Being a Cisco Champion has some privileges. Recently, I was given an early glimpse of Cisco’s Global Networking Technology Report. This is a new report from Cisco that explains the current state of networking technologies and where networking is heading. Cisco interviewed a good number of IT leaders and network strategists around the world and correlated the responses into this report. While you should go read it for yourself, here are my thoughts.
I have been working in networking for many years. One of the newest changes in networking that I have worked on is called Intent Based Networking (IBN). This is adding security directly into the networking stack. Deploying IBN is definitely NOT quick and easy as it tries to determine the intent of every device connected to your network. From there, security controls are applied to each connection so that devices can perform the tasks that are needed and nothing more. According to the report, IBN is something that IT leaders are pushing. It states that 28% of the respondents already have it deployed and 78% plan to be there within 2 years. This is extremely important for security as a basic network (just connectivity) will allow problems to grow easily. Take for instance a ransomware outbreak: companies that get really impacted have simple networks that allow a payload to find other infect-able devices turning a simple mistake by an end user into a financial draining incident for the company.
I do want to add that the report did not really quantify the level of deployment for that 28%. Personally, I am on my second deployment of Cisco’s Identity Services Engine (ISE). It is a complex installation and, when done wrong, can take down network communications. When done right, it makes it easy to add security controls into the network. The first part of my first deployment was getting ISE to handle wireless authentications. It is a very small part of IBN but is that enough to put me in that 28%? I guess that comes down to the IT leaders that responded to the survey.
Another concept the report discussed was artificial intelligence (AI) in networks. While the concept of AI has been around for quite some time (I am thinking of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein), Hollywood has really helped to define what I imagine AI to be: think of Tony Stark’s Jarvis as true AI. However, this is not what the report is referring to with AI. It is about adding decision trees into the network for applying controls. Let’s go back to the ransomeware example: if AI determines there is a dangerous uptick in traffic, alerts could be generated to administrators or new security rules can be applied automatically to halt the traffic while the administrator determines why the new traffic started. This action can allow the administrator to go directly into determining the problem. It’s like a shield getting applied automatically to a fire – the problem may have started but it is contained right away before it can grow into a raging inferno.
The last concept I want to mention is the change coming to the IT workforce. Just looking at the concepts previously mentioned illustrates the need for transformation in network administration. My deployments of ISE have shown me that applications developers need to understand networks when deploying new applications. It used to be easy enough for developers to claim that a server needs to be accessible. With IBN, it is better to understand what the actual network flow needs to be. For instance, if a web server needs to communicate with a SQL server then it may only need TCP 1433. Of course, this means that developers need to understand the network flows to have good conversations. Really, new roles, like network orchestrator, will emerge: someone that understands how applications communicate and can define the network flows. Additionally, the report talks about business integration. IT people that can communicate with the business are becoming even more important. For instance, the business and IT people need to work together to deploy new applications. With a good deployment of IBN, a new application will not work until the security rules are setup, hence the need to discuss what rules are needed as part of the deployment.
This leads to the Operations Readiness Model for networks. It ranges from Reactive (simple network connectivity) to Business Optimized, which is when IBN, AI, and Machine Learning (ML) is deployed fully within the network. A business optimized network helps the administrator to get away from constant troubleshooting of problems as it will make automated adjustments to help the business flows. It is not a true Network Jarvis (one that you can have a conversation with) but it makes the network help with the mundane tasks almost like another employee. A Business Optimized network is “dynamic end-to-end policy changes based on business intent” as stated in the report. Personally, it would allow people like myself to spend more time with business development – it moves IT from a cost center to a true business enabler.
Cisco’s Global Networking Technology Report is not ground breaking in anyway. It describes what IT leaders are seeing in the industry including where networks are going. There are some other concepts in the report that I did not include so go check it out for yourself. You can download the report from https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/enterprise-networks/networking-technology-trends.html. Let me know if you see anything more important in the report. For companies to grow, they need to embrace these changes since staying with simple networks will be detrimental when (not if) a problem breaks out. Plus, it allows the IT department to help with the growth of business.