Accenture: Cisco's New Intent-Based Networking Platform 'Required' For The Modern Network

An executive with solution provider giant Accenture says Cisco's new intent-based Intuitive Network is required to manage today's sophisticated enterprise networks.

"The existing approaches of command line interfaces, of going to a lot of these devices and configuring them, of trying to reconcile different policies, have really become insufficient to handle the scale and complexity of what's really going on," said Gene Reznik, senior managing director of Ecosystem & Ventures for Accenture, from the stage at this week's Cisco media and analyst event in San Francisco. "We're very excited to see intent-based networking to really have a much more enterprise-wide capability to really manage a much more sophisticated, intelligent and critical network."

Cisco unleashed several new products, services and solution under its new Intuitive Network platform. CEO Chuck Robbins dubbed it "the new network" – an intent-based system that anticipates actions, stops security threats and continues to evolve and learn.

[Related: 10 Cisco Network Intuitive Products That Partners Need To Know]

Intent-based networking allows IT to move from traditional processes to automating intent, making it possible to manage millions of devices in minutes — a crucial development to help organizations navigate today's expanding technology landscape.

"A different approach needs to be taken to really secure and enable the kind of network connectivity that is required," said Reznik. "The reason why we're excited about this is because we do believe that intent-based networking is really required to manage the billions of devices that our customers have. [It's] really required to fundamentally enable the kind of experience that they want with their customers."

Already, 75 global enterprises and organizations are conducting early field trials with these next-generation networking solutions from Cisco, including NASA, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Scentsy, Jade University of Applied Sciences and Wipro.

In a video interview with CRN, Robbins said the Intuitive Network " represents a new era of opportunities for our partners."

Accenture CEO Pierre Nanterme recently said landing bigger cloud, digital and security projects has enabled the company - No. 2 on CRN's Solution Provider 500 - to rotate half of its $35 billion business to emerging technologies in just four years.