Driving the Industry Forward – Intent-Based Networking Innovations

Last year, Cisco made history. Intent-based networking promised a revolution in network automation, advanced analytics and assurance, data security, and licensing. And we delivered! The Catalyst 9000 was recognized by CRN as the overall network product of 2017. Analysts, partners, and Wall Street are embracing our vision and innovation, and customers are seeing real business results. Thanks to your support, there are already more than 1,100 Catalyst 9000 customers today. And, according to Gartner, by 2020, more than 1,000 large enterprises will migrate their complex environments to intent based networks.

Today brings another, equally exciting, wave of innovation: providing the right context for intent-based networking. An intuitive network enables customers to easily identify the right time, the right place, and the right action to optimize and manage their business. The Cisco Network Assurance Engine, DNA Center Assurance, and Meraki Wireless Health, along with predictive operational insights provide context to make informed network decisions from the edge to the private cloud. For our customers, this means their applications are always available. For infrastructure managers, this means increased security, forensics, informed decision-making, and an optimized workforce.

Cisco’s latest innovations include 360-degree playback, predictive capability, and software that can aggregate intelligence from relevant applications, clients, and assets within the network. As a former Cisco TAC Director who worked day in and day out with customers working through their network troubleshooting needs, a capability like this is a game changer!

Advances in the network bring exciting opportunities for our customers and for you, our partners. Cisco partners are better equipped than ever to provide end-to-end networking solutions for customers in every industry, helping customers better understand their environments, deliver forensics, and ensure compliance. And, for those of you providing managed services, to do so more profitability with the automation now available. All of this can elevate your role, since your customers’ business runs on the network.

With Cisco DNA Center’s assurance capabilities and new wireless innovations, partners can optimize customers’ IT operations, enable cross-industry connected operations use cases for lines of business, and add ongoing value with their expertise, solutions, and services while using contextual network analytics as a competitive advantage. Partner opportunities include:

Accelerate emerging opportunities – With new analytics engines, there is exponentially more data that is available to you. More analytics at the edge means more insight, and you can turn this into new service offerings.

Create new security services – Partners will now be able to deliver more security services and time savings because of the insights on the network. Business critical partner services can include compliance and remediation.

Expand adoption and stickiness – As we increase the richness of software, customers can realize more and more value. This leads to greater adoption, increased customer loyalty, and more opportunity for your business.

Drive more profitability and recurring revenue streams – Partners with programmability skills can increase business by further integrating assurance into customers’ business process workflows. As network solutions move to more software-based business, partners can drive predictability through increased recurring revenues.

Cisco is committed to making sure our partners have the latest innovations, are rewarded for closing and expanding new customer deals, and are primed for ensuring customer success. You can learn more by watching the partner launch and download new sales tools on SalesConnect.

I’m excited to be making history once again, helping customers achieve their digital business goals, and having the industry’s best partners on board to make it happen!

Nirav Sheth