Cisco Introduces Its Unified Access Solution

According to Cisco research, by 2016, network demands will dramatically expand to manage nearly 19 billion new connected devices and handle 18 times the amount of today’s global mobile data traffic.
To help organisations quickly respond to new business opportunities while managing these rapidly changing network demands, Cisco has introduced its Unified Access solution, a highly secure network infrastructure based on one policy source and one management solution for the entire network. Cisco Unified Access provides a consistent set of network capabilities across wired, wireless and virtual private network (VPN) networks, allowing them to behave as a single entity.

Cisco Unified Access is designed to help IT organisations become a competitive differentiation to the business by shifting the focus from time-consuming operational activities to developing innovative business offerings, such as new connected consumer experiences or personalised connected banking services.

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Cisco is also unveiling an expanded mobility portfolio that extends enterprise features to midmarket customers at an attractive price without sacrificing wireless network quality. Cisco Unified Access also includes new innovations in Cisco policy and management solutions to further simplify IT operations and improve user experience.

Its features include one policy to manage a unified network policy across wired, wireless and VPN access, including new Cisco Identity Service Engine (ISE) 1.1.1, with Secure Group Access (SGA), which substantially simplifies the support for automated, role-based access control enforcement across wired and wireless networks, based on context such as user, device, and location.

Cisco ISE 1.1.1 self-provisioning portal (“My Devices”) allows users to complete onboarding and ongoing management of their devices through a simplified self-registration workflow.

One management to deliver a converged platform for visibility of applications and services across the entire network, features new Cisco Prime Infrastructure 1.2 to unify wireless, wired, campus and branch network infrastructure into a single system, allowing network operators to design, deploy, operate, report and administer network operations with one integrated workflow, also simplifying management of third-party networking devices.

Enhanced Application Visibility and Control (AVC) for visualisation of application flow data collected using performance features such as Flexible NetFlow, NBAR, MediaNet, Performance Agent, and SNMP, allowing network managers to proactively monitor, analyse, and troubleshoot application health and quantify end-to-end user experience.

One network, with a smarter, faster access layer to handle the onslaught of new devices and applications, introduces the new Cisco Aironet 2600 and 1600 Series Access Points, complementing the 3600 series and completing the second generation of Cisco 802.11n access points, now extending enterprise features for midmarket customers. The Cisco Aironet 2600 and 1600 Series deliver higher performance for more users and devices, with differentiating capabilities such as Cisco CleanAir® spectrum intelligence, ClientLink 2.0 to improve performance of clients and improved battery savings for mobile devices.

Cisco Aironet 3600 Series can now be field-upgraded with an 802.11ac module, delivering unprecedented investment protection and wireless network leadership. The new Cisco Wireless 8500 Series Controller for service providers (SPs) and large enterprises features the industry’s highest scalability in a one rack unit (1RU) form with the ability to manage up to 6,000 access points and 64,000 clients.

For small and medium-sized deployments, four new virtualised products with standard VMware virtualisation management tools build on the comprehensive virtualised services portfolio with a new virtualised controller, virtualised Cisco Mobility Services Engine, virtualised Cisco Prime Infrastructure and virtualised Cisco Identity Services Engine.

The Cisco Unified Wireless Release 7.3 features a new Sub-second State-full Switchover (SSO) feature for wireless controllers to maximise network availability, bringing the resiliency and reliability of the Cisco Catalyst switch line to the Cisco wireless portfolio.

To address BYOD (bring your own device) network challenges, Cisco introduces context-aware access security features, including TrustSec SGA and first-hop IPv6 for the Cisco Catalyst 2000 and Cisco Catalyst 3000 Series switch platforms.

Sujai Hajela, Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Networking Group, Cisco said, “Cisco’s network vision is to help IT organisations drive business innovation by successfully harnessing market transitions such as cloud, BYOD and surge of data to ultimately deliver new connected experiences over any network. With the introduction of Cisco Unified Access, we are realising this vision with a simplified architectural approach based on one policy, one management and one network that can help IT organisation focus less time on daily operations and more time on new innovative business services.”