Deploying a security patch to address a new vulnerability. Performing critical software updates or conducting network performance tests. As enterprises try to expand the scope of deployment from carpeted areas to outdoor environments – for example, a financial or retail institution, operating in thousands of distributed locations with outdoor assets, such as ATMs or kiosks – they encounter many challenges, given IT manages corporate network and Operational Technology (OT) manages the outdoor network. When something goes wrong, it becomes challenging to identify and resolve network issues with speed and efficiency.
Given the scope and scale of operations, it isn’t surprising that dispatching service technicians to physically provision new devices, implement security patches, or perform maintenance updates is laborious and inefficient. When there’s a need to tackle these activities across many distributed locations, it becomes extremely time consuming and expensive.
It’s also risky as enterprises experience an ever-growing number of physical and cyber attacks. How can they be more responsive and reliable in safeguarding their assets? And how can they view all network activity and draw insights through a single dashboard ensuring that they can resolve issues with speed, security and efficiency?
Cisco IoT is collaborating with enterprises as they address these and other critical business challenges. With the launch of the Cisco IR1101 Integrated Services Router Rugged, we provided an industrial-grade solution for connecting outdoor/industrial locations. And with the recent launch of Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) architecture on the IR1101 that complements the SD-WAN on Cisco’s enterprise routers (Integrated Services Routers and Aggregation Services Routers), we’re flat-out changing the game for how enterprises can effectively manage hundreds or thousands of disparate locations.
- Save time and reduce workloads as you scale. Our SD-WAN architecture enables a common overlay fabric for distributed networks, from enterprise to IoT edge, along with intelligent WAN policy management – making it possible to achieve simplicity at scale. So rather than sending a technician to each site – or even logging into multiple dashboards remotely – enterprises can see, secure and manage sites from a single Cisco vManage control center. That translates into greater visibility, control, and ultimately, time and cost savings.
- Automate complex security setup – from enterprise to IoT edge. Security risks and threats are real. With SD-WAN, you can segment your network and manage access policies for each segment from end to end, protecting your business against data exfiltration and insider threats.
- SD-WAN empowers you with intelligent monitoring of failover and automated policy management across your distributed locations, giving you more uptime and reliability for mission-critical deployments.
- Ensure mission-critical infrastructure is uninterrupted. An SD-WAN architecture, whether deployed on-premises, or in the cloud, makes it easy to prioritize data and control the traffic.
- Save money with intent-based management. SD-WAN makes it easy to tailor network management based on your service level agreements. Ensure that traffic is routed through the appropriate – and cost-efficient – path (MPLS, Ethernet or LTE). Spend more on the traffic that merits it; leave the rest to less expensive paths.
The Cisco IR1101 Integrated Services Router Rugged with SD-WAN architecture creates a common overlay fabric across your distributed network so you can rest easy knowing that when it comes to network management and security, we’ve got it covered.