Guest post by Lewan Solutions Architect Priyank Ghedia.
Cisco Live is one of the most awaited events every year for networking enthusiasts. This year the conference returned to Las Vegas, June 25 – 29 with some impressive stats: 28,000 attendees , 3,000 speakers and 1,000 education sessions.
There was something for every type of IT professional with sessions on Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), firewalls, data center architectures, cloud security plus opportunities to talk to industry specialists, peers and networking experts.
Cisco’s Impact on Networking Advancements
We have come a long way in the network world – from connecting a small number of computers, to large scale connectivity of computers, to internet, to mobility, to data centers, to cloud, and now towards connected devices at a scale we have never seen before – dubbed the Internet of Things (IoT). And Cisco has been there along the way, investing a tremendous amount of time and effort to give the industry world class solutions and new innovations throughout this journey.
Securing the IoT
IoT has opened doors for every industry to get closer to their customers, serve their customers better and generate new revenue streams.
But as Uncle Ben from the Spiderman series said, “With great power comes great responsibilities”. Every connected device on a network also comes with the security risk of exposing your critical data. Cisco is leaving no stone unturned to develop solutions that will secure networks while we connect billions of devices.
The Cisco mission now includes intent and context driven networking while securing information. “The Network. Intuitive” is Cisco’s new mantra in line with its journey towards developing secure, massively scalable yet simple, high performing, IoT ready, data driven and self-healing networks.
Event Highlights
Cisco showcased many new solutions at the event, some highlights were:
Catalyst 9000 Switch Series
One of the biggest announcements from Cisco was the Catalyst 9000. This is Cisco’s addition to its intent based architecture, built on a fully programmable ASIC and programmable IOS with open source tools (and some help from Ferrari). Thanks to its x86 architecture and onboard SSD’s, the box can also house compute power to run cloud extensions and apps in containers on the Switch itself.
DNA Center
Cisco’s command center – a software defined intent based orchestration and analytics platform for deployments of all sizes and flavors. The tool is currently working with the new Catalyst 9000 Switches, but Cisco plans to integrate its routers, security solutions and Meraki with the DNA center in the near future.
Encrypted Traffic Analytics
A nightmare for many but a necessity to keep the bad guys out. This platform allows analysis of encrypted traffic without decryption. Yes, you read that right, without decryption. Cisco does this by analyzing flow metadata and machine learning to track malware in encrypted traffic without affecting the performance of the devices while maintaining privacy.
Did you attend? What announcements are you most excited about?
Watch recordings of Cisco Live keynotes and breakout sessions.
Lewan has been a Cisco Gold Certified Partner since 2005. Gold status is Cisco’s highest partner designation. Our team of engineers holds 46 individual Cisco certifications including Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certifications in Routing & Switching, Voice, and Security. Lewan also holds two Cisco Master Specializations: Collaboration and Cloud & Managed Services. These specializations recognize the highest level of expertise attainable and are only held by 43 partners in the US.
to learn more about our Cisco services including assessments, performance evaluations, design workshops, and full installation and training around each of the areas that we hold Cisco certifications. Lewan’s certified areas of expertise are unified communications and business video, traditional route & switch environments, wireless, data center (including servers, storage, & virtualization), security mobile device management.
