Cisco makes statement of intent for ‘new normal’ networking priorities
Networking technology giant adds new capabilities across its intent-based networking portfolio to give customers greater control, security, insights to drive better digital experiences.
With networks and their capabilities more important than ever due to the Covid-19 outbreak, Cisco has announced new intent-based networking solutions which, it says, will help optimise business and network operations, and provide greater control, security and insights to drive better digital experiences.
The new solutions encompass new automation facilities, insights into internet of things (IoT) endpoints and maintaining safe physical spaces through wireless networks, and are intended for use as organisations face mounting challenges to deliver consistent and positive digital experiences. They are focused on simplifying automation and providing IT and business insights, enabling IT teams to be agile, while staying closely aligned with business objectives.
Cisco says that this alignment has never been more important than in today’s dynamic business environment. “In today’s ever-changing world, it is critical for a business’s network to be in tune with its strategic goals, whether that’s supporting and securing a remote workforce, accelerating expansion to the cloud, or driving business transformation,” noted Scott Harrell senior vice-president and general manager of Cisco's Intent-based Networking Group.
“With today’s announcement … We’re delivering on our promise to build a networking platform that continues to deliver innovation to help customers, no matter where they are on their intent-based networking journey.”
Looking at automation, user-defined network technology allows IT staff to provide end-users control of their own wireless network partition through Cisco DNA Center, and SD-WAN functionality that now offers cloud-native security to protect enterprises against major web attacks arising from SaaS and Internet access.
In the realm of IoT, Cisco DNA technology now provides insights into IoT endpoints – with AI Endpoint Analytics to identify previously unknown endpoints at scale, and group-based policy analytics to analyse traffic flows.
Cisco DNA Spaces introduces what is said to be the industry’s first Indoor IoT-as-a-Service offering on WiFi-6 access points to help customers rapidly and cost-effectively deploy indoor IoT applications at scale. It is constructed to simplify activation, configuration and management of a wide number of supported internet of things devices, including support for Bluetooth (BLE) devices.
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- The owner of one of the largest business centres in Europe, Canary Wharf Group, has teamed up with Cisco for what is said to be the world’s first commercial trial deployment of OpenRoaming, combining mobile-like roaming through Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.
- Cisco has unveiled a new suite of collaboration tools to help senior IT management digitally transform their organisations. The suite focuses in particular on protecting existing investments in conferencing technology while speeding up the overall workplace transformation.
- Cisco says acquisition of internet and cloud intelligence platform provider ThousandEyes will enhance its network performance and monitoring capabilities across the enterprise and into the cloud.
With use of systems from Cisco’s ecosystem of industry partners, Cisco DNA Spaces enables asset tracking, environmental monitoring of employee safety, space utilisation, room finding and other use cases across healthcare, workspaces, retail, education, manufacturing and hospitality verticals.
Cisco’s indoor location services platform, DNA Spaces, is adding new capabilities to extend visibility and provide information to businesses as they look to maintain safe physical spaces. These are designed to help businesses monitor workspaces to meet social distancing guidelines. Customers can use built-in apps to monitor real-time density in buildings and analyse how buildings are being utilised.
