Cisco has unveiled a new offering in the Catalyst line of industrial edge routers of mobile and fixed asset connectivity, and a new IoT gateway series for IoT uses. The newest offering of Catalyst routers comes with increased scalability, security and scalability required for IoT applications by bringing the power of the full enterprise network to the edge.
The portfolio includes 5G, 4G, private LTE, Wi-Fi 6, FirstNet (AT&T’s first responder network), Wi-Sun (the Wireless Smart Utility Network that is used for smart-grid device connections), as well as increased modularity to help future-proof the network and allow for the integration of new technologies.
The Catalyst router portfolio comes with a set of IT and operations management tools that that will allow organizations to run operations at scale. By providing a single set of tools with multiple applications, the offering can streamline the workflows, and lexicons used by both IT and operations for faster deployments, smoother operations and more open communication between stakeholders.
The current state of artificial intelligence and machine learning has spurred a wealth of data to train algorithms, and the most useful data can be found at the edge. The edge is where the material world and the semi-immaterial world of the internet interact, and thus a source of valuable information that can be computed and used to benefit those who know how to use it to develop insights. By using data gathered at the edge, organizations will be able to improve customer experience, increase efficiencies, as well as allow for across-the-board improvements in operations and create more KPIs to track these improvements.
The edge offers a wealth of information but gathering that information comes at a cost, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for gathering this data because of the heterogeneity of the data’s sources. According to Gartner, 75 percent of data will be gathered in edge environments, and those environments are everywhere. Whether it be in industrial applications like pipelines, sewer systems, manufacturing plants or on more publicly facing edges like roadways, public transportation and retail environments, there needs to be a connection between the data source and the rest of the network architecture. Each of these applications provides unique requirement in order to be connected and operational. Cisco’s new 5G Catalyst router portfolio hopes to provide broad application cases in order to bring secure, reliable connectivity to IoT edge uses.
Edge use cases have different technology needs depending on the application—what’s required to connect point of sale kiosks to a wider network will very much differ from a remote piece of industrial equipment, and many organizations have diverse edge application cases. More often than not businesses will connect the separate environments in isolation, on a case-by-case basis, which results in fragmented network architecture. A fragmented network architecture is obviously not ideal as it brings in a variety of security issues (mainly through providing more vulnerabilities) and isolates the data or, at the very least, heavily silos the data to the point of near isolation.
The more digitized and connected the world becomes, and the more connected individual companies become, the more a unified network architecture will be required to address operations management and security throughout their networks and connected devices. Cisco touts its out newest 5G Catalyst Industrial Router portfolio as addressing both network and security needs.
Cisco’s newest release is composed of three new Catalyst 5G Industrial Routers, and the new Cisco Gateway series that comes pre-packaged with Cisco’s cloud-based IoT Operations Dashboard. The new Industrial Routers will be able to connect both mobile and fixed network assets, and utilize Cisco’s IOS XE to proliferate the enterprise network and provide SD-WAN to the edge. The IOS XE is based on Cisco’s original Internetwork Operating System (IOS), which has formed the backbone of computer networks across the world for decades. The IOS XE is an evolution of the operating system that provides solid foundation for modern programmable interfaces and data models. XE’s architecture allows feature components to run as subsystems over common infrastructure, kernels and module drivers while allowing for flexibility in things such as Border Gateway Protocol.
The unified architecture offered under this router portfolio would streamline operations by equipping IT and operations units with consistent tools across applications. This results in time saved on additional training for new technologies since employees are effectively cross-trained across disparate applications, while also improving overall network security by eliminating weak points that could be found in previously isolated network infrastructure components.
The second part of the portfolio is the Cisco IoT Gateway series which provides for cost-effective cloud simple gateways that offer fast and simple setup. The IoT Gateways come pre-packaged with the IoT Operations Dashboard that deploys and manages industrial network devices, monitors assets and facilities using Cisco industrial sensors, and enables edge to multi cloud data orchestration.
The combination of the new Catalyst routers and the IoT Gateway series allows for unparalleled levels of future-proofing the technology for 5G and beyond, while allowing for network scaling. As the number of devices gathering data will increase and new communication technologies come out, networks must be able to adapt to change without the need to rebuild services and operations from the ground up. The new offering from Cisco allows network scale, flexibility and security while adjusting to use cases and novel applications while incorporating 5G, 4G, LTE, Wi-Fi 6, FirstNet, Wi-Sun and DSL connections with upgradeable storage. The routers are ruggedized to withstand various environmental conditions, and the portfolio features CPU and battery update capabilities in the field.
“Only Cisco offers a network from the enterprise to the industrial edge, with an architecture that provides visibility, automation and security from campuses and branch offices to substations, remote operating locations, fleets, on-the-go connected assets and beyond,” said VP/GM of Cisco IoT, Vikas Butaney. Cisco hopes that its unified network architecture, the associated streamlined operations and IoT processes will attract more customers by lowering the barriers to entry for IoT and edge use cases. By bringing all network applications under a single portfolio managers will be able to gain new insights into network operations, while allowing for unprecedented data collection.
As industrial and enterprise networks continue to expand and converge with more assets being connected at the edge at a faster pace than ever, security risks increase and the threat of exposure at the edge heightens. Cisco’s industrial router portfolio includes the company’s cyber security portfolio to help provide a full end-to-end service, while also addressing the risks associated with the ever-expanding attack surfaces that comes as a result of a progressively connected world. The portfolio includes Cisco’s Cyber Vision to provide full network oversight. Cyber Vision is embedded within the industrial network and provides users with real-time monitoring, dynamic asset inventory and comprehensive threat intelligence so that users can control risks and enforce security policies beyond the industry standards that are already embedded into the network’s OS.