Cisco launches enhanced Cloud-Scale Networking platform to help service providers transform central offices

SAN JOSE, Calif. – December 6, 2016 – Cisco today introduced its expanded Cloud-Scale Networking solutions that will help service providers and web companies reap the benefits of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) as they transition their central offices to next-gen data centers.

Cisco is participating in a variety of working groups in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), leading or helping to advance key vendor-neutral projects including Segment Routing and Streaming Telemetry. The ongoing work with these groups, along with close ties to the OpenSource DevOps community, is enabling Cisco to provide Cloud-Scale networking solutions to its customer base spanning the globe.

Key benefits of Cloud-Scale Networking include:

• Large-scale automation for provisioning and network changes in minutes vs. hours
• Software extensibility for modular, rapid service deployment
• Real-time visibility and control through streaming telemetry
• Delivered through Cisco IOS XR software at half the total cost of ownership (TCO) and double the efficiency and performance over five years, compared to present mode of operation.

Utilizing data center ‘DevOps’ principles and techniques to offer new levels of agility, efficiency and simplicity, Cisco is extending these benefits beyond the traditional network and into the central office, a pivotal resource for service providers.

A recent study from Heavy Reading commissioned by Cisco shows that more than 70 percent of service providers surveyed are in the process of or are planning central office transformations using NFV and SDN techniques.

By creating a unified Network-as-a-Fabric across central office, metro, core, and data center environments, Cloud-Scale Networking enables transformation through simplification, automation and virtualization.

Cisco is committed to implementing OpenConfig data models in Cisco IOS XR to support the operational needs of our customers. The new capabilities launched today, enabled by Cisco IOS XR include:

• EVPN (Ethernet Virtual Private Network) which provides separation between the data plane and the control plane, creating a unified, centralized overlay control plane based on border gateway protocol (BGP) and industry standards.
• Segment Routing End-to-End that creates a unified, common-forwarding underlay to further simplify network operations
• Model-Driven Telemetry that delivers increased, granular, real-time visibility via native, open, common data models for automation and efficient operation of physical and virtual resources

Cisco is bringing together these Cloud-Scale capabilities across the entire network with new additions to the Cisco Network Convergence Series (NCS) family:

• NCS 5501/5502 – A small form factor router for leaf-spine data center/WAN topology
• NCS 5516 – A modular router for more scalability in leaf-spine topology
• NCS 1001 – A compact, programmable interconnect with integrated optical amplifiers and protection

“Our continued progress with the Cloud Scale Networking platform is proof of our commitment to NFV and SDN solutions for open, programmable and automated networks,” said Yvette Kanouff, senior vice president, Service Provider Business, Cisco . “Central office transformations are part of our customers’ top priorities worldwide, and we are in a unique position to help them with easy upgrades to their existing routing platforms using the Cisco IOS XR software.” Cisco is building the simplified, automated and virtualized network platform of the future through based on industry leading software, systems, silicon and services. This enables service providers, media and web companies worldwide to reduce costs, speed time-to-market, secure their networks and sustain profitable growth.