The Cisco Borderless Network Architecture is a network solution that allows organizations and individuals to connect securely, reliably, and seamlessly to the corporate network in a BYOD environment. It is based on wired, wireless, routing, switching, security, and application optimization devices working in harmony to help IT balance demanding business challenges and changing business models.
It is not a static solution, but an evolving solution to help IT evolve its infrastructure to deliver secure, reliable, and seamless user experiences in a world with many new and shifting borders.
It enables an IT department to architect and deploy its systems and policies efficiently to all end user devices that require connection to the network. In doing this, it provides secure, reliable, and seamless access to resources from multiple locations, from multiple devices, and to applications that can be located anywhere.
Specifically, the Cisco Borderless network architecture delivers two primary sets of services:
- Borderless end-point/user services - As shown in Figure 1, Borderless end-point / user services connect the various devices to provide access to network services. Devices that can connect to the borderless network can range from PCs, to tablets and smart phones. It removes the location and device borders, providing unified access to wired and wireless devices. Endpoint / user services define the user experience and enable the attributes of secure, reliable, and seamless performance on a broad range of devices and environments, as shown in the figure. For example, most smart phones and tablets can download and use the Cisco AnyConnect software. It enables the device to establish a secure, persistent, policy-based connection for a seamless user experience.
- Borderless network services - As shown in Figure 2, Borderless network services unify the approach to securely delivering applications to users in a highly distributed environment. It securely connects internal users and remote users and provides access to network resources. The crucial element to scaling secure access is a policy-based architecture that allows IT to implement centralized access controls.
The borderless network architecture supports a highly secure, high-performing network that is accessible to a wide range of devices. It needs to be flexible enough to scale in its support for future growth in terms of business expansion, including BYOD, mobility and cloud computing and must be able to support the growing requirements for online voice and video.