Cisco unveils new tools to enable intent-based SD-WAN visibility

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Cisco has announced new analytics and assurance solutions it says are designed to bring visibility and “intent-based” networking to IT’s biggest blind spot: the WAN.

The new solutions include SD-WAN vAnalytics, which provide IT with visibility, forecasting for applications and bandwidth planning, “what-if” scenarios, and actionable recommendations; and Meraki Insight, which helps IT administrators optimize the end user experience by providing valuable understanding into WAN and SaaS application performance, significantly reducing the time it takes to isolate and resolve issues.

The main challenge of managing a WANs is that it’s typically made up of disparate networks outside of the control of IT, which means IT often has limited ability to specifically determine problems and get real-time information.

Meanwhile, over the past few years, the rise of multicloud IT environments has exacerbated the traditional complexity of the WAN and magnified its challenges. A recent IDC study found that almost three out of ten organizations considered network outages to be a top WAN concern, with the same number stating they need better visibility and analytics to manage application and WAN performance.

The new solutions promise to enable IT departments to forecast WAN problems before they happen, while quickly isolating and fixing issues when they do occur.

“The WAN is a vital part of the network and is one of the toughest to manage,” said Scott Harrell, senior vice president and general manager of Enterprise Networking at Cisco. “As we bring insight into the WAN with these new innovations, we get closer to delivering end-to-end intent-based networking to help our customers eliminate downtime and save money.”

Cisco SD-WAN vAnalytics is based on Viptela technology). Built as a cloud-based SaaS solution, the technology provides comprehensive data, analysis, and corrective actions across the WAN, including branch offices, multicloud endpoints, and multiple service providers. Using vAnalytics, customers can forecast how potential policy changes to the WAN could affect application performance. It can also provide intelligent recommendations about how to deliver optimal application experiences, Cisco says.

Meraki Insight os a new tool integrated into the Meraki dashboard that provides end-to-end visibility with application and WAN performance analytics. With Meraki Insight, customers can understand and troubleshoot both internal and external issues that can contribute to poor user experience for applications hosted in a remote data center or in the cloud.

Cisco SD-WAN vAnalytics is available now via a Cisco SD-WAN license tier. Cisco Meraki Insight is expected to be available in Cisco’s Q3. It will be available as a separate license.

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