The complete guide to transforming enterprise networks with Cisco DNA

As networks become more complex and dynamic, organizations need better ways to manage and secure them. With the Cisco Digital Network Architecture, network operators can run entire network fabrics as a single, programmable system by defining rules that span their devices and move with their users. Using Cisco intent-based networking, you spend less time programming devices, managing configurations, and troubleshooting problems so you have more time for driving value from your network, your applications, and most of all, your users.

This guide systematically introduces Cisco DNA, highlighting its business value propositions, design philosophy, tenets, blueprints, components, and solutions.Combining insider information with content previously scattered through multiple technical documents, it provides a single source for evaluation, planning, implementation, and operation.

The authors bring together authoritative insights for multiple business and technical audiences. Senior executives will learn how DNA can help them drive digital transformation for competitive advantage. Technical decision-makers will discover powerful emerging solutions for their specific needs. Architects will find essential recommendations, interdependencies, and caveats for planning deployments. Finally, network operators will learn how to use DNA Center's modern interface to streamline, automate, and improve virtually any network management task.

· Accelerate the digital transformation of your business by adopting an intent-based network architecture that is open, extensible, and programmable

· Integrate virtualization, automation, analytics, and cloud services to streamline operations and create new business opportunities

· Dive deep into hardware, software, and protocol innovations that lay the programmable infrastructure foundation for DNA

· Virtualize advanced network functions for fast, easy, and flexible deployments

· Translate business intent into device configurations and simplify, scale, and automate network operations using controllers

· Use analytics to tune performance, plan capacity, prevent threats, and simplify troubleshooting

· Learn how Software-Defined Access improves network flexibility, security, mobility, visibility, and performance

· Use DNA Assurance to track the health of clients, network devices, and applications to reveal hundreds of actionable insights

· See how DNA Application Policy supports granular application recognition and end-to-end treatment, for even encrypted applications

· Identify malware, ransomware, and other threats in encrypted traffic

Tim Szigeti, CCIE No. 9794, is a principal technical marketing engineer within the Cisco Enterprise Networking Business (ENB) team. In this role, he collaborates with customers, the field, engineering, Cisco IT, and third-party technology partners to drive the development of industry-leading network analytics solutions. In his more than 20 years with Cisco, Tim has authored/co-authored five generations of Cisco QoS Design Guides, four Cisco Press books, an IETF standard (RFC 8325), and multiple patents. Additionally, Tim has been inducted into the Cisco Distinguished Speaker Hall of Fame Elite, representing the Top 1 percent of Cisco speakers of all time.

Outside of Cisco, Tim's passion is on-track performance driving; as such, you may at times catch a glimpse of him taking corners at high speeds on the spectacular Sea-to-Sky Highway between his hometown of Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia.

Additional information on Tim can be found on the Cisco Innovators website in the feature story "Cisco Innovators: Tim Szigeti," at https://newsroom.cisco.com/featurecontent?type=webcontent&articleId=1845902.

Dave Zacks is a distinguished technical marketing engineer within the Cisco ENB team, focused on network architectures and fabrics, network hardware and ASIC design, switching, wireless, and the many and diverse technologies under the enterprise networking umbrella. Dave is based in Vancouver, Canada, and has been with Cisco for 19 years.

Prior to his employment with Cisco, Dave traces his roots in computing to 1979, and has been involved in the datacomm and networking industry since 1985.

Dave is a Cisco Live Distinguished Speaker, having scored in the top 10 percent of all speakers at Cisco Live events worldwide as rated by the attendees. In addition, Dave is recognized as one of only a handful of such speakers to earn the Cisco Live Distinguished Speaker Elite designation, an honor awarded to speakers who have achieved Cisco Live Distinguished Speaker status ten times or more (Dave's total is currently 15).

In addition to his abiding focus on data communications, Dave maintains a deep and broad interest in many additional topic areas, including (but not limited to) particle and quantum physics, astrophysics, biology, genetics, chemistry, history, mathematics, cryptology, and many other topics. Dave has a special passion for rocketry, aeronautics, space travel, and advanced aircraft and spacecraft design, engineering, and operation.

Additional background on Dave can be reviewed on the Cisco Innovators website in the feature story "Cisco Innovators: Dave Zacks," at https://newsroom.cisco.com/featurecontent?type=webcontent&articleId=1851941.

Dr. Matthias Falkner is a distinguished technical marketing engineer within the Cisco ENB team. He currently focuses on the evolution of enterprise and service provider network architectures, and in particular on end-to-end architecture solutions involving virtualization. Matthias is currently helping to drive the Cisco automation strategy for enterprise networks (including DNA Center). Matthias also holds responsibilities in branch virtualization and in the definition of the cloud exchange ...