Cisco goes beyond BYOD

Employees are demanding not only to use their own devices at work, but also to have more flexibility in the way they work and when and where they work.

The Cisco Connected World Technology Report found that more than 40 percent of college students and young employees said they would accept a lower-paying job that had more flexibility with regard to device choice and mobility than a higher-paying job with less flexibility.

To help companies meet these demands, Cisco is taking IT organizations beyond the basic step of connecting user-owned devices to the network by introducing a comprehensive approach that unifies policy, supports a better user experience and simplifies management.

With this holistic approach, based on the Borderless Network architecture, Cisco can help IT organizations move beyond basic BYOD connectivity to deliver the following:

1. A unified policy across wired, wireless local area network (LAN), cellular and VPN, achieved via enhancements to Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), which allow for easy self-provisioning of a user’s device, and policy integrations with mobile device management (MDM) solutions.

2. An uncompromised user experience over the entire wired/wireless network through updates to the wireless LAN infrastructure with Cisco Unified Wireless Network Software 7.2. The updates offer double the video scalability for multicast video, allow one controller to support up to 30,000 devices, and provide IPv6 support for client devices.

3. Simplified operations and network management with the introduction of Prime Assurance Manager and Prime Infrastructure, which help IT professionals understand application performance from a user perspective, accelerate troubleshooting and lower operating costs.

Cisco’s approach to moving beyond basic BYOD connectivity provides a unified policy across the organization’s entire network – wired, wireless LAN, cellular and VPN – helping set and enforce specific policies across the entire company based on users’ roles, the devices they are using, the applications in use, and posture information.

Cisco helps IT optimize the experience for a diverse set of users with any type of device, and any type of desktop (native or virtual), across the wired/wireless network, allowing them to evolve their business beyond just the current BYOD needs. As part of this, Cisco is updating its wireless LAN infrastructure with the release of Cisco Unified Wireless Network Software 7.2.