Why You Should Renew Your Cisco DNA Software Subscription for Access

As Cisco releases new enterprise networking devices, such as switches, routers, and wireless solutions, you can always count on us to be on the cutting-edge of technology. Capabilities are steadily increasing and improving, and, in today’s devices, this is made possible through software. In the past, devices were mostly static, meaning that the capabilities were built into the hardware where they live and die with the device. Our current Cisco DNA solutions, like our Catalyst 9000 series switches, are completely software-defined, with innovative features in security, policy, assurance, and ease of use. These new features rely on two software components: The software stack which resides on the device, and the software within the network controller which is the orchestrator for the intelligence of today’s intent-based networks.

Why do we need software-defined devices? Networks are becoming more complex as people are connecting through many different applications in the cloud. Let’s look at the healthcare field as an example. Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare is about using networking technologies to connect life-saving medical devices and applications, which enables machine-to-machine communication and connection, to the cloud. Delivering an intelligent zero-trust network for these many IoT devices requires a combination of software capabilities on network devices, as well as centralized intelligence on the network controller software to see the big picture. As networking demands increase and trends in technology change, Cisco delivers upgrades via software subscriptions in order to keep our devices on the cutting-edge of technology.

There are 2 main reasons why you should renew your subscriptions:

1. Software support. In the past, software support was delivered in its own subscription contract. With Cisco DNA software, SWSS (Software Support Service) is embedded in the subscription stack. You receive our innovative features and support for these features in one contract.

2. Increase the longevity of your hardware with access to innovation. We are able to deliver the latest features and capabilities to you through our software subscriptions at no additional cost to you.

Cisco DNA Software is available in 3 tiers: Cisco DNA Essentials, Cisco DNA Advantage, and Cisco DNA Premier, which offer flexible options for our customers, depending on the complexity of their enterprise network. When we talk about the benefits of software subscriptions, access to innovation is usually at the top of the list. Here at Cisco, this continuous access to innovation is not just an empty claim; let’s show you what we mean. Below you’ll find a series of tables for the features we’ve added to Cisco DNA software, since our launch of Cisco DNA Software subscriptions in 2017.

Let’s start with 2018. Here is a list of features that we added to our Cisco DNA software tiers. If you were a Cisco DNA customer in 2017, you received these features at no additional cost to you:

Cisco DNA Software Features 2018.

Remember, Cisco DNA software subscriptions are nested, so all features in Cisco DNA Essentials are in Cisco DNA Advantage, and all features in Cisco DNA Advantage are in Cisco DNA Premier.

In 2019, we added these additional features and benefits, with no additional cost to you:

Cisco DNA Software Features 2019 Set A.

Cisco DNA Software Features 2019 Set B.

Cisco DNA Software Features 2019 Set C.

Cisco DNA Software Features 2019 Set D.

And then again in 2020 we added the following at no additional cost to you:

Cisco DNA Software Features 2020 Set A.

Cisco DNA Software Features 2020 Set B.

If you were a customer of Cisco DNA software subscriptions back in 2017, you would have received all of these features above on top of the original feature set. We will continue to add more features in 2020 and beyond. We are constantly innovating Cisco DNA software and Cisco DNA Center to keep your network and devices at the forefront of the newest technology.