We Went Live!
Last month, we launched Cisco Digital Network Architecture, DNA. Cisco DNA is the state of the art network architecture for companies that want to go digital. From a networking perspective, DNA is a great thing because it explains how to build a virtualized network. But, what you may not know is why DNA is so exciting for developers. In a nutshell, it’s the APIs.
Here are my 3 favorite things:
The DNA architecture includes our SDN controller, APIC-EM. It’s free! You can download and check it out at Cisco DevNet. Cisco APIC-EM is useful since it abstracts things like “VLANs” and “Bandwidth” and implements business rules like, “Voice takes priority, when needed, over data”. In other words, when you are ready to take control of the network, over which your apps need to work, you can do the automation via the APIC-EM API. Italtel, a Cisco development partner based in Italy, is a communications and collaboration powerhouse that used APIC-EM to develop some new software. Here is a video about Italtel’s new Netwrapper software on the APIC-EM platform.
Also in DNA, we have Cisco Connected Mobile Experience (CMX) Cloud. This is our software, which leverages our Wi-Fi solution and provides location analytics. You can get a free 60-day trial, and get your service running in minutes. You can easily collect location data on users and create a custom captive portal for guests. When I was in Berlin, I went to the DDR Museum where you could see CMX APIs used to improve the customer experience. They had a sweet app that knew your location and used it to improve your visit. CMX enables many of the location capabilities already inside my favorite apps, like ordering coffee from your car. For me, what CMX enables is cool because it makes my life easier.
And finally, let’s talk about collaboration. I think it is great to be able to connect to a real live person, in the app, on my phone, without even having to make a cell call. Collaboration isn’t specifically in DNA. But, a DNA network will provide the performance needed for a great customer experience with voice, video and more. We have several collaboration APIs so you can connect people right in your app. Imagine being able to press a button, in a mobile application, and immediately be connected to a customer service representative who can help. From push-to-chat to video, a DNA network will enable your customer to talk to the person they want to. It’s in the app! Or, at least it could be with a DNA network and Cisco Collaboration APIs.
What to do next
If you’re interested in Internet of Things, analytics, or other new-world applications, I hope I convinced you to take a peek at how Cisco is making things easier. If you want to get started and learn more, I recommend you check out Cisco DevNet and watch some videos, do some learning labs, get some free downloads or test out some code in the sandboxes. And, while you’re there, stop by our new DevNet pages on Networking.
In my next few blogs, we’re going to take each of these things, above, all the way to the code. If you have questions, or want to chat, hit me up @coggerin. We’ll go from there.
Thanks for reading!