Software-defined networking (SDN) for the data center has been popular for over ten years. SDN streamlines and consistently enforces policies, offering a unified management point for data centers. It enhances automation, reduces human error, simplifies troubleshooting, and boosts security. In this one-hour briefing, we'll discuss the leading OEMs in this space, helping you determine if SDN is a viable option for your data center's future.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights (NDI) is included with all Nexus licensing and is compatible with both ACI and NDFC. The platform offers extensive insights functionality, such as dynamic correlation, impact analysis, proactive alerts, failure prediction, and remediation. By leveraging advanced alerting, baselining, correlation, and forecasting algorithms, NDI provides deep insights into network behavior through telemetry data from networking components. This accelerates troubleshooting, rapid root-cause analysis, and early remediation, ensuring compliance with operator intent and simplifying audits. Additionally, it supports multi-site environments, enabling effective monitoring, maintenance, and troubleshooting across multiple data center sites. Overall, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights enhances network visibility, optimizes performance, and ensures a more reliable and efficient data center operation. This briefing will introduce you to the Nexus Dashboard platform and demonstrate the benefits of NDI.

Cisco ACI extends its capabilities beyond a single data center. This briefing will introduce you to the architectural options for leveraging a single point of management through the Cisco ACI Manager across multiple data centers.

The Data Center Network (DCN) is essential for supporting high-performance workloads, including Artificial Intelligence (AI). This briefing will explore next-generation data center architectures, highlighting the advantages of using an underlay/overlay topology and controller-based management. As DCN architectures become more complex, day-two operations software becomes increasingly necessary. This session will provide an overview of DCN hardware, architectures, and day-two operations, along with a brief introduction to the most commonly seen DCN OEMs in enterprise data centers.

The most common protocols used in a modern Data Center Network (DCN) are EVPN/VXLAN, while there are many benefits to this underlay/overlay technology, it is extremely complex to implement. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) can streamline the process for EVPN/VXLAN campus or DCN networks as well as traditional networks. The platform's user-friendly interface and streamlined workflows simplify the process of fabric management, from initial setup to ongoing maintenance. NDFC supports both greenfield and brownfield deployments, allowing for seamless integration with existing fabrics as well as the creation of new ones. By providing a centralized point of control, NDFC reduces the complexity associated with managing multiple fabrics and sites, ensuring that network operations are efficient and straightforward.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights (NDI) is included with all Nexus licensing and is compatible with both ACI and NDFC. The platform offers extensive insights functionality, such as dynamic correlation, impact analysis, proactive alerts, failure prediction and remediation. By leveraging advanced alerting, baselining, correlation, and forecasting algorithms, NDI provides deep insights into network behavior through telemetry data from networking components. This accelerates troubleshooting, rapid root-cause analysis, and early remediation, ensuring compliance with operator intent and simplifying audits. Additionally, it supports multi-site environments, enabling effective monitoring, maintenance and troubleshooting across multiple data center sites. Overall, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights enhances network visibility, optimizes performance, and ensures a more reliable and efficient data center operation. This briefing will introduce you to the Nexus Dashboard platform and demonstrate the benefits of NDI.

As the capabilities of Core Networks increase, simplified management solutions that unlock their potential become more and more important. Convergence of optical and routing network functions ups the ante even further -- requiring management tools that help streamline new organizational processes. WWT can leverage its heavy investment in core networking technologies to help guide you through the ever-changing landscape of Core Network management.