Cisco Intent-Based Networking (IBN)
Bridge the gap between what your business needs and what your network delivers.
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A renewed focus on business resilience
Our world is facing an acceleration in the frequency, diversity, and impact of disruptions. Planning your network to help your organization respond to the unexpected is now more important than ever.
What is intent-based networking (IBN)?
As users, devices, and distributed applications have grown in number, the networking environment has become exponentially more complex. IBN 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.
How does it work?
IBN builds on software-defined networking (SDN), by using a network controller that acts as a central control point for network activity. Such controllers are crucial for network abstraction that lets IT treat the network as an integrated whole. Controller-led networks in all domains (including access, WAN, data center, and cloud) collaborate and extend their benefits throughout the enterprise and help make digital transformation a reality.
The closed-loop system of IBN operates with the following functional building blocks to deliver intent, or support for, the business or IT outcomes that your organization needs.
- Translation: The capture and translation of intent into policies the network can act on.
- Activation: Installation of these policies across the physical and virtual network infrastructure, using networkwide automation.
- Assurance: Use of analytics and machine learning to continuously monitor the network to verify that the desired intent has been applied and the business outcomes are being achieved.
Features and benefits
Learn what intent-based networking can do for you.
Simplified operations
Centralize network policy control, automate management, and integrate IT workflows.
Proactive management
Use network monitoring and analytics, aided by machine learning, to pinpoint, report, and remedy issues before they become problems.
Security throughout the network
Detect and contain threats everywhere, in real time. Use network intelligence to quickly alert security operations.
Investment for innovation
Deliver IT and business innovation now and in the future, built on an open, intent-based networking platform.
Explore solutions that are built on intent-based networking
Access
Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) automates one policy across the Cisco Catalyst wired and wireless infrastructure.
WAN
Cisco SD-WAN securely connects any user, any application, anywhere, with the power of the cloud.
Data center
Cisco Nexus Dashboard provides complete control from a single pane of glass; Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure delivers automation; and Cisco Tetration secures your data center.
Security
Intent-based network security aligns and optimizes the network with security needs to thousands of locations from one interface.
Cisco IT road to intent-based networking
Cisco IT shares insights and lessons learned from our own ongoing network transformation journey across access, WAN, and data center/cloud.
See what customers are saying
"We continue to support traditional data center applications while accommodating a rapidly expanding IoT footprint, with completely different infrastructure requirements and aggressive time-to-market goals. Intent-based networking and advanced automation are essential to this transition."
Jan Holzmann, Senior Manager for Central Network Services, Bosch
"The intelligence, visualization, and automation of the intent-based networking of Cisco meet our requirements for rapid deployment, maintenance, and troubleshooting, cut down on manpower and material resources, and effectively secured our investment made during the operation period."
Luo Yuansheng, General Manager, Indoor Maps Technology Co., Ltd.
"In addition to security, visibility, and availability, Cisco technologies give all of us the ability to sleep at night. And ever since Cisco Tetration was launched, not a single outage has been blamed on the network."
Eugene Pretorius, CIO of Infrastructure and Security Services, First National Bank (FNB)
"Intent-based networking eliminates the wasted time and disruption."
David Maksim, Program Manager, Cisco
AI and automation trends
Artificial intelligence and network automation have been identified as key trends impacting networking in next five years.
Drive results with a more secure, resilient network
Deploy faster with a strategic plan, migration strategy, and roadmap. Drive operational excellence with services to help improve security and visibility.
