Higher education institutions today require a higher standard of network as they face unprecedented demands on their network infrastructure. Often, the list of demands on wireless infrastructure exceeds that of a corporate enterprise. Notable expectations include:

• Delivering robust performance to support extensive research activities
• Meeting lofty expectations of tech-savvy students with many devices
• Accommodating a diverse range of applications and services
• Ensuring seamless connectivity across sprawling campuses
• Maintaining stringent security standards to protect sensitive and personal data

These networks must handle massive data transfers, support cutting-edge research technologies, and provide reliable, high-speed access for thousands of users simultaneously. Additionally, modern colleges and universities want to ensure an equitable campus experience for all students, making it essential for their networks to be accessible, inclusive, and capable of meeting the diverse needs of the entire campus community.

Wireless Starts with Revolutionary Wired Infrastructure

While college students care mostly about wireless accessibility and performance, it all starts with having the proper wired infrastructure to support it. That means your institution must identify a vendor that understands both. For the fourth year in a row, WEI partner Juniper Networks was named a leader in the 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wired and Wireless Infrastructure.

Wired networks may sound plain on the surface, but Juniper’s Mist AI transforms it from a mundane necessity into a powerful, intelligent asset that supports everything digital. The Mist AI platform leverages AI-native automation to streamline network operations while significantly reducing the need for manual intervention. This automation spans the entire network lifecycle, from initial deployment to ongoing troubleshooting and optimization.

The Power of Juniper’s Mist AI

While your wired infrastructure remains on-premises, Juniper Mist Cloud Services provide a unified cloud-based management platform for both wired and wireless networks. This approach goes beyond traditional cloud management by harnessing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced data science techniques to optimize user experiences and simplify operations across your entire network ecosystem. Benefits of this approach include:

• Enhanced visibility into user experiences and network performance
• Proactive issue detection and resolution through AI-native insights
• Real-time analytics and insights into network usage and performance
• Simplified network management and troubleshooting through automation

Can Your Network Do This?

The visibility that Juniper’s Mist AI provides isn’t limited to alerts about your infrastructure devices. It is about offering key insights into your users, such as the ability to analyze foot traffic patterns for better space and resource utilization. This capability not only ensures that students and faculty receive the service levels they expect but also promotes environmental and financial sustainability through optimized resource management. Here are some futuristic features that Mist AI-supported networks can do for today’s college campus:

• Provide students with navigation to help them find classrooms and other campus facilities more easily.
• Easily locate portable assets such as lab equipment or student devices
• Locate individuals who need assistance in emergency situations or steer students and faculty away from problem areas.

When you begin to realize the full gamut of what Juniper AI is capable of, you begin to understand why Gartner positioned it furthest in “Completeness of Vision” relative to other vendors and highest in “Ability to Execute.”

Switches Made Easy

Juniper’s creates the network fabric that unifies all the digital entities and users across today’s campuses. From the EX4400-24X with its 100GbE/40GbE uplinks to handle your mammoth data loads to the EX2300-C that offers a compact, cost-effective solution for low density offices, Juniper Networks has the switch offerings to meet every need.

Regardless of which switch you choose, Juniper Mist simplifies deployment with zero-touch provisioning just involves 4 simple steps:

• Unbox the switch
• Scan the QR code
• Claim the device
• Onboard it to the Mist AI cloud

This straightforward approach makes implementing a network with advanced intelligent features remarkably simple. Juniper’s EX Series, combined with Mist AI, offers a powerful solution for modern campus networks, balancing high performance with ease of management.

The Ultimate Professor

Your students want their class to be led by a competent, highly experienced professor they can engage with. Juniper believes your network should, too. Enter Marvis, a virtual assistant that uses natural language processing to interact with your network support personnel.

Marvis eliminates the need for complex dashboards or CLI commands. It also monitors your entire network landscape on a 24/7 basis to proactively identify issues that it can either automatically resolve or provide actionable recommendations. Like the students you support on campus, Marvis is constantly learning from new data and feedback to improve its insights and recommendations over time. Your IT teams can even train Marvis to focus on specific issues or metrics that are relevant to your organization.

Conclusion

The competition for students is intensifying. Students are seeking a modern college campus experience that will enhance their learning and social interactions. This requires a modernized network. Discover why universities and college campuses worldwide are choosing Juniper to ensure success for both their institutions and the students they serve.

Next Steps: Transform your campus network with WEI’s AI-native approach. Download our comprehensive tech brief, to learn how we can help you modernize your college network, ensuring a competitive edge in attracting and retaining students.

The post Pioneering The Next Generation Of IT Infrastructure For Higher Education appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

Do you trust your network? Performance may be in an optimal place, and workplace operations are thankful for that. But what about security? “Zero Trust” is a practice every IT leader and decision maker should be educated on as more and more organizations have realized that all attacks don’t originate from the other side of the firewall. Attacks can be launched from anywhere, including within the network itself. Network administrators must always operate under the assumption that their network has already been breached. And sadly, for some reading this article, that may be the case.

Security Starts With Visibility

Think of the visibility that security teams require from fans entering a major sports arena. Attendees must successfully pass through a security detector while large purses, handbags or backpacks are not permitted. Usually, only fully transparent bags are allowed in. These transparent bags give security teams greater visibility into what fans are bringing into the arena, and that greater visibility is necessary when a small/limited team of security personnel is responsible for ensuring the safety of tens of thousands of fans. It may seem like a small detail to the average event goer, but it is a major guideline for security teams to leverage.

Similarly, IT security and networking leaders who are responsible for safeguarding campus networks require greater visibility, too. At all times, they must know the identities of all connected devices and the types of workloads and traffic that are traversing the network. They need to know who is accessing what and if access privileges are being respected or abused. Ideally, what campus network teams need is a way to authenticate every client that requests a connection and to continuously compare its configuration and status to a defined set of acceptable security states to ensure it will not introduce vulnerabilities or participate in an attack. As a bonus, the solution could be provided by a single vendor so the tools could operate as a united front.

Here is the good news: Such a solution is already available within the HPE Aruba Networking Edge Services Platform (ESP) security solutions portfolio. Let’s explore.

Identity Is Critical

According to a survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute that involved a cross section of more than 2,000 IT professionals, 45% of respondents believe Zero Trust is a theoretical framework that cannot be implemented. Additionally, only 27% of respondents are confident or very confident in their ability to know all users and devices connected to their networks at all times. These two findings correlate with one another because Zero Trust is completely unobtainable if you don’t know the identity of all devices on your network. Without identity, there is no trust.

No Identity – no access.

And we aren’t just talking about BYOD laptops, tablets, and phones. This applies to cameras, sensors, medical equipment and other undetected IoT devices. Zero Trust means having the visibility to know the identity of every device requesting a connection. Not most devices – all devices.

HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Device Insight

There have been 802.1X solutions on the market for some time now. These solutions only allow authorized devices to connect to the network. However, their implementation process is labor intensive and time consuming. That’s not the case with ClearPass Device Insight. This cloud application performs a wide range of Zero Trust architecture techniques as it discovers and profiles all devices connected to the network in automated fashion.

This solution allows network administrators to discover, monitor, and automatically classify new and existing devices that connect to a network, thus eliminating the costly guesswork of what a device is in a DHCP address list. ClearPass gives you granular visibility into the attributes of every device including its type, vendor, hardware version, and behavior. This collective information helps your team create granular access policies to control these devices and reduce risk exposure introduced to the network. Once a device’s identity is confirmed, it is then authenticated every time it connects to the network.

Additional Components Of Zero Trust Security

Visibility, identity, and authentication are only part of the Zero Trust security equation. Here’s some additional elements to factor in:

• Role-based Access Control (RBAC): Helps enforce the principle of least privilege so users are only granted the minimum level of access required to perform their duties. RBAC also allows organizations to segment their network and applications based on roles.
• Conditional Monitoring: Continuously evaluates the trustworthiness of users and devices based on factors such as user behavior and device profile. It also uses advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to identify anomalies and deviations from normal behavior patterns. Anything abnormal is deemed a potential risk and treated as such.
• Enforcement and Response: Ensure that a detected anomaly or possible threat is acted upon and, if necessary, remediated before it has the chance to disrupt network and business operations.

Similar to ClearPass, the HPE Aruba Networking ESP solution suite provides components that achieve all these capabilities in a single packaged solution. The ESP solution suite includes:

• Client Insights
• ClearPass
• Dynamic Segmentation
• Policy Enforcement Firewall
• Central NetConductor
• 360 Security Exchange

Final Thoughts

Zero Trust security is not a theoretical framework or exercise. It is an achievable state that every campus network should strive for because it can, thanks to HPE Aruba Networking and its potent lineup of Zero Trust security solutions. Talk to a WEI Zero Trust security specialist to learn more.

Next Steps: Just about every business we talk with has long-term remote workforce initiatives, and security has become a larger focal point of each conversation because devices are no longer protected by the traditional enterprise perimeter. Don’t leave security to chance with your remote workforce. See how HPE Aruba Networking is solving the challenge with Remote Access Points, and find out just how easy their RAPs are to implement and manage in our tech brief below.

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With so much to offer, is the ultimate network management platform for any enterprise. This all-inclusive solution provides users with a variety of tools that integrate into their networks and enable functions such as automation, virtualization, and security. Additionally, it helps simplify complex hybrid architectures across multiple campuses or remote branches while also providing connectivity solutions for IoT devices. By utilizing this sophisticated system at its core, businesses have access to an unprecedented level of control over their digital infrastructure. Keep reading to discover this solution’s eight key benefits and how it solves network challenges for your business.

1. Automate Workflows

Cisco DNA Center is a powerful tool that helps businesses streamline their operations and automate workflows across multiple domains. In 2022, of network activities were less than 25% automated. Automation is a crucial part of network management because it eliminates human error from the equation and ensures uniform configurations for increased security. Automation also allows resources to be deployed quickly in response to real-time demand.

2. Intent-Based Networking (IBN)

With an ever-increasing number of users, devices, and applications, network management is complex. To make this easier to manage in terms of business goals, DNA Center with IBN brings together a controller-led approach that captures these objectives for automated policies across the network. This system then continuously monitors performance levels against desired outcomes so any problems can be corrected quickly before they cause disruption.

3. Cisco DNA Center Is An Inclusive Platform

This network management solution is an open platform that serves as the foundation for digital network architecture. This tool not only supports current Cisco components such as routers and switches, but also works with third-party devices through its multi-vendor software development kits and integrates with other management tools, via an .

4. Total Visibility With The Cisco DNA Center Dashboard

DNA Center is the essential hub for managing modern, hybrid networks. It provides IT administrators with a that includes features for:

• Application 360
• Device 360
• Client 360

These capabilities enable administrators to gain visibility into network performance while quickly isolating any issues from application problems – ensuring an optimal end-user experience. Plus, the granular information Cisco provides help with troubleshooting at every level.

5. Improve Performance And Deployment Time

With Cisco DNA Center and its automation capabilities, AIOps is now achievable for managing networks. Organizations may take advantage of the available, integrated SD-WAN tools to quickly deploy remote branches without being onsite. Plus, enterprises gain increased visibility and build resiliency into operations which makes life easier for IT teams, users, and businesses alike.

6. Smarter Network Performance Solutions

Cisco DNA Center leverages to provide predictive insights into network performance, so businesses can stay ahead of user behavior, application requirements, and operational needs. With these powerful predictions in hand, network administrators can identify issues quickly and solve them efficiently while improving the end-user’s experience on the network.

7. Boost In Security

In today’s world, cybersecurity is an essential part of any network management solution. Cisco’s platform provides a secure and intelligent intent-based network with real-time threat detection by transforming all your devices into sensors that monitor for suspicious traffic patterns and behavioral anomalies. Not only does this increase security, but it also reduces vulnerabilities to improve overall posture across the digital enterprise.

What’s not to like with Cisco DNA Center’s advanced persistent threat detection, day-zero malware discovery, and encryption capabilities? Multilayered machine learning combined with the power of ISE and Stealthwatch ensures complete network coverage for trusted access control everywhere.

8. Cutting Costs

Cisco DNA Center is the perfect solution for businesses to reach their highest potential – providing streamlined operations and cost reductions through automation, and . This powerful tool enables companies to optimize performance, complexity, threats, and labor costs to save money each day and maximize efficiency.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that we must be prepared for unexpected disruptions to our networks. To stay ahead of the curve, it is essential to develop strong business resilience and prioritize new network capabilities enabled by automation and AI insights from platforms like Cisco DNA Center. If you would like assistance in managing your network, contact WEI anytime and we can get started.

Next Steps: You can learn more about how Cisco can transform your network into an intention-based unified fabric that not only furthers the scalability, agility, and performance of your network, but your business objectives as well. Take a closer look at this stunning tool in our white paper, .

The post 8 Reasons Why Cisco DNA Center Is The Future Of Network Management appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

In our increasingly technology-reliant world, most modern enterprises cannot achieve sustainable growth without an adaptive IT environment. That’s why having a stable, adaptable network makes the difference between a business that is succeeding and one that is struggling to keep its operations above water. Employees and customers alike depend on an enterprise’s network to do their jobs and conduct business. In other words, when the network fails, the business and its operations fail, too.

Leaders in the IT industry have turned their attention to creating a network solution that evens out the bumps in the road. If you are looking for a smooth connection process, Cisco DNA Center is for you.

The post Start Simplifying The Complex DNA of Your Network appeared first on IT Solutions Provider - IT Consulting - Technology Solutions.

has revolutionized the way enterprises do business on every level. For IT, cloud brings some complexity to network operations and infrastructure management.

Whether it’s at the campus, branch, or a remote location, end-users and internet-of-things (IoT) devices are connecting to and accessing the cloud network, creating a complicated interconnected web. As the enterprise grows, the cloud network requires more time and resources to manage.

To combat this complexity and make a cloud-managed network straightforward, developed , a cloud-managed networking solution that features artificial intelligence (AI) powered insights, automation for workflows, and comprehensive security. With this solution, IT teams are able to manage and optimize the entire network environment from a single dashboard, regardless of the location.

Simple network administration

Aruba Central’s foundation is its simple and easy to use interface, which offers everything IT teams need to manage day-to-day operations. This includes direct access to manage network and security infrastructure and configuration, adding or removing devices or licenses, as well as managing integrations with existing IT systems.

This uncomplicated, single-pane-of-glass system saves time and reduces the training that IT teams need to effectively use the solution.

Aruba Central also saves time when it comes to adding network devices, which is an important, but typically complex task. With Zero-Touch Provisioning, an easy setup wizard, and an integrated installer app, onboarding becomes a faster, streamlined process.

Comprehensive management options

When it comes to ongoing management, accurate and timely data is key to ensuring network health. For this reason, Aruba has prioritized visibility and granular control.

From the primary dashboard, IT can access a global or specific site view of all managed devices, as well as a detailed list of device usage, utilization and RF noise, WAN uplink, and tunnel status.

To provide real-time visibility and alerts into the health and status of the network, Aruba Central utilizes advanced AIOps for AI-based insights. Over time, the insights will leverage the growing pool of network data for contextual-based observations.

In the event of a problem, the solution quickly identifies and characterizes the issue, providing context-based information and troubleshooting options. Aruba Central also offers comprehensive reporting options that include device connectivity, , and user activity. IT teams can schedule reports to be run that highlight any area, including device and client inventory, activity auditing, and more.

As a result, Aruba Central provides the consistent, reliable, and timely information IT teams need to support a cloud-managed networ throughout the enterprise.

Aruba Central Cloud Reliability

As with all its products, Aruba prioritized the user experience when designing Aruba Central. The solution offers enterprise users high availability through:

• Web-scale database design, which ensures a responsive performance regardless of the data load.
• Service redundancy, with data centers worldwide available for hosting.
• HTTPS connectivity, with certificate-based authentication.

By utilizing Aruba Central, enterprises can ensure employees have access to the network whenever they need it for whatever task they need to be completed, improving productivity throughout the enterprise and pushing the business forward.

Aruba Central for the Remote Workforce

With today’s distributed workforces, enterprises everywhere need to deliver in-office user experiences to in whatever location they may be in. Aruba Central supports this goal through a number of key features.

These features include over-the-air software and configuration updates and on-demand IT software and services.

Aruba Central’s single-pane-of-glass management system and the scalability offered by the solution pairs with other solutions offered by Aruba, such as , and , to build and support a cloud-managed network for distributed workforces.

Are you interested in Aruba Central for cloud-managed networking?

Regardless of your enterprise’s specific situation, Aruba can deliver the reliable, secure, and simple cloud networking experience your employees and IT team need to be successful. Aruba Central also integrates with the rest of Aruba’s portfolio, allowing enterprises to utilize these integrations to create the cloud environment that works best for them. The Aruba experts at WEI can show you how Aruba Central can work for your business, just today!

Next Steps: Do you want to improve the remote working experience for your employees? Aruba provides every solution you need to keep your employees productive from wherever they work. If you are looking for ways to improve the remote working experience for your employees, you might be interested in our tech brief, “Provide Secure Remote Connectivity with Aruba Remote Access Points.” Click below to start reading.

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The concept of intent-based networking is indeed an evolutionary leap in how we design, manage and maintain the enterprise networks of today. a while back actually coined the phrase of IBN. Rather than relying on manual intervention, intent-based networking incorporates AI and machine learning to automate administrative tasks and functions.

Admins can define the desired state of the network that correlate with the needs of the business enterprise. A software orchestrator governs the network, monitoring performance and enforcing policies in order to achieve predicted performance levels. It is an entirely new approach to networking. One could easily write an entire , but in the end, what you really want to know is how it benefits you and your company. Therefore, we have done that here, listing ten of the biggest benefits of an intent-based network.

1. Agility

Let’s face it; every business is trying to be as agile as possible today in order to compete in an ever-disruptive world with narrowing windows of opportunity. When IT can unleash itself from the dependency of human intervention and instead, incorporate machine-based analytics, your enterprise can get attain greater flexibility in quick succession. According to Gartner, can reduce delivery times within network infrastructure by 50 to 90 percent. Guided by real-time analytics, your network can respond to changing conditions in dynamic fashion. In a dynamic world, you need a dynamic and responsive network.

2. Scalability

It’s very simple. If your traditional network is reliant on manual deployment, configuration and troubleshooting tasks, then your ability to scale is limited to the size of your staff. It is a straightforward relationship. If tasks cannot be implemented without the direct involvement of your staff, then growth is limited, and expensive. Just as automation scaled the manufacturing industry, it can expand the capabilities of your network’s productivity and expansion as well. With IBN, IT can quickly and easily provision, expand and reallocate services.

3. Expanded Network Visibility

Do you really know what resides on your network? Are there areas of your network WAN that are a little foggy? In an intent-based network, you have complete visibility into all network devices. However, visible confirmation of a device’s existence is not enough. into how your network is operating, supporting the desired business initiatives, and achieving compliance. Deployments of devices, configurations and policies are visible for all remote offices and clouds, regardless of location.

4. Consolidated Dashboard

Normally, the words expansive and consolidated work contrary to one another. In the case of a controller-led IBN such as , expansive and consolidated can be used cohesively. That is because you can visually monitor and manage your entire network through a single dashboard. That means your datacenter; remote offices and multiple clouds are visibly accessed through a single portal. Multiple tools are compiled into one platform, giving you total functionality throughout.

5. Increased Efficiency

When you automate manual processes, you increase the efficiency of those processes. Machines perform mind-numbing tasks such as updates and configuration assignments better than humans do. Automation goes beyond these types of perpetual tasks however. Cisco estimates that IT staff members spend up to troubleshooting technical issues. Because AI analytics drives network operations within the IBN, troubleshooting is also automated. When network performance discrepancies are identified, guided remediation is made available so that IT can address problems immediately with little guesswork.

6. Vendor Neutral

IBN is vendor agnostic. That is a good thing because most enterprise networks consists of multivendor components. IBN is an open platform that delivers 360 visibility and extensibility as well. This eliminates the need for deep vendor knowledge. IBN solutions such as utilize multivendor SDKs that allow the controller to interact and monitor network devices from multiple vendors.

7. Reduced Risk

Human error is the of most data breaches. In fact, that nearly 90 percent of all cyber claims stem from some type of human error or behavior. When you eliminate manual tasking from the deployment, configuration and basic operational tasks, you eliminate the possibility of human error. This in turn eliminates security gaps. Orchestrated automation enforces strict directives for all assigned tasks, regardless of workload. No more oversights, no more fat-finger typos. IBN assures predicted secure results.

8. A More Secure Environment

The more sources that information is drawn from, the better that information is. IBN is built on the principle of network and security convergence. This means that your network at large becomes a network of security sensors. All of this information is then correlated in real time so that threats and suspicious activities are quickly identified and can be mitigated before actual damage is done.

9. Insightful Analysis

In IBN environment, the end-to-end network is continually aligned with the intent of the business. To do this requires more than just data driven analytics. A thorough understanding of network performance regarding applications and user experiences requires contextual insights as well. This level of insight leads to predicted workload performances and optimal user based experiences.

10. Greater Control over Performance

Too often business potential is hindered by the limitations of the network. The modern day network should work for the business. The greater control that is achievable in an IBN environment goes far beyond the ability to see into your entire network. , network administrators define the desired state of the network. They input the defined intent of what the network should be. While we could have listed this key benefit first, you have to understand how all of the aspects of automation and assurance get us to this powerful endpoint.

Next Steps: Learn more about Cisco DNA Center in our blog titled “Make your Network Work For You With Cisco DNA Center”

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We could probably list 80 things to know about , but for the sake of brevity, we will keep it to single digits. We say this because there is so much to this all-inclusive network management platform. This solution is the next step in network evolution. Its singular yet expansive platform includes a variety of tools that integrate with so many network functions and technologies. Some of these include network management, automation, virtualization, analytics, assurance, security, compliance and IoT connectivity. Cisco DNA Center is at the epicenter of Cisco Digital Network Architecture, which is Cisco’s architectural blueprint for today’s expansive enterprise networks. Regardless of the complexity of your hybrid architectures that incorporate multiple campuses, remotes branch and cloud architectures, Cisco DNA Center can help simplify it.

1. Cisco DNA Center is all about Automation

One of the primary objectives of is to us to automate workflows and deployments across disparate systems in order to streamline operations across domains. Automation has a number of advantages. It frees your staff from the routine drudgery of mundane tasks, allowing them to focus their time and efforts on value added projects that benefit the organization. Automation removes the element of human error out of the equation, which ensures uniform configurations. This eliminates security gaps and overlooked vulnerabilities. Automation can ensure that the necessary resources are deployed to accommodate in accordance with real-time demand.

2. Cisco DNA Center is based on something called Intent-Based Networking

The idea of an intent-based network has been around for more than a couple of years now. It is a new approach to networking in that the network admin can now define and input what the needs of the network are into the IBN software controller. This ensures that the network works in conjunction with the needs of the business. The controller than translates these named intentions and construes them into policies, which are then deployed automatically and then validated throughout in order to assure optimized performance levels. Intelligent analytics continually verify the stated performance objectives in order to assure these desired states, all without any human intervention. Automated and guided remediation is then induced to correct problems before they can be disruptive.

3. Made by Cisco, but still open and inclusive

Cisco DNA Center servers as the epicenter of the Cisco’s digital network architecture. Current Cisco components such as switches, routers and wireless infrastructure devices are inherently aware of . However, you do not have to have an exclusive Cisco network to benefit it. DNA-Center is a totally open and extensible platform that contains multi-vendor software development kits that allow interaction with network equipment from other vendors. It can also integrate with other management tools through its API structure.

4. The Cisco DNA Center dashboard provides 360-degree visibility

Cisco DNA Center serves as the one-source epicenter of the network. This means total visibility across the wide divide across the complex hybrid architectures of today. Its inclusive dashboard provides an intuitive and simple overview of the network health and status of your network. Drill down menus provide the control points to setup complete automation, orchestration, assurance and analytical functions available within the . The geolocation of your network devices is now completely irrelevant and multiple cloud environments no longer require multiple management interfaces.

5. You can vastly reduce deployment and provisioning times with Cisco DNA Center

Imagine having the ability to deploy and provision network infrastructure devices without any human intervention. That can be your new reality in a Cisco DNA enterprise. Provisioning is now driven by automated policies. With integrated SD-WAN tools, you can greatly accelerate remote branch deployments without the need for someone being on site. Automated provisioning not only deploys a needed device, it deploys it when needed and verifies the success of the deployment.

6. Cisco DNA Center takes the guesswork out of network performance capabilities

You cannot make assurances about your network unless you can accurately predict the performance of your network for required workload fluctuations and conditions. Cisco DNA Center utilizes machine learning to predict future network performance. These predictions are based not just on active performance data, but actual contextual business and operational insights. These insight captures allow you to truly understand the behavior of your users and their interaction with the applications that drive the business process.

7. Security is job #1 for Cisco DNA

You cannot talk about network management solutions today without discussing cyber security. An intent-based network is a secure network. In addition to 360-degree network visibility and automated configuration and deployment verifications, the intelligent analytical nature of Cisco DNA Center detects and mitigates threats in real time. This is possible by conscripting all of your network devices as security sensors, providing constant streams of information concerning suspicious traffic patterns and behavioral anomalies. Threat alerts are then followed by micro segmentation actions and guided remediation.

8. Lower Costs

Your network should help propel your business to new levels, not hold it back. Cisco DNA Center ensures that your network works for your business, ensuring that workloads and applications operate with optimal performance. Optimal performance equates to optimal cost structure. There are many induced cost reductions such as streamlined network operations, reduced complexity and diminished threats. Cisco DNA Center leverages the power of automation to its fullest capacity concerning so many of the manual tasks that consume labor costs in traditional networks. This is one solution that pays for itself each, and every day through greater efficiencies and productivity measures.

[Featured Video]

5 Things to Know about IBN with Cisco DNA Center

NEXT STEPS: Learn more about Cisco DNA Center in our White Paper titled “Make Your Network Work For You With Cisco DNA Center”

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It is hard to say when it happened, but everything has gone digital. We have a digital economy today that involves digital products and services. In order to take advantage of newly found digital opportunities within the digital space, companies are undergoing digital transformations. In order to compete in an environment of perpetual digital change, companies are creating digital strategies that incorporate digital technologies that will allow them to better compete in the digital marketplace.

The nexus of all of this digitization is your network. Have you ever noticed how so many digital disruptors today are able to introduce innovation at accelerating rates? How do they stay ahead of the curve? Some of it is due to strategic innovation and the ability to look at opportunity through a different lens. However, another contributor is a more powerful network, a network that works for the business. These companies understand that it is no longer acceptable for IT to take weeks or months to plan and bring up new sites or applications. Innovation must be continuous.

What is the performance level of your network? Are you grading it strictly on the basis of connectivity or does your organization expect more from it? Today’s digital businesses need more from their networks than the mere ability to connect and share resources. The network needs to align with the objectives of the business as a cohesive unit.

The Intent Based Network

Here is the new reality. The days of IT consuming itself over connectivity and throughput are gone. Your network needs intent today. An intent-based networking model is constantly learning, adapting and protecting your digital enterprise in order to ensure sure that applications, users and devices receive the services they need. An model needs to be an extensible open platform that incorporates automation and intelligence into management, monitoring and support processes. It should also be able to integrate with other IT and technology domains and functions within the most complex of hybrid network architectures. It should also be created and supported by an innovative leader in the network industry with decades of experience and know how.

Introducing Cisco Digital Network Architecture

Your human DNA holds the instructions for making all of the proteins throughout your body. Thanks to Cisco, the network has a DNA as well. incorporates IBN into management and network product platforms. Like human DNA, it holds the instructions of your business network, transforming tedious manual processes into automated intent, making it possible to manage millions of devices in minutes, not hours. Cisco DNA is an open, extensible, strategic platform to ensure that your network is an active participant in IT and business processes. It can simplify and accelerate your network operations at a time when complexity prevails, and the number of devices is exponentially increasing. It’s also the result of over 30 years of enterprise network envisioning and innovation.

Intelligence-Driven

Today’s high-performance networks demand intelligent efficiencies and automated guidance. uses machine-based analytics to proactively predict performance in order to ensure that workloads function optimally. It does this by not only drawing data from throughout the enterprise, but contextual insights from your users, devices and application as well. This allows for accurate forecasting of traffic loads and operational functionality.

Total Automation

Automation comes in the form of zero-touch provisioning of your devices according to identity assigned policies. In fact, the deployment of just about anything, including images, firmware updates, services and configurations can be automated and delivered to all areas of your network. This includes your data center, remote branches and multiple clouds environments. Intelligent driven automation means that repetitive network configuration tasks are totally unnecessary, allowing your IT staff to focus on projects that produce innovation and value

DNA Managed by Cisco DNA Center

At the epicenter of this newly, digitized intent-based architecture lies Cisco DNA Center. It provides visibility throughout your entire network through a single view, giving you the ability to manage the entirety as a single fabric. Cisco DNA Center is your converged software defined orchestrator that houses all of your enterprise network tools into a single platform. It serves as the center point to which data and insights are collected and used allowing for faster incident response and guided remediation of anticipated problems. Don’t limit the scope of Cisco DNA Center to that of just Cisco devices however. Its multi-vendor SDK provides basic device visibility and monitoring of non-Cisco devices and third-party software management systems.

Security is at the Center Too

Security must be at the epicenter as well when it comes to your network. With Cisco DNA, every device becomes a security sensor that is dedicated to threat detection. Once detected, threats are quickly mitigated in real time, even within encrypted traffic. From the centralized dashboard of Cisco DNA Center, security policies can be created and assigned. Strange behaviors and trends can be analyzed for further review. Because security is intelligently automated, human error and mismanagement are eliminated from the equation, which reduces security gaps.

Your Network Runs Better with Intent

Intent means “to give all your attention to something.” Intent is the state of a person’s mind that directs his or her actions toward a specific object. Cisco DNA ensures that your network is intent driven, determined to accomplish the business objectives of your organization. With the introduction of guided intent, your network will move and react faster as it learns to adapt to the changing dynamics of the enterprise. Costs are lowered and risks are reduced. All of these benefits are part of the natural DNA, of a Cisco DNA. Intent to learn more about it today.

NEXT STEPS: Learn more about Cisco DNA Center in our White Paper titled “Make Your Network Work For You With Cisco DNA Center”

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