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Software-defined everything

Organisations’ IT strategies are essential for their business strategies to succeed. For these digital initiatives to work, businesses need to ensure that a secure and robust infrastructure is in place. Smart Internet of Things (IoT) devices are notorious for increasing the available attack surface and must be properly secured. User experience that is crucial for any digital initiative to work needs a robust network that can prioritise application traffic dynamically.

With this in mind, BCX today announces the launch of its end-to-end Software-Defined Network (SDN) suite of products, offering multi-domain integration to effectively manage expansion in mobile, IoT, cloud, and security technologies. With end-to-end SDN, BCX helps organisations tackle performance, security, and management challenges involving highly distributed applications, data, users, and devices.

Using intent-based networking, Software-Defined Networks transforms a hardware-centric, manual network into a controller-led network that captures business intent and translates it into policies that can be automated and applied consistently across the network. The goal is for the network to continuously monitor and adjust network performance to help assure desired business outcomes.

“Intent-based Networks (IBN) work by having the network administrator define a desired state of the network. The automation protocols monitor the network and execute operation improvements until the network is optimised. “This is a stark departure from the way enterprise networks are managed today,” explains Julian Liebenberg, chief of converged communications at BCX. “Currently, configuration is manual, and algorithmic validation is absent whereas IBN monitor, identify, and react in real time to changing network conditions.”

The product suite allows a user to connect to an application regardless of where that user is. It addresses campus and branch access networks with Cisco DNA, WANs with Cisco SD-WAN, and distributed application environments with Cisco ACI. The multi-domain architecture applies consistent policy and assurance across the domains.

“Every customer is looking for agility, but not at the expense of security, visibility, or control. Combined with our world-class partners and global support and services, we are delivering peace of mind while accelerating our customers’ cloud strategies,” says Garsen Naidu, country manager Cisco South Africa.

Features and benefits

• Proactive management – use network monitoring and analytics, aided by machine learning, to pinpoint, report, and remedy issues before they become problems.

• Simplified operations – centralise network policy control, automate management, and integrate IT workflows.

• Secure your business- rely on user identity as a security perimeter. Detect threats in one domain and remediate throughout the network.

• Enhance application experience – optimise application delivery, from the data centre and the cloud to campuses and branches.

• Transform your infrastructure – software-define everything, applying intent-based networking consistently throughout the enterprise.

• Investment for innovation – deliver IT and business innovation now and in the future, built on an open, intent-based networking platform.

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