Arista Networks Cognitive Cloud Networking - Short Review

Cognitive Cloud Networking

Arista Networks’ Cognitive Cloud Networking is a revolutionary approach to enterprise networking, designed to bring the simplicity, scalability, and intelligence of cloud principles to both data center and campus environments.

Overview

Arista’s Cognitive Cloud Networking is a software-driven architecture that unifies wired and wireless access, leveraging real-time, data-driven analytics to enhance network performance, security, and user experience. This approach extends Arista’s Universal Cloud Network (UCN) architecture, originally developed for large data centers, to the campus network, ensuring operational consistency across different network segments.

Key Features and Functionality

Unified Wired and Wireless Access

The Cognitive Cloud Networking solution integrates wired and wireless campus edge products, such as the Arista 720XP Series switches and the Cognitive WiFi portfolio, including WiFi 6 access points like the C-250. This integration provides a seamless and unified network experience, simplifying network management and enhancing user connectivity.

Real-Time Analytics and Machine Learning

Arista’s Cognitive Cloud Networking utilizes CloudVision and the Cognitive Management Plane to collect real-time data from wired and wireless devices. This data is analyzed using machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies, perform root cause analysis, and provide proactive remediation. Features include network baselining, automatic packet capture, and client emulation to proactively identify and resolve issues.

Enhanced Security

The solution includes robust security features such as wireless intrusion prevention (WIPS) using multi-function radios to detect and block wireless threats in real-time. It employs behavior-based detection rather than signature-based approaches, ensuring zero-day protection against unknown threats.

Simplified Architecture and Reduced Operational Expenses

By adopting cloud principles like open APIs, cloud automation, and self-service provisioning, Arista’s Cognitive Cloud Networking simplifies network architectures. This simplification, combined with data-driven analytics and segment-based security, helps reduce customer operational expenses and improves overall network reliability and performance.

Operational Consistency and Automation

The solution ensures operational consistency across different network environments, including private, public, and hybrid clouds. It leverages Arista’s EOS and CloudVision to automate network management, monitoring, and security, enabling rapid provisioning and workload mobility across the network.

Advanced WiFi Capabilities

Arista’s Cognitive WiFi includes features such as real-time insight into the WiFi client journey, health of network services, and proactive remediation to ensure a high-quality user experience. The WiFi 6 access points support advanced standards like 802.11ax, including 8×8 MU-MIMO and uplink OFDMA & MU-MIMO, to handle higher bandwidth and more simultaneous users.

Conclusion

In summary, Arista Networks’ Cognitive Cloud Networking is a comprehensive solution that brings modern cloud principles to enterprise networks, offering unified wired and wireless access, advanced analytics and machine learning, enhanced security, simplified architectures, and operational consistency. This approach significantly improves network performance, security, and user experience while reducing operational expenses.