Intent-based Networking Innovations at Center Stage at Cisco Live

June is one of my favorite months of the year because the beginning of summer is also the time for our largest conference of the year – Cisco Live!

This year, Cisco’s annual conference of innovation was on full display in sunny Orlando, Florida. Cisco Live is our best opportunity in the year to engage with hundreds of customers, analysts and partners about our latest innovations. These conversations help to evolve Cisco’s technology direction to create additional business value and deliver a better user experience.

One of the best parts of Cisco Live are the keynote sessions with senior Cisco executives that provide deeper insights into industry trends and how Cisco continues to drive networking forward. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins and EVP / GM David Goeckeler spoke about how far we have come in 12 months when we launched the Network.Intuitive with Cisco DNA and how we are continuing this journey towards intent-based networks.

One of the highlights from the Technology keynote was SVP, Product Management Sachin Gupta showcasing Cisco DNA Assurance capabilities for Wireless networks. He demonstrated the ability to isolate complex problems on the network, go back in time to see what happened and where, and solve the problem in real time – all from DNA Center! This is a game-changer for our customers and will help significantly reduce their operational expenses for network monitoring and troubleshooting.

While I visited the World of Solutions exhibition floor, I was amazed by the number of people wanting to learn more about Software Defined-Access (SDA). If this is any indication, digital transformation is not just a trend — it is a clear demand for new ways to enable digital capabilities, deliver IT and manage assets. SDA does just that by enabling policy-based automation from the edge to the cloud. Providing policy-based automation scale with intent-based networking means you can define a policy once within the network, and onboard devices anywhere globally on your network.

This level of automation and scale is what’s driving the demand we see for SDA and the fasting ramping product in Cisco history – Cisco Catalyst® 9000 switches. We continue to add more platforms to the Catalyst 9000 family, with the debut of the Catalyst 9500, which offers high density 10/25 gigabit and up to 32p of 100 Gigabit. As Intent-based networking advances with Cisco DNA Center becoming an open platform, it is exciting to see the Catalyst 9000 series build the next generation of networks.

A perfect example of this next generation network can be found at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, which was featured during Chuck Robbins’ keynote. The hospital upgraded its network with SDA and Catalyst 9300 switches with policy automation integration across wired and wireless users, which led to improved network availability, performance and security.

Cisco has developed a culture that thrives on innovation and solving problems, which creates meaningful value for our customers. It is an honor to be a part of a team and a company that values industry disruption, even if that means disrupting ourselves. As Cisco’s IBN architecture continues to evolve, I cannot wait to see the next steps of this network evolution at Cisco Live San Diego next year!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@munindersambi) for continued updates on the Catalyst 9000 series of switches and Intent-based networking.