about the service or have ideas for new features, drop us a note from inside the Active Advisor portal or connect with me @mtwhitley. We read everything sent in, and we'd love to add your ideas into the service.

How do I get started?
Visit www.ciscoactiveadvisor.com, log in with your Cisco.com account, and clickAdd Devices. It's free, always on, and available right now.

Give the service a try. We will be right here helping hold the flashlight so you can keep your business, and your network, running its best.