New Frontiers: Network Analytics in Real Time

Episode 2: Don’t Fly Blind – Network Analytics in Real Time

The phrase “flying blind” was first used in World War II when, during nighttime or bad weather, pilots were forced to fly only using the limited instruments they had available.

For IT professionals, visibility is a tricky thing. There is extensive data produced by a variety of disparate systems and sources in modern networks. For many IT administrators this becomes like trying to watch 50 different television channels in 50 different languages all at once.

Nowhere is this more relevant then in security. Attacks are unfolding in real time with damaging often done in minutes if not seconds, meanwhile for most IT/security teams it takes them months (100 days is the mean time) to detect that a new threat is inside their network. One of the most effective steps enterprises can do to compress this time to detection is to monitor and analyze data from the interior of the network at every hop in the network. Attackers utilize the network just like users and devices do. When they do, they can be spotted, but only if you have the proper visibility in place to produce and properly interpret what the network is telling you.

Cisco’s approach to security leverages the network as a giant sensor to provide pervasive detection everywhere there is a network device (a switch, router, or access point). Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture provides a framework for transforming the network to enable IT administrators to leverage the power of the network for better visibility and understanding of what is happening in their network. Episode two of Cisco’s five-part innovation series, “New Frontiers: IT Innovations in 5 minutes,” explores data and analytics and its intersection with operating and securing the network. In this episode, you will meet Simoné, an engineer who explains how Cisco’s analytics has transformed the way IT professionals engage with their network, and how this evolved relationship has enabled greater flexibility and insights for enterprises around the world.