Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module

Simplify Network Configuration and Provisioning

The Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) enables Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) through the Cisco ONE Platform. We are extending Cisco APIC from the data center to the WAN and Access domains with Cisco APIC Enterprise Module. This broadens Cisco APIC to provide network abstraction and automation for WAN and Access as part of the Cisco ONE Platform. The Cisco APIC Enterprise Module is a strong proof-point of ACI with SDN (Software Defined Networking), and is the Control layer in the Cisco ONE Enterprise Networks Architecture. Through programmability, the controller automates network configuration and helps IT to rapidly respond to new business opportunities.

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Features and Capabilities

The Cisco APIC Enterprise Module and its applications are a part of the Cisco ONE Platform software portfolio. The controller offers customers a low-risk, incremental approach to adopting software-defined networking (SDN) technologies in their branch and campus environments.

Supporting existing infrastructure, the controller offers industry-leading investment protection along with innovation. Using an application-centric approach, the controller automates the provisioning of the entire end-to-end infrastructure to rapidly deploy applications and services.

Features:

Software that runs on any x86 server, offered as software or an appliance
A high degree of openness; built on the open source OpenDaylight Controller architecture
An advanced GUI with no programming skills required
Integrated analytics, policy, and network abstraction

Benefits:

Massively simplified configuration and provisioning

The controller automates the deployment and compliance checking of network policies across the entire end-to-end network.

Investment protection

The controller works with the existing network infrastructure so there is no need to do a complete infrastructure replacement. No new network hardware is needed.

Openness, programmability, and customization

Based on the OpenDaylight Controller architecture, the controller is highly programmable through open APIs (representational state transfer [RESTful] and OSGi APIs). It can enable independent and third-party software developers to create innovative network services and applications to fuel enterprise business growth.

Business policy to network configuration

The controller auto-translates business policy into network device-level policy and can enable policy enforcement across an end-to-end network.

Applications:

Security

The Cisco APIC Enterprise Module automates the deployment and compliance checking of network policies across the entire end-to-end network for superior threat detection and remediation.

Customers also gain efficient change management of access control lists (ACLs). The controller's ACL applications include automating policy compliance checking, troubleshooting ACL configurations, and user-based ACL policy deployment in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE).

Quality of service (QoS)

The controller's QoS applications include automating network-wide QoS compliance checking and user-based QoS policy deployment. QoS deployment and change management across the entire enterprise network is facilitated through an advanced GUI.

WAN path optimization

The controller's Intelligent WAN (IWAN) application automates the configuration of IWAN and Performance Routing (PfR) on Cisco Integrated Service Routers.