Not One-size-fits-all
In the world of fashion, one-size-fits all has very limited appeal. People come in all shapes and sizes, with tastes, preferences, and needs that are equally diverse. So too are the diverse approaches and use cases that are driving interest in Software Defined Networking (SDN), automation, simplification, orchestration, and other solutions. Service providers are exploring technologies for more efficient, flexible, and cost-efficient network operations that will in turn make their businesses more agile and competitive.
Last year at Cisco Live in San Diego, Cisco introduced a broad vision and strategy ? The Cisco Open Network Environment ? an evolutionary approach that not only includes SDN but also encompasses an array of solutions, products, and technologies that are applicable to most, if not all, use cases that are much broader than what SDN alone could address. Since then, as part of our "Build, Buy, and Partner" strategy, we have announced newly developed technologies and products accompanied by strategic company acquisitions that add tools to enhance visibility, orchestration, programmability, and other capabilities to Cisco offerings.
At the end of January at Cisco Live in London 2013, we discussed a variety of solutions that we are working on with service providers to start their journey toward making their networks more programmable. From custom routing and traffic processing, to security applications and automation of fulfillment and assurance, here are just a few of the use cases explored and implemented by early adopters of our technologies that were discussed:
Starting with Visualization
With so many different needs dictating different solutions [e.g., the SDN architecture, OpenFlow, OpenStack, network controllers, overlays, APIs, virtual overlays] how do service providers know where to begin transforming their networks for greater programmability, information harvesting, and other new features?
Before approaching deep application and service programmability, the first step is to extract and analyze the huge amount of available network information and understand what is happening throughout the network in real-time. Where is the traffic flowing throughout the network or in a specific region? What resources are being used today? What will be necessary tomorrow?
Cisco Open Network Environment (ONE) provides those additional APIs to allow deep and broad visibility into the network, informing operators and application developers what resources are available, what's the best path for services to follow, and other information to support more automated traffic engineering.
One example of how to utilize and monetize greater network visibility is captured in this short video. For service providers, the ability to deliver consistent, predictable services is central to their relationship with customers. An accurate, real-time "Internet Traffic Report" that shows what is happening across the service provider network infrastructure would be a game-changer. The video shows the value of this solution enabled by the automated, Cisco ONE Path Computation and Controller function.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUqJOdCL2X4
Other Use Cases from Our Early Adopters
We are now seeing providers starting their network programmability journey with a variety of use cases programming simple applications using various Cisco ONE tools to enhance programmability, automation, orchestration, and other functions. These applications combine training on the tools with immediate practical benefits in their day to day operations.
As we've said over the years with other industry-wide initiatives at Cisco, efforts to implement programmability, orchestration, and automation of service delivery is a journey. But on this journey the road leads in many different directions, based on the varied needs of our customers. At CiscoLive in London, we clearly saw this broad approach resulting in many exciting new, practical solutions that are already leveraging the tools, technologies, and architectures provided by the Cisco ONE.
Turn to Cisco for the right sized solution and tools and begin your journey to greater network programmability, automation, simplification, and agility today.