DevNet announced that it has reached 500 000 registered members at Cisco Live, currently underway in Orlando, Florida. Created in 2014, DevNet is Cisco’s developer program that helps developers and IT professionals who want to write applications and develop integrations with Cisco products.
Speaking about the milestone, Susie Wee, VP and CTO of DevNet said, “This means that we have reached critical mass in our community and that changes the model of innovation in networking.”
Wee says that DevNet was created to help developers pick up the skill they need to work well in a world of programmability. “The mission of DevNet was to make our developers successful in their businesses and in their groups. We also wanted to make innovation easy for them to use the API and programmability.”
Cisco also released new developer capabilities across its intent-based networking platform namely; DevNet Ecosystem Exchange, DevNet Code Exchange as well as DevNet DNA Developer Center.
“We are enabling developers to build the skills and learn to use the API’s to build new systems. We are also catalysing the community to harness innovation then accelerating business so that the innovation can be used in the business”, said Wee.
DevNet Ecosystem Exchange contains over 1,300 solutions and enables business leaders and developers alike to use this online portal to discover partner solutions that span all Cisco platforms and products. DevNet Code Exchange gives developers a place to access and share software in order to build next-generation applications and workflow integrations. A curated list of sample code, adaptors, tools, and SDKs is available on GitHub and written by Cisco and the DevNet community. Code Exchange spans Cisco’s entire portfolio and is organized according to Cisco platform and product areas, and DevNet DNA Developer Center which is a one-stop-shop for developers to build applications and integrations on the DNA Center platform. It provides comprehensive resources, capabilities, use cases and learning materials for developers.
Wee says when hosting hackathons, they have found that winners are usually the teams that are a combination of network experts, as well as coders. “We have talked to customers who have made the transition to integrate this network programmability and their workflows into their systems. These companies find that putting the IT professionals with the application developers is what works”, she said.
“What we want to do is stay committed to the developer and get our community ready”, added Wee.
“Your network is a software system, and to fully use its capabilities you need to become an empowered user of software and an empowered user of the network. Wee says that coders and network empowered users need to work together to make this next generation of intent based networking give all the potential that it provides.
Wee says that when the network becomes programmable there is a fundamental shift in how applications interact with the infrastructure. API’s, applications are then able to interact with the network in entirely new ways. “This is the new model that brings together two classes of developers called infrastructure developers and app developers”, said Wee.
Explaining the difference between developers, Wee said. “Infrastructure developers care about automation, observability and insight. They care about security and DevOps and Net DevOps, running your network as code. App developers, on the other hand, care about different API’s. They care about cloud and multi-cloud apps for the enterprise. They care about a digitized infrastructure to do smart cities and transportation systems. They care about application performance.”
DevNet invites the community to make a wish for the business intent they wish to see.
“There is a whole new technology in front of us with intent based networking and with 500 000 members and critical mass in our communities, we are providing tools to help you harness innovation in your business, concluded Wee.
By Fundisiwe Maseko
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