The heart of your business is at the edge – Cisco Blogs

 Three simple reasons you’re going to love our new portfolio to Unite Your Edge

We’ve heard a lot about the edge over the last several years. The promise of digitizing the edge data for business value – like operational efficiencies, improved customer experiences, and business resiliency – has been delayed by the challenges of managing and securing that edge. With our new line of IoT industrial routing and gateway products launched today, we’re helping you Unite Your Edge with one unified architecture from HQ to the front lines of your operations. Scalable. Flexible. Secure.

Demystifying the edge

But first, let’s set the stage by defining the edge. For us, the edge is not at the campus or branch or headquarters. The edge is all the places where you are serving your customers and generating revenue.

And, while we talk about “the” edge, every business has multiple edges. An electrical utility has substations, distribution automation equipment, meters, service trucks and many other assets. A department of transportation may have intersections, roadways, service fleets, buses, bus stops, trams, and more. Customers have been forced to pick unique products for each of these use cases.

Whatever industry you are in, you have critical systems and equipment that you need to remotely monitor, control, and extract data from to improve the quality of the product or service you are delivering and lower your operating costs.

The challenge with the edge(s)

With so many use cases and so much data, we know you face significant hurdles to turn that diverse edge into power.

• Complexity caused by fragmentation
  You have been forced to use multiple vendors and deploy multiple networks for each use case, none of which have been designed to easily accommodate new technologies. That means you must rip and replace what you have to take advantage of new innovations. Plus, new wireless options like 5G further complicate the edge and its evolution.
• Resource constraints
  Each of those point networks requires unique training and skill sets that typically resulted in significant pockets of specialized institutional knowledge. Plus, as you integrate all these networks and take advantage of that edge data knowledge, there is increased pressure on IT to maintain and secure these point networks.
• Vulnerabilities and risks
  Security grows in importance every day. Recent cyber events have reaffirmed and emphasized the need for extremely tight security as digitization exposes new areas that were previously never connected to the internet – like those utility meters and traffic controllers. Security needs to be built into IoT networks, not added as an appliance.

It all adds up to multiple point networks, with security vulnerabilities, and added burden on your IT and operations teams. But now …

Unite your edge

Solving these significant challenges is exactly why we are launching a whole new portfolio to Unite Your Edge. This portfolio takes the best of Cisco’s enterprise technology and our extensive industry knowledge base and brings it together into a portfolio purpose-built for any use case.

Let me tell you the three simple reasons why you are going to love our new portfolio:

1. Scalable
   The Network IT already knows: We’ve integrated the best of our enterprise knowledge in IOS XE and management tools that IT is already familiar with, like DNA-C and vManage. As your operational and IT networks are increasingly integrated, you can leverage existing expertise run and maintain your unified networks. Tools purpose-built for industrial settings. Whether a substation, traffic cabinet, bus station, or manufacturing floor, it’s the right technology built for those settings. Plus, operational users can use toolsets built for the operational users, like IoT Operations Dashboard or Field Network Director. Cloud-simple essential connectivity. Plus, our new gateway portfolio delivers connectivity at mass-scale to bring visibility to assets like vending machines, EV charging stations, kiosks, and more.
2. Flexible
   You expect a long life when you deploy products in these operational settings. That’s why our IoT portfolio is built for a lifetime of 7-10+ years. Plus, our new routers provide unprecedented modularity – Wi-Fi 6, 5G, 4G, Private LTE, FirstNet and Wi-SUN – to extend the use cases and product life further. Get 5G today and be ready for 6G or whatever the future brings. Even storage is upgradable.
3. Secure
   Cybersecurity is a foundational capability of this portfolio. Our industrial routers are physically tamperproof, the software is authenticated and protected, and the network encryption uses the latest generation of secure network protocols. We also have integrated our award-winning Cisco Cyber Vision technology into our routers to deliver deeper visibility into industrial communication patterns. Plus, as hybrid and remote environments increasingly become the norm, the portfolio supports secure remote access for operations and equipment monitoring/servicing.

The broadest industrial router portfolio on the market

With our new routing portfolio, you can have a united architecture across all your diverse edge use cases from HQ to the remote edges. The same rich functionality and robust security models across your entire business – from your campuses and branch offices to substations, remote operating locations, fleets, on-the-go connected assets, and beyond.

Now utilities can securely connect their edge to reduce outages, integrate renewables, and improve grid resiliency. Transportation systems providers can optimize routes for first responders and share real-time location and safety information with travelers. Whatever your business, you can connect all your networks with one common architecture and holistic enterprise-wide security approach.

No more complexity from point networks. No more rip and replace to capture the latest innovations. No more security loopholes. One unified architecture to get to that richness at the edge of your operations and turn it into business value. To be successful, not just for today and tomorrow, but for many years to come.

Want to learn more? Register here to attend our June 17 webcast and hear how to Unite Your Edge with our new portfolio.

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