Cisco has upgraded its core networking software to include better support for enterprise multicloud integration and management as well as tools to help telcos or hyperscalers tie together large scale data-center networks.
The new features are part of the 5.0 release of Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) software, which runs on the company’s core data center Nexus 9000 systems.
ACI is Cisco’s flagship software-defined networking (SDN) data-center package. It also delivers the company’s intent-based networking technology, which lets customers automatically implement network and policy changes on the fly and ensure data delivery.
Over time, Cisco has extended ACI through its ACI Anywhere package – which includes other extensions, such as Cloud ACI – that gives customers the flexibility to run and control applications anywhere they want across data centers, private or public clouds, or at the edge while maintaining consistent network and security policies across their entire domain.
For example, Cisco says ACI Anywhere would let policies configured through Cisco’s SDN Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) use native APIs offered by a public-cloud provider to orchestrate changes within both the private and public cloud environments. Cisco Multisite Orchestrator then helps provision and manage the implementation across multiple sites and services, the vendor stated. ♦
