2018 Enterprise Networking Business: A Dynamic Year in Review

Thinking about our new corporate theme Bridge to Possible, unveiled at the 2018 Partner Summit, it seems to me that phrase encapsulates what we have been doing for many years in Enterprise Networking. We’ve been building bridges from data center to campus to branch to mobile workforce—with bridges to the Internet of Things driving processing at the cloud edge as the next fast-growing opportunity. Bridges connect. Bridges unite. Bridges enable collaboration.

The internet is all about connecting and collaborating. According to the latest Cisco Complete VNI Forecast, by 2022 the internet will be connecting 28.5 billion devices sending and receiving IP video, streaming movies and games, sensitive business data, and mobile applications, leading to a tripling of global IP traffic. Machine-to-machine IoT connections will grow 2.4 times to 14.6 billion. In fact, more traffic will flow across the internet in 2022 than in all the 32 years since the internet began. That means the internet is going to need bigger, broader bridges to keep up with demand.

Our engineering innovations in 2018 for Intent-Based Networking lay the foundation for building the next generation of IP transport that will automate managing and protecting the multi-domain connectivity demands in 2019 and beyond. Case in point, the VNI Survey predicts that traffic managed by SD-WANs will increase five-fold and account for 29% of WAN traffic by 2022. We re-engineered Cisco’s SD-WAN solution in 2018 to work on millions of Cisco ISRs and added built-in security for protection against malware, the ability to segment traffic by type, and prioritize connections to maximize application experience. Cisco SD-WAN will have an essential role in managing the dramatic increase in WAN traffic in coming years.

The forecast also points out that at the cloud edge—the intersection of cloud, network, and security—more intelligence and capacity will be required to support an increase in edge devices and branch connectivity requirements to create better application and customer experiences. Here again, in 2018 Cisco already supports IoT cloud edge computing with a combination of SD-WAN, ISR 4000 routers, UCS E-Series branch servers, and Aironet intelligent access points.

And speaking of wireless, the survey finds that Wi-Fi speed is to increase dramatically by 2022 or sooner due to the impending bloom of Wi-Fi 6-enabled devices in the next few years. Cisco is, of course, ready to support the faster speeds and higher concentration of devices provided by Wi-Fi 6 with next-generation Catalyst wireless controllers and Aironet access points being developed in 2018.

We unveiled many of this year’s product achievements at major Cisco and analyst events. Kicking off the year was Cisco Barcelona in January where we introduced the ISR 1000 series routers which provide next-generation connectivity, intent-based networking, integrated enterprise-class security, advanced wireless LAN, easy management and deployment through the IOS XE operating system. In June at Cisco Live Orlando we introduced the open, programmable Cisco DNA Center platform and talked 5G/Wi-Fi at the Wireless Global Congress. After presenting at Gartner Symposium and ITxpo analyst event in October, educating attendees on benefits of Intent-based Networking, we revealed both a new security stack for SD-WAN and the brand new Catalyst 9800 and 9200 wireless controllers at our annual Partner Summit in November.

These are just a few examples of how 2018 has been a year of continuous innovation at Cisco to support the future demands of IP traffic generated by multi-domain cloud applications and IaaS platforms, personal mobile devices, distributed branches, streaming video, and massive IoT deployments. The 2018 Enterprise Network Engineering infographic details more examples and events. Have a look at this years’ interactive infographic.

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*FCS=First Customer Shipment

A Year of Innovative Accomplishments

The Enterprise Networking Teams have good reason to be proud of these 2018 accomplishments. In addition to shipping products on time, with quality, the Enterprise Networking Teams won three Cisco Pioneer Awards for: 1. Reinventing enterprise access and core switching in the Catalyst 9000 family of next-generation switches; 2. Developing IOS-XE, a full-stack Enterprise Network Operating System for routing, switching, wireless, and IoT; and 3. Adding Software-Defined Access for LAN, WAN, and Wireless. By building innovations like these along with quality, security, and reliability into every product, Cisco Engineers strive to achieve simplicity without compromise. I’m looking forward to great new products and services in 2019 and beyond as we build more Bridges to Possible.