APIs & Software Programmability

Stage 1

Chris Lunsford
APIs and Software Programmability Lead | Worldwide Systems Engineering
July 2018
Unprecedented demands on the network
Security
Digital disruption Complexity Security

63 million new devices 3x more spending on

6 months to
online every second network operations
detect breach3
by 20201 than on the network2

Lack of business and IT insights Slow and error-prone operations Unconstrained attack surface

1 Gartner report - Gartner’s 2017 Strategic Roadmap for Networking

2 McKinsey study of network operations for Cisco – 2016
Ponemon
3 2018
© Research
Cisco and/or its affiliates. Institute StudyCisco
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Malware Detection, March 2016
 Apps & Devices

Reduce OpEx

Trends
Data-Driven Insights

Time-to-Value

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“We have to have the network
do more than it has ever done
before, and we have to
move faster than we ever have
before.”

-Chuck Robbins

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
IT Operations Today

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…we simply can’t have
the Humans be the
doers of the work;
we need them to be the
designers of the work.

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Codify: The Value of Software Programmability
Coding is the process of writing down instructions, in a language a
computer can understand, the steps needed to complete a specific
task.
Q: What task?
A: Your task.
for switch in my_network:
for interface in switch:
if interface.is_down() and interface.last_change() > thirty_days:
interface.shutdown()
interface.set_description("Interface disabled per Policy")

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What changed?
API & Language Maturity
RESTful Software APIs
Expressive Modern Languages

Online Communities
Open Source
Social Code Sharing (GitHub)

Public Package Repositories

You can get powerful things done with relatively small amounts of code!
…and even more with incremental investment!
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“It’s a way for two pieces of
software to talk to each other”

Application Programming Interface (API)

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Simple Software Interfaces: The Value of APIs

>>> do(this) request

Done. Action was successful.
>>> configure(feature)
Complete: {“config”: …} response OK!
>>> get(data)
Here you go: {“device”: …}

 Machine-to-Machine Interfaces
 Make Specific Requests of your
App or Infrastructure
 Do this…
 Configure Feature X
 Get Data Y
© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential  Get easily interpreted responses
What can you create?

• Tools | CLI Scripts, Brower-based Apps, Native Apps

Automate Tasks, Execute Repetitious Work, Provide Human Interfaces to Data

• Services | APIs, Web Services, Backend-Automations, Data

Repositories
Provide Remote Access to Automations, Access to Data, Automate Event Handling, Create New Technical
Capabilities

• Abstractions | Business Capabilities

Combine Smaller Processes to Create Larger Business Capabilities

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Creating & Using Automation | Vendor Supplied

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Creating & Using Automation | Admin Tools

 Purpose-Driven Single-Task Automatio

 Bulk Tasks
 Configuring Devices
 Retrieving Information
 Routine Maintenance

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Creating & Using Automation | Services

 Connect Events to Actions

 Automate or Augment a Process
 Incorporate Cisco and 3rd Party Tech
 Create New Features

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Creating & Using Automation | Abstractions (Business
Capabilities)

 Combine Services to Create Meaningful Abstractions

 Create New IT or Line-of-Business Capabilities:
 Open a new Store
 Deploy a new App

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
 Building Organizational Proficiency in Automation
Codify Expose
Departments codify their Departments expose Internal
processes. Services.

Start Small Expose

Automate a Routine Task. Enable others to use the
Automation.

Improve Share
Reliability and Features. Share with peers.

Differentiate Integrate
Create new value chains: Interdepartmental work is
Interconnecting Services transacted via Service
and Extracting Insights from Interfaces.
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with Automation

Customer’s
Business
Processes

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Roles | Evolution & Reinvention
 CIOs
Separate Modalities, Create Value by Embedding IT in both Business Operations and Business Transformation

 Lines-of-Business Resources
Producers and Consumers of Data, Partners in Creating Differentiated Value

 IT Management
Producers and Curators of Exposed Digital Services and Data, Talent Managers

 Senior Technical Leaders

Infrastructure Architects, Creators of Automations, Services, and Digital Capabilities

 Junior Technical Staff

Hardware and Cabling Installation and Maintenance, User of Tools and Software Automations

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
 Underpinning Bimodal IT

Mode
Simplify App & Device Deployment Create Competitive Differentiated Value

1
DNA Center, Zero-Touch Provisioning, SDA, Applying Cisco Design Thinking with
Cisco Container Platform (CCP), AppDynamics Composable & Software Programmable
Solutions to Create New Business

2
Capabilities
Shorten Time-to-Detect & Respond Create Recombinant Capabilities
DNA Analytics and Assurance, Stealthwatch, Support Modern Micro-Services
Encrypted Traffic Analytics App Architectures: ACI, CCP, &
IOX

Automate Repetitious Tasks & Expose Services

Mode Extract Insights from Data
DevNet, DNA Center as a Platform, CCP, YANG Models, Ansible, … DNA Analytics,
AppDynamics, IoE Edge
Computing, Data APIs

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 Executing on Market Needs

Mode

1
Apps & Devices Data-Driven Insights

2
Mode
Reduce OpEx Time-to-Value

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Simplification | “Effect the same result with less effort.”
Human Intent
Push x policies When x happens, Deploy a new
with y inputs to do y . site to support x
z devices. users called y .

Automation
Programmatic Action
Carried out via APIs

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Call to Action

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential
Help your Customers:
 Understand the connection between Streamlined Operations and
Automation
Without automation, their networks operators will continue to be the doers of the work.

 Begin their Software Programmability Journey

They have to start somewhere and they need to start today.
• Modernize their Infrastructures by Deploying Software Programmable Platforms
• Deploy Cisco-created automation platforms (DNA Center, Cisco Container
Platform, etc.)
• Develop their in-house Software Programmability expertise

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential