Cisco Software Defined Access Overview
Cisco Software Defined Access, or SD‑Access, is an open, extensible fabric-based networking architecture that provides turnkey policy-based operations and assurance for the enterprise network, as well as a rich set of open, REST and Streaming APIs from its network infrastructure, policy, controller and analytics platforms. These open, intent-based APIs are designed to help customers, system integrators and ISVs orchestrate between Cisco SD‑Access based network and the rest of IT. This open, API-based orchestration helps customers extend the agility and simplicity of operations for an SD-Access based network to the overall IT operation, spanning external networking services, data-center, security, applications, endpoint and even public cloud environments.
The SD-Access technology partner program provides validated functionality between the SD‑Access solution, and the Technology Partners that are part of the SD‑Access integration program . This interoperation of functionality is based on a set of open, published & supported APIs, and is available for technology partners, system integrators and customers to consume and develop upon as part of an SD‑Access deployment.
Key Partnerships and Integrations
The SD-Access technology partnerships includes other Cisco solutions as well as solutions from 3rd party vendors. The capabilities for each of the solution and vendor integrations is evolving rapidly. Below is a sample of the various integrated technology partners currently in development, and the joint functionalities with SD‑Access:
Key Customer Benefits
Improved Operations and Security : Through orchestration between external systems and the SD‑Access, customers can now be able to very easily programmatically define and deploy closed-loop systems that take insights and state information from the network, enrich it with external data and functionalities, and even feed a response action for change in state back to the network. This helps customers operate multiple systems with independent automation and management platforms as a since orchestrated entity, thereby accelerating IT agility, improving security posture and helping IT teams operate more efficiently together.
Simplified Best-of-Breed Deployments : In an increasingly complex yet innovative world, customers are often looking for best-of-breed tools to incorporate into their IT environments that address key functionalities desired by the customer or end-user. This includes solutions from Cisco as well as 3rd parties. Open APIs and validated interoperability ensures that the end-to-end orchestration can be developed in a simplified, agile manner; which in turn also ensures that the integration is easy for the customer to consume. Validation performed as part of the ecosystem program ensures a smooth customer experience at the time of deployment and beyond.
Enhanced Value from Technology Investments : For customers who have already adopted and standardized on certain Cisco or 3rd party solutions, the SD‑Access integration program ensures that the total value that is delivered to the customer as part of the SD‑Access deployment includes the value from larger orchestration achieved through the ecosystem participation. This integration is available to the customer without any additional cost. Public and Hybrid Cloud Integration
Open and Programmable APIs
APIs are available for our technology partners from the following different platforms as part of the Cisco SD-Access:
Cisco Network Infrastructure : The Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series Switching infrastructure provides open APIs that are based on IETF and OpenConfig YANG Models as well as Cisco native models, and exposed via NetConf, RestConf and gRPC interfaces. This includes configuration as well as operational models. The Cisco Catalyst 9000 Series also supports Streaming Telemetry, which allows analytics solutions to subscribe to data-streams based on YANG data-models for real-time data analytics at scale. Learn more about network programmability with Cisco DevNet Networking Dev Center
Cisco APIC-EM : Cisco APIC-EM provides open, intent-based REST APIs for network-wide automation and orchestration. This helps provide an abstracted view of network services, so that customers can interface with the network and drive network automation at scale in a simple manner. Learn more about the programmability of APIC-EM by visiting Cisco DevNet APIC-EM Developer Portal.
Cisco ISE : Cisco ISE provides open APIs for context information about User and Device access, as well as context from other domains such as application IP to group mappings from ACI. ISE also provides open APIs for policies enabled for the Enterprise Network, and can also change authorization for users and endpoints for rapid threat containment from external entities. Learn more about the extensibility with ISE from Cisco DevNet ISE pxGrid and ISE REST API documentation.
Cisco Network Data Platform : Cisco’s Network Data Platform provides enriched, correlated as well as aggregated information from disparate network and network services elements through advanced analytics, so that insights from network data are available readily for external entities to define a business-relevant, data-driven workflow. More information on this is coming soon.