Channel: Tech launch shakes up Cisco campus network design

Posted by TechTarget on June 23, 2017:

Channel partners are absorbing a new take on Cisco campus network design in light of the vendor's revised networking blueprint.

Cisco's June 20 unveiling of what company executives refer to interchangeably as an "intuitive network" and "intent-based networking" underscores the company's growing emphasis on software, programmability, security and centralized management. The broad goal is to create self-learning, adaptable networks that can automatically execute responses to security threats and other events. Products that flesh out the company's vision will roll out over the next few months.

For channel partners, Cisco's latest technology evolution offers multiple components to assess and evaluate on behalf of clients. Some partners see promise in Cisco's DNA Center management console, while others emphasize the Cisco Software-Defined Access offering for network automation. Partners also have Cisco's Encrypted Traffic Analysis technology, which the company said can find malware lurking in encrypted traffic; a new line of Catalyst switches; and an analytics platform to consider.

And while Cisco's networking gambit offers a lot to digest, it also provides multiple entry points for selling and deploying network offerings.

"There are a couple of different vectors," noted David Chandler, practice director, Enterprise Network Solutions at World Wide Technology Inc. (WWT), a Cisco systems integrator and value-added reseller based in St. Louis. "You don't have to pick one approach to it."