Cisco announced today the launch of its new wide area networking (WAN) platform: the Catalyst 8000 Series Edge.
Designed exclusively for intent-based networks, the Catalyst 500 Series provides businesses with flexible options for secure connectivity and better end-to-end visibility over applications running on the cloud, in data centers and on the edge. This will lead to accelerated cloud adoption.
“With the proliferation of applications, workloads and services becoming more distributed across the edge-cloud continuum, organizations are facing new realities at the WAN edge,” said JL Valente, vice president, product management for Cisco’s intent-based networking group.
“In building secure multicloud access architectures, IT organizations need the agility to change course and scale quickly along with the needs of business. The Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms bridge the WAN edge and the cloud edge, providing secure, high-performance connectivity for distributed users to any cloud while delivering IT visibility and business agility.”
The Catalyst 8000 line offers solutions for growing WAN edge issues through built-in analytics for on-premise and cloud networks. For example, Cisco supports full-stack SD-WAN security for customers opting for an on-premise solution. For firms looking to adopt a secure access service edge (SASE) architecture, Cisco software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) clusters cloud-managed SD-WAN and cloud-delivered security into one single solution.
Adventist Health System, a non-profit integrated health care provider serving more than 80 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii, will reportedly be the first organization to deploy the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms.
“Fueled by a growing use of cloud-based applications, tele-medicine, ultra high-definition imaging and remote collaboration, our network must deliver secure, highly resilient and scalable connectivity, and enable agility so we can address our patient care and business requirements,” said Ed Vanderpool, IT technical manager at Adventist Health System.
“As we expand our intent-based network, the Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms check all the boxes for a flexible SD-WAN solution that can deliver the performance, visibility, and security needed to deliver these real-time connected experiences.”
The 8000 series will launch with three models:
- Catalyst 8500 Series Edge: This system is suited for data center, colocation, and aggregation sites. It includes the highest-performing SD-WAN with its integrated 40G and 100G ethernet ports all in a compact, single-rack unit.
- Catalyst 8300 Series Edge: This platform is great for edge connectivity at branch sites thanks to its modular access with a diverse set of connectivity choices. It also delivers on-demand services, allowing it to quickly adapt to organizational changes. Its SD-WAN service performance is four times better than the current Cisco Integrated Services Router, making it a worthy upgrade.
- Catalyst 8000V Edge Software: This flexible virtual routing platform runs on any x86 platform or ENCS or SCP appliance on the cloud. It delivers connectivity, visibility and security in multi-cloud environments, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Cisco has also announced the release of its Catalyst Cellular Gateway. The plug-and-play device allows easy migration to 4G LTE without extensive changes to existing infrastructure. Support for 5G wireless WAN is in the works.
Cisco plans to ship the 8000 Edge Platforms and Catalyst Cellular Gateway through a flexible subscription-based delivery model.
