Cisco Extends Its Intent-based Networking to IoT

Cisco is taking its intent-based networking concept, which it first revealed in June 2017, and is extending it to the Internet of Things (IoT). At a high-level intent-based networking means that network operators just tell the network how they want it to run, and it will comply. The goal is to remove a lot of manual tasks so network operators can focus on other things. In the IoT area specifically, Cisco is using intent-based networking to rework IoT networks, which have traditionally been very manual, closed systems. According to Prashanth Shenoy, vice president of marketing, enterprise networking, and mobility at Cisco, that means using concepts like software-defined networking (SDN) and automation to gather existing data that is collected by IoT devices and translate that data into “actionable items.”