Today we announced the final piece of our Unified Access vision, introducing the Cisco Catalyst 3850 switch at Cisco Live in London. Our Unified Access vision incorporates a framework of “One Policy, One Management, One Network,” and is designed to address the complexities IT departments are facing with market transformations like cloud, BYOD, and big data. Our vision for Unified Access is a solution to simplify how an enterprise tackles these trends, while also letting it incorporate smarter business processes.
We first laid out our Unified Access strategy at Cisco Live in June 2012, and with the Catalyst 3850 we have delivered the final piece businesses need to manage a simpler, more efficient network.
The Catalyst 3850 does this by doing something remarkable: managing both wired and wireless networks from a single box. One network to manage. One set of policies to manage. And a lot less headaches for IT staff and managers.
Add to this Cisco’s IOS network software (one operating system), Cisco ISE (one policy engine), and Cisco Prime Infrastructure (one management platform), and IT departments can begin shedding weight like never before. Around Cisco, we like to call it the “One Switch to Rule Them All.”
If you’re wondering why we announced the Catalyst 3850, or why this is really so important, ask yourself this question: Do you use your personal tablet or smartphone for work?
If you said yes, you’re not alone. IT departments across Canada are grappling with how to let users bring these devices to work securely without adding mountains of new policies and hardware to manage. Just look to the results of the first chapter of our Connected World Technology Report to see how much Canadians rely on our devices, both at home and the office.
To the user, enabling these devices might seem as easy as connecting to the Internet, but before the Catalyst 3850 wired and wireless networks each required distinct policies, management, troubleshooting, infrastructure and security.
Simplifying the networking landscape lets IT departments focus on how they can use technology to grow their business, instead of just keeping the lights on. And we like to see our customers, and Canadian businesses, grow.
What do you think about the Catalyst 3850? Leave a comment below.
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