Networking giant Cisco has formed a partnership with Google Cloud to develop what it claims is the industry’s first application-centric multi-cloud networking fabric.
While the companies have a long-standing partnership, the newly-expanded venture will see Cisco and Google Cloud build a close integration between Cisco software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) solutions and the Google Cloud.
Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub’s integration with Google Cloud will, for the first time, allow enterprise customers which are embracing a hybrid and multi-cloud strategy to have full WAN application integration with cloud workloads, to achieve benefits such as agility, scalability and flexibility, according to a statement.
This integration, according to Cisco, will extend into hybrid and multi-cloud environments, like Anthos, Google Cloud’s open application platform, supporting the optimisation of distributed, multi-cloud micro-services-based applications.
The automated cloud solution will also ensure applications and enterprise networks will be able to share service-level agreement settings, security policy and compliance data, to provide predictable application performance and consistent user experience.
This means critical security, policy and performance information will be able to cross the boundaries of network, cloud and application, says the networking company.
“Expansion of the Google-Cisco partnership represents a significant step forward for enterprises operating across hybrid and multi-cloud environments,” notes Shailesh Shukla, VP of products and GM, networking at Google cloud.
“By linking Cisco’s SD-WAN with Google Cloud’s global network and Anthos, we can jointly provide customers a unique solution that automates, secures and optimises the end-to-end network based on the application demands, simplifying hybrid deployments for enterprise organisations."
For enterprise customers that deploy applications in Google Cloud and multi-cloud environments, Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub combined with Google Cloud offers a faster, smarter and more secure way to connect and consume them, notes Shukla.
The platform will decrease risk and increase compliance, offering end-to-end policy-based access, and enhanced segmentation from users anywhere, to applications in the hybrid multi-cloud environment.
“Today, applications do not have a way to dynamically signal service-level agreements requests to the underlying network. With this new integration, applications will be able to dynamically request the required network resources, by publishing application data in Google Cloud Service Directory. The network will be able to use this data to provision itself for the appropriate SD-WAN policies,” adds Shukla.
Last year, Cisco partnered with BCX to introduce a portfolio of SD-WAN solutions.
The portfolio includes Cisco Meraki, a cloud-managed IT solution which allows organisations to manage their network and devices from a single console, and BCX SD-WAN Express, which offers small organisations secure connectivity. There is also the Cisco SD-WAN solution powered by Viptela (the SD-WAN firm Cisco acquired in 2017) to allow larger enterprises to connect any user to any location or cloud, across any platform.
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