Cisco is well known as a network hardware company. But we often forget that they are also a software company with a network operating system, IOS. Cisco is now taking that software out of its embedded place in hardware and moving it into another devices.
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Cisco DNA, or Digital Network Architecture, is designed to add different functions to exisiting equipment. For example, it becomes possible to add firewall capabilities to a switch rather than deploying another physical device.
DNA is built on five pillars:
- Virtualise everything
- Designed for automation
- Pervasive analytics
- Service management delivered from the cloud
- Open, extensible and programmable at every layer
For network architects and admins, this obviously adds a lot of flexibility and benefits. Clearly, this offers lots of agility.
DNA will be released progressively with three components available now. These are APIC-EM for automation of software-defined networks, including the ability to deploy switches and other equipment at other locations without pre-configuration, Enterprise NFV for rapid deployment of network services, and CMX Cloud – a cloud implementation of Cisco’s CMX presence analytics software.
A Quality of Service app will be available later this month as well.
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