Intelligent networks of the future – smarter & simpler

Both the print and media industries are totally reliant on a digital backbone which needs to be maintained, updated and, in times to come, replaced. Many newspapers in digital transition to interactive multi-channel broadcasting and print are on the verge of changing their networking and server infrastructure. Networks will have to be leaner, much more efficient with very little chance for redundancies. As the world of networking is on the road to major transformation, future technologies might be more flexible and less capital intensive. The right network is key to placing media and print organizations in new trajectories for the future.

The last three decades can easily be defined as the age of computers and networks. Computers are connected to each other through local area networks and remotely through modems, routers, hubs, switches, copper, fiber and satellite networks. Here’s a chance for media professionals to catch up on the catch words of the future.

Data in the past travelled more or less through predefined linear pathways. In the next decade we can expect a complete transformation in the way we see devices, networks and data. The entire dynamics of how we interact will now be controlled by artificial intelligence, big data analytics, immersive technologies and infinitely flexible machine learning tools.

We already see huge inroads in autonomous devices like the robotics in manufacturing; drones performing impossible missions from delivering pizzas to dropping precision weapons; and autonomous vehicles replacing conventional taxies. With the data on the Cloud and networks like Wi-Fi 6 and 5G, the science fiction of today will become a reality of tomorrow.

Huge amounts of data require augmented analytics as it will become impossible to analyze the data without the AI tools. With more intelligent devices, much of the data will be processed on the devices without the involvement of data scientists.

Gartner in its 2019 report has identified autonomous things, augmented analytics, AI-driven development, Digital Twin, empowered edge, immersive experience, block chain, smart spaces and quantum computing as the strategic technology trends for the immediate future. An important adjunct and key to these developments will be privacy and ethics.
Cisco Live 2019, the annual event for technology partners and the customers at San Diego from the 9 to 13 June, was addressed by Chuck Robbins, David Goeckeler, Amy Chang, and Maria Martinez and a host of speakers on a wide range of topics and technologies. Cisco is a technology leader that has been making the internet work since 1984. Its customer base and revenues surpass the competition by miles. It develops a wide array of technologies and devices for networking, data management, security and analytics for the media and the internet of things, which connect applications and devices to WAN and Cloud networks.

In his opening keynote at San Diego, Cisco’s CEO Chuck Robbins discussed the continuing explosion of emerging technologies including Virtual reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), IOT, blockchain, and the need to redefine and redesign networking to accommodate dynamic environments. The company unveiled its AI Network Analytics and Multidomain Integration solutions. The analytics platform provides visibility and base lining capabilities, an insight for analysis and root cause determination, and action through automated remedy based on machine learning.

Multi-Cloud connectivity is a current reality and users have multiple devices across a range of networks, along with the accompanying ongoing security concerns. Cisco is working to improve data analytics insights for its client base of more than 50 million networks globally. Multi-domain integration, on the other hand, is intended to connect multiple domains from campus, branch, data center, and Cloud through software-defined tools, while delivering an integrated security stack. The company plans to provide a comprehensive set of products that include malware protection, cloud security, multi-factor authentication and threat response. In the last 23 years, Cisco has acquired more than 300 innovative companies and technologies at a cost of US$ 70 billion to provide seamless integration for its existing and potential customers.

In order to provide IT engineers tools to tackle the numerous issues with changing network architectures, Cisco announced a number of new network automation and analytics tools meant to help enterprise IT teams gain insight and visibility of network data. It has brought all its devices on the same operating system, making it easier to move between them. The more unified experience will help IT teams transition their users to the Cloud more easily.
Cisco has already trained and certified more than 7.8 million engineers across 180 countries and plans to train over a billion people by 2025. Devnet certifications will now merge software development and network engineering to help provide support for future Cloud-based networks.

With some applications and the internet of things functioning in chemical plants, oil refineries and mines, new rugged industrial switches, access points, and routers have been designed to be able to work in very harsh environments.

To bring greater focus on the customer, Maria Martinez, the new executive vice president and chief customer experience officer spoke about Cisco’s vision of enabling active learning, delivering trusted support, insight, and analytics, and providing expert resources to customers. The newly announced offering around Business-Critical Services (BCS) 3.0 is intended to bring speed and agility to customers along their entire journey, from network education with use cases, planning, design, implementation and ongoing management.

Intent-based networking

Since its introduction two years ago, Cisco’s intent-based networking has reinvented how networks are built and managed. It is furthering this effort through multi domain integration designed to provide end-to-end security, segmentation and application experience. Umbrella, its Cloud-based solution, now offers safety and security to networks. These new software advancements are being delivered via software subscriptions, granting customers access to ongoing innovation.

As a leader in cyber security, Cisco is leveraging its security innovations across all domains. The success of ot cyber security system has catalyzed more innovations in cyber security. By extending the ability to detect threats in encrypted traffic across public Clouds, and by protecting the campus, branch and WAN against threats, it is providing the end-to-end security customers need.

A newspaper industry veteran on the technology and printing side, V Siva Raja is based in Noida. Recently a founder of the Five-I Innovation factory LLP, he can be contacted at fivei.innovationfactoryllp@gmail.com +919818278760