Evolving the Standalone Virtual Edge with the Nexus 1000VE

On April 4, we published a blog on the Cisco ACI Virtual Edge—a next generation of the Cisco AVS for ACI networks. But this was only part of our promise for next generation solutions at the virtual network edge.

For almost ten years, thousands of customers have trusted the Nexus 1000V to manage, operate, and troubleshoot their virtual hypervisor-based networks in a similar and consistent way with their physical networks. The Nexus 1000V has been the unsung workhorse of network-admin oriented capabilities in virtualized environments enabling customers to extend the network administrators’ domain of control up to the virtual nic (vnic) of the VM. Coupled with the Virtual Security Gateway (VSG), the Nexus 1000V has provided customers with firewalling and VM-attributed-based microsegmentation at the virtual network edge. And the Cisco TrustSec capabilities have enabled customers to implement Group-Based Policy in the data center and up to the VM edge.

We’re pleased to announce that Cisco has completed early field trials for the next generation of standalone virtual switching with the Nexus 1000VE. We plan to deliver this in two phases beginning in late Q2 CY18. The Nexus 1000VE adopts an approach similar to the ACI Virtual Edge in that it is independent of the vSphere 3rd Party Virtual Switch APIs.

The Nexus 1000VE extends the operational runway for those customers using Nexus 1000V in VMware vSphere environments. Customers will continue to use the Virtual Supervisor Module (VSM), the same NX-OS CLI, the same VSM APIs, and the same configuration workflows, minimizing disruption to operational processes, procedures, and responsibilities. In other words, customers can keep on doing what they’re doing.

In the spirit of making it easy, Cisco will provide tooling and guidance to ease the transition. Please stay tuned for more information.

What’s Next?

Customers using Nexus 1000V like the ‘separation of duties’ model, enabling the administration of the virtual and physical network separate from compute and virtualization infrastructure. They also appreciate the firewalling and microsegmentation capabilities of VSG, as well as the Group Based Policy capabilities provided through Cisco TrustSec.

But customer environments are rarely static. ACI can deliver Nexus 1000V customers a framework for a growing and superior super set of these capabilities and use cases. For the thousands of Nexus 1000V and soon to be Nexus 1000VE customers, we’re committing to an easy transition to ACI, if and when you choose, using existing network infrastructure.

Cisco embarked on these next generation products and solutions around the theme of innovation, openness, and choice. That’s what we’re doing. That’s our promise.

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