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As IT strives to accelerate business, one smart route leverages new partnerships that speed time-to-value.

The new matrix of technology deployment for IT is a real challenge—handling both customer-facing issues and internal, departmental challenges.

IT’s customers, the business units, want agility when it comes to application deploy-ment across multiple new technologies — from cloud to software-defined networking (SDN). And if they don’t get the responsiveness they need from their IT department, they’ll go rogue, deploying cloud-based applications that end up as shadow IT.

From an internal standpoint, deploying these new technologies presents organizational challenges, too. As SDN becomes more popular, network administrators face the same kind of educational transition they faced when traditional TDM phone systems evolved into VoIP. In this instance, network staff have to understand the increasing overlap of hardware and software.

With SDN, more infrastructure rules become embedded in code. That means network administrators need to become part of devops, a group that deals with rapid iteration of software changes. In turn, that also means administrators must have better program-ming tools, enhanced monitoring tools, and more ways to automate those processes.

To help IT departments adapt to this agile environment, vendors are offering a smart solution: they’re partnering with other vendors or integrators to offer new technologies in as close to a turnkey model as possible.

The Fast Path to Software-Defined Networks

A FAST PATH TO SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKS

All told, these partnerships represent a new trend that addresses the all-important need of agility and time-to-value for new deployments. They not only give IT a head start on deploying and implementing new technologies (because the solutions are pre-integrated), but they’re also pioneering ways to ensure that they can transfer knowledge to enterprise IT staff, arming them to maintain efficiency long after the consulting engagement has ended.

Making It Work by Working TogetherIn the SDN world, Cisco Systems, F5 Networks, and World Wide Technology (WWT) have created such a three-way partnership, one that helps replicate the advantages of highly integrated, single-vendor systems. These three companies offer a solution that addresses a spectrum of business and IT department needs, including:

• The latest technologies, including best of breed SDN.• Deployment agility and faster time-to-value.• Increased management automation.

The partnership delivers capabilities thanks to its micro-solutions. IT can take advantage of automated provisioning and configuration of software-defined networks, which simplifies operation. And with the open APIs and extensive use of standards, IT achieves higher levels of interoperability and consistency across both physical and virtual networks.

Cisco, F5, and WWT have collaborated on multiple ways to increase reliability and performance. For instance, to further simplify deployment efforts, they’ve created shared best-practice templates and profiles, which give IT departments a higher level of stan-dardization across the system. They’ve also incorporated higher levels of automation to reduce manual errors, thus increasing both security and compliance. They’ve optimized performance, which allows enterprises to deploy workloads anywhere across the system and minimize downtime, as the following use cases show.

Real-World Customer ScenariosUsing SDN as a foundational technology, the partners have helped customers become more efficient in a variety of both business and technological scenarios. Consider these real world deployments:

Business continuity. A major broadcasting organization, finding its data center backup and disaster recovery solution ineffective, wanted to move toward improved data center availability, increased reliability, and shorter response times. It also wanted to create a network that could accommodate future improvements and business requirements. Through the partnership, WWT first set up a secondary, active-active data center to ensure business continuity, and then started moving the broadcaster’s primary facility to a new location using Cisco ACI as its foundation.

Network segmentation. A healthcare organization sought to solve multiple issues through a major revision of its network landscape. On the one hand, it needed to protect patient records and ensure HIPAA regulation compliance. On the other, it wanted to reduce both capital and operating expense by cutting the number of networks it managed. By using WWT to apply F5 network isolation and virtualization capabilities and segment the SDN network more precisely, the organization was able to meet the regulatory requirements for data separation, while at the same time deferring the need to expend more resources on staff and other needs. Its IT staff was also able to make any required changes more quickly, reduce potential for errors, and create a foundation for future growth.

Security. A highway travel services company needed to improve network visibility and comply with regulatory requirements. WWT implemented Cisco ACI for greater network segmentation and visibility. This provided better security, because the company can define and restrict access by creating role-based access control. During PCI audits, if they can prove a specific segment is secure, they don’t have to audit the entire network.

SaaS. When a major software company added SaaS capabilities to their existing virtual license model, they needed to be able to add new clients quickly. WWT implemented Cisco ACI, integrated with F5 Application Delivery Controllers, to enable the company to simply clone an existing instance of an application (versus creating a new one from scratch). As a result, it was able to add new customers in minutes instead of days.

In the SDN world, Cisco Systems, F5 Networks, and World Wide Technology (WWT) have created such a three-way partnership, one that helps replicate the advantages of highly integrated, single-vendor systems.

A FAST PATH TO SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKS

Rapid application deployment. A top private university needed to be able to quickly and efficiently deploy networks for both new student research and medical clinics. It wanted to be able to improve customer experience and increase employee productivity on the customer-facing side, as well as to deliver updates quickly and defer or eliminate staffing expense on the IT side. It used WWT’s Advanced Technology Center (ATC) to mimic their planned network and determine how Cisco ACI could help them make better use of their resources to accomplish these goals.

Another software company, as part of its private cloud strategy, leveraged WWT’s ATC to evaluate automation platforms, with a goal toward decreasing F5 application service deployment cycles, application configuration, and network provisioning.

What these varied scenarios show in aggregate is that SDN technology brings significant foundations for network improvement and efficiency in multiple situations. But it’s not nec-essarily a panacea on its own – it requires the expertise of a team of companies to ensure fast deployment with both current benefits and long-term advantages.

A Whole Greater Than the Sum of Its PartsIn this state-of-the-art partnership, Cisco, F5, and WWT have created a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, with each company contributing uniquely to the partnership.

Cisco Systems brings its Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) fabric, which is designed to manage a system of network switches and compute resources through a centralized Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC). ACI offers users an abstract, business-level language to govern how applications are distributed and managed across the fabric. Together, these capabilities support reliability, business continuity, and disaster recovery across multiple data centers.

The F5 Dynamic Device Package for Cisco APIC helps enterprises configure application policies and requirements for F5 appliances across fabrics that encompass levels two through seven of the network stack. This ensures that applications receive the services and resources they require throughout the network, while also enabling organizations to automate systems for further efficiency and cost savings.

As an integrator, WWT demonstrates how Cisco ACI and F5 SDN solutions function in the context of integrated architectural solutions that drive business outcomes. WWT’s ATC allows enterprises to spin up and test SDN solutions quickly, as well as troubleshoot solutions in mimicked environments before deployment. WWT is known in the industry for:

• Hosting multiple technologies.• Verifying capabilities in accordance with formal software development lifecycle

ownership methodology.• Quantifying product and system capabilities, taking into account both

performance and scalability needs.• Certifying products and systems.• Testing interoperability to determine functionality based on compatibility

and protocol compliance.

Each member of the partnership benefits from the deep insight into the products and services of the other members, which in turn gives enterprises a head start on projects. The partnership essentially creates a community for its ecosystem (both partners and customers) in which each member gains from work done by and for other members. Thanks to their partnership, Cisco, F5, and WWT help enterprises make decisions sooner, launch systems faster, and be smarter about those systems.

For more information on the value the Cisco/F5/WWT partnership

can bring an enterprise, view the following resources:

Cisco & F5 Technology Alliance DC Partner-F5 Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure WWT Software-Defined Networking

Essentially, enterprises can confirm system interoperability before they buy—a critical advantage that shortens time to value of the new system, while giving enterprises more confidence in their investments.