We are extremely honored to receive the CRN 2021 Tech Innovator Award for the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platform in the Networking -Enterprise category.

Consumer Reseller News (CRN) is a leading technology news and information source for solution providers, IT channel partners,and value-added resellers (VARs). Each year, the staff at CRN selects products in the IT industry that offer both strong differentiation and significant partner opportunities.  CRN noted that the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms family addresses the complex requirements of today's networking environments.

The Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms Family

 The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platform is ideal for large-scale data center or colocation sites providing integrated 40G and 100G Ethernet ports in a single rack unit. It's powered by a specialized Cisco ASIC for high-performance, scale and integrated security.

The Catalyst 8300 and 8200 Series Edge Platforms enable SD-WAN connectivity for branch sites with enhanced visibility for optimal application performance.

The Catalyst 8000V Edge Software offers the capabilities of the 8500 and 8300/8200 as a virtual network function, which enables it to be deployed in a cloud or virtualized environment. This is also the choice for Software-Defined Cloud Interconnect (SDCI) implementations and colocation facilities such as with Equinix and Megaport.

Innovations that save your business CapEx and OpEx

Cisco SD-WAN offers voice integration, eliminating the need for a separate appliance and the associated licensing costs and power usage. Recently, Cisco announced the availability of a Cellular 5G Pluggable Interface Module (PIM) for the Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms. Businesses can eliminate the cost of purchasing a separate cellular gateway and the associated licensing costs as well. Internet connectivity, cellular connectivity, voice, and integrated security are all managed and monitored from the same console.

What's possible with the Catalyst 8000?

Customers want to understand if their demanding requirements can be met by the capabilities of the SD-WAN solution they are considering. Does it provide enough performance for their business? Is it secure?  Will it be reliable and offer low latency?

Recently, the Cisco Catalyst 8300 demonstrated these attributes in what we think is a very convincing way.  Cisco SD-WAN on the Catalyst 8300 was used to control an electric race car running at 150km/hour -connected to a simulator and a professional driver 83km away. You can read more about this incredible feat here:

Around a racetrack at 150km per hour with no one in the seat -here's how...

If Cisco SD-WAN running on the Catalyst 8300 can accomplish this, what is possible for your business?

Learning more

Learn more about the Catalyst 8000 Edge Platform family here.

We are making it easier for you to upgrade your environment to the Catalyst 8000 Edge Platform with a special promotion.  You can learn more about the promotion here.

We hope that you'll agree that being bestowed the CRN 2021 Tech Innovator award is validation that Cisco is providing one of the most capable solutions in the industry for Enterprise networking.

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