Bolstering Cyber Resilience in the Financial Services Industry: Part One

Today’s Security Environment

As we review the impact of COVID-19 on major industries at a global level, it is heartening to know that the financial services industry as a whole, has been able to withstand the immediate pressures arising from the pandemic.

The post COVID-19 era for the financial services industry will be rife with low interest rates, low profitability and increased non-performing assets (mortgages, business loans etc.).  At the same time, customer confidence and trust on financial services firms will be put to the test as sophisticated cyber-attacks continue to target the firm’s digital products and services infrastructures as well as remote workers.

A 2020 Accenture report – ‘Securing the Digital Economy: Reinventing the Internet for Trust’– forecasts that nearly $350 billion could be lost by the financial services industry to cybercrime by 2025.

Therefore, financial services firms will need to prioritize their investments and accelerate the implementation of cyber resilience strategies to avoid increased business loss and brand damage due to sophisticated cyber-attacks. Knowing this, we put together a two-part blog series to help you assess and improve your financial institution’s security.

Look for a Long-Term Solution

With remote working being the new normal in the post COVID-19 era, cyber criminals are tirelessly focusing their efforts to steal data from the financial firm’s remote workers and third party partners through advanced malware and social engineering methods. While most financial firms have rushed to plug the gaps that exist in their security policies to support this new normal, this is a just a short term solution.

The focus should also be on building cyber resilience against emerging threats that could severely damage a financial service firm’s brand and lead to financial market disruption, like data manipulation. Financial firms have been using data to gain insights and deliver competitive services. Data driven decision-making has been an important strategy adopted by most financial firms to deliver exceptional customer experience and gain operating model efficiencies. Emerging attacks will shift from data theft to data manipulation. These attacks will be led by highly skilled adversaries with advanced Tactics, Techniques & Procedures (TTPs) such that detection will be a challenge. Manipulation of credit scores, market data, KYC (Know Your Customer), customer account data, and many others will threaten the financial firm’s brand as well as severely impact customer trust.

As per the Reserve Bank of New Zealand “Cyber resilience is the ability to withstand, contain, and rapidly recover from a cyber incident by anticipating and adapting to cyber threats and other relevant changes in the environment.”

It is crucial that a holistic approach to cyber resilience be adopted taking current and emerging threats into consideration. Our recommendation to financial services firms is to augment their current cyber security practice with a five-point strategy which would help them bolster cyber resilience. This blog encompasses the first two points, check out next week’s blog for the final three points.

#1) Secure by Design

As financial services firms accelerate digital transformation, security has to be more than a department or set of loosely-integrated solutions to keep up. It has to be a total philosophy – driven by the CEO and implemented throughout the entire product lifecycle. This includes using a secure development lifecycle, embedding security into product design and manufacturing, delivering products securely, and ensuring a corporate culture of transparency and continuous innovation. Cisco’s Trustworthy technologies are an evolving range of security technologies designed into Cisco solutions for financial services customers to tap into as they develop their digital products and services. Security by design and trustworthiness must never be afterthoughts; they must be designed, built, and delivered from the ground up.

#2) Cisco Zero Trust

Cisco Zero Trust offers a comprehensive solution to secure all access across a financial services firm’s applications and environment, from any user, device, or location allowing the firm to consistently enforce policy-based controls while gaining visibility into users, devices, components, and more.

Cisco implements zero trust with a three-step methodology across the workforce, workloads and workplace by:

1. Establishing trust of a user, device, application, etc. – before granting access or allowing connections or communications.

2. Enforcing trust-based access policies with granular controls based on changing context – such as the security posture of devices and the behavior of applications

3. Continuously verifying trust by monitoring for risky devices, policy noncompliance, behavior deviations and software vulnerabilities

This complete zero trust security model allows the firm to mitigate, detect, and respond to risks across their entire environment.

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Design Thinking Leads to Innovative Solutions

Cisco’s most passionate customers agree with experts inside our company: Design Thinking is a powerful tool to leverage the benefits of software and a programmable infrastructure.

We believe Design Thinking is so important that we developed a framework and toolset around it. It takes the best research-based methodologies from this discipline and can help you become proficient in using it in your own projects.

Design Thinking is a tool for creative problem solving. It’s for everyone who is building products or services. And that includes network engineers and software developers. I’ve long been a proponent of Design Thinking, and I recently joined the Cisco Champions podcast to talk about what it means in the world of software and programmability.

Listen to the Podcast: Design Thinking for Innovative Solutions – a discussion with Cisco Champions Jose Bogarin, Altus Consulting; Matyas Prokop, Natilik; Paul Giblin, Presidio; Edwin Zhang, Cisco; Lauren Friedman, Cisco.

Know Your Customers

The core of Design Thinking is empathy. The better we know our users and customers, the greater the chance we can serve them with the right products and services.

Nearly all business and technology problems are complex and require expertise from people in multiple disciplines. Design Thinking is a crucial tool for helping people on multi-disciplinary teams build understanding – for the other people on the team and for the users. From a foundation of empathy and understanding, it is much easier to move forward effectively.

Inside Cisco, we use Design Thinking in cross-functional teams that include developers, product managers, designers, business development managers, community managers, developer support personnel, and so on.

Design Thinking and Programmability

Design Thinking takes on a critical role when you’re building automated solutions, or using Cisco software and APIs to extend open platforms into new areas of business. When you embark on these projects, it’s even more important that you include all stakeholders in the project scoping process. As Cisco Champion Matyáš Prokop, Principal Architect at Natilik, says, “Design Thinking is an important tool to better understand and serve customers.” Natilik is a Cisco partner that has used Cisco software and APIs to find new ways to engage with their customers and grow their business.

For engineers and developers, APIs make it easier to develop business solutions quickly. (For multiple examples of this, check out the automation solutions developer have posted on Cisco DevNet Automation Exchange.) Design Thinking is one great tool our developers use to make sure they are building the right solution for the customers — to address solutions to the right stakeholders, to understand their pain points.

And If you have a useful automation innovation, you too can share your code with other developers, on the DevNet Automation Exchange.

Design Thinking and software are playing critical roles in the digital transformation of businesses. Our Cisco Champions are as excited about these new opportunities as I am.

Source: cisco.com

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Ace Cisco 350-501 Certification with Actual Questions

Cisco 350-501 spcor Exam Description:

This exam tests a candidate's knowledge of implementing core service provider network technologies including core architecture, services, networking, automation, quality of services, security, and network assurance. The course, Implementing and Operating Cisco Service Provider Network Core Technologies, helps candidates to prepare for this exam.

Cisco 350-501 Exam Overview:

• Exam Name: Implementing and Operating Cisco Service Provider Network Core Technologies
• Exam Number: 350-501 SPCOR
• Exam Price: $400 USD
• Duration: 120 minutes
• Number of Questions: 90-110
• Passing Score: Variable (750-850 / 1000 Approx.)
• Recommended Training:
• Implementing and Operating Cisco Service Provider Network Core Technologies (SPCOR)
• Exam Registration: PEARSON VUE
• Sample Questions: Cisco 350-501 Sample Questions
• Practice Exam: Cisco Certified Network Professional Service Provider Practice Test

Cisco 350-501 Related Articles:

• CCNP Service Provider Certifications: Details of 350-501 SPCOR Exam and Tips to Pass
• 350-501 SPCOR Books, Syllabus, and Study Guide for an Easy Success

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Transforming Data Center Operations with Nexus Dashboard

Transformation is definitely top of mind in many IT, business, and personal conversations I have these days with customers and partners. We used to focus primarily on the need for more agile and flexible infrastructure driven by the ongoing refactoring of their applications and how Cisco can help to deliver the desired business outcomes. The increasingly distributed nature of the applications used by enterprises requires tools that transform how IT operates. IT organizations are measured by the speed, simplicity, and security they can provide to support their organizations’ business objectives.

The speed of digital transformation is often a key competitive differentiator for our customers. A crucial part of the IT transformation is the leverage of cloud and edge data center locations as well as the use of service-centric cloud operations models. Now our daily work habits are transformed further by global events beyond our control, dispersing us to work, bank, shop, learn almost anywhere, at any time. The ability to adapt to these transformations while maintaining business resiliency and agility depends on a connective fabric—the network. 

Managing the network that connects on-premise, cloud, and edge applications to the workforce is a multi-disciplinary effort among NetOps, SecOps, CloudOps, and DevOps teams. These teams control multiple facets of the IT infrastructure: the tools that manage where workloads are run, the service level objectives (SLO) defining user experience, and implementation of zero trust security to protect vital business assets. 

Enabling these teams to deliver the best experience is the goal of an agile automation platform powered by real-time insights. An automation platform enables cloud and data center network operations to adapt to the new normal of shifting workloads and distributed workforces. With both workforce, application developers, and operations teams increasingly working remotely, separated by time and distance, it’s critical they have the tools to align and collaborate more efficiently than ever before. 

Cisco provides a data center network automation platform that is fabric agnostic and delivers a consistent, simplified experience to Ops tams. Enterprises can accelerate their IT transformation whether they focus purely on network automation or implementing more comprehensive IT automation that leverages an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) operating methodology.

An Agile Automation Platform for Data Center and Cloud Operations

The Cisco Nexus Dashboard brings together real-time insights and automation services to operate multi-cloud data center networks spanning on-premise, virtual edge, and cloud sites. It provides a unified view into proactive operations with continuous assurance and actionable insights across data center fabrics for seamless management. The Nexus Dashboard incorporates Nexus Insights, Network Assurance, and Multi-Site Orchestrator, as well as seamless access to network controllers and third-party tools and cloud-based services. 

Cisco Multi-Site Orchestrator (MSO) provides consistent connectivity and security policies across multiple data center network sites such as ACI, DCNM, and cloud fabrics. MSO also enables end-to-end automation across data center, SD-WAN, and enterprise branch and campus networks. Integration with Cisco SD-WAN optimizes path selection for traffic among data centers and branches to deliver on application SLOs. Integration with Cisco DNA Center delivers consistent identity-based security policies across the workforce and applications.

Cisco Nexus Insights brings together in a single service the current Cisco Network Insight and Cisco Network Assurance Engine capabilities. It delivers real-time insights, assurance, and compliance needed to deliver the SLOs required by IT and the business. Nexus Insights applies baselining, predictive analytics, and machine learning techniques to move from reactive to a proactive operations model. Nexus Insights can easily integrate with other services leveraging standard and open APIs. Existing integrations with Cisco AppDynamics, Cisco Intersight, Hashicorp Consul, and Cisco TAC provide rich visibility across operations teams.

Delivered with Nexus Dashboard, these services provide Ops teams with a commanding view of the entire network fabric and tools to take immediate and proactive actions to maintain business resiliency. Nexus Dashboard also offers the ability to define multiple personas that enable IT to provide role-based access to specific operations teams.

Bridging the Gap from NetOps to DevOps

Looking ahead, the Cisco Nexus Dashboard becomes a collaborative focal point where operations-critical third-party services and tools can be consumed via a single-pane of glass interface. IT can custom build automation workflows employing Cisco and third-party services to support their IT transformation processes.

For example, through the Nexus Dashboard:

◉ NetOps teams can integrate directly with ServiceNow to generate tickets for centralized incident management.

◉ DevOps teams can map application, network and compute context by linking Nexus Insights with Cisco AppDynamics and Cisco Intersight, providing rich contextual information that enables DevOps to monitor application performance, identify network bottlenecks affecting applications, and fine-tune workloads accordingly.

◉ DevOps can leverage an Infrastructure as Code approach to link Ansible or Terraform services with the MSO API.

Multiple Deployment Options for Maximum Flexibility

Just as changes in the workplace and workforce are transforming the way IT works, the Nexus Dashboard will be available in various form factors to match the IT transformation organizations are going through. Flexible deployment options for Cisco Dashboard include:

◉ As an on-premise appliance.

◉ As a virtual appliance to deploy on existing compute or hyperconverged infrastructure (Q1CY21).

◉ As a cloud-based application for remote deployment and management (Q1CY21).

Reduce Complexity, Accelerate IT Transformation

Complexity is the enemy of efficiency. To manage distributed networks, you need tools that are easy to deploy, simple to access, and sharable among operations teams. With Cisco Nexus Dashboard you get a scalable, easy-to-use console that brings together Cisco operational services with commonly used third-party services and tools. Operations teams can work together to assure that the entire network is performing as intended. They can leverage automation coupled with real-time analytics to deliver the agility IT and the business needs for success. The nexus of the network makes it simple.

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Zero to One Device Provisioning and Discovery with PnP Connect

What is PnP Connect?

Cisco Plug and Play Connect (a component of the Cisco Network Plug and Play solution) is a secure and scalable cloud-based service that provides a discovery mechanism for a network device to discover it on-premise Cisco DNA-Center or DNAC-Cloud. It’s the go-to solution for simple day-zero provisioning across all Cisco Enterprise platforms (routers, switches, and wireless access points).

What drives the necessity for this solution?

Installing and deploying the vast number of networking devices that reach their data center, branch networks, and campus rollout are costly for enterprises and campus deployments. Any computer usually has to be pre-staged by a professional installer and equipped with a CLI configuration via a console connection that allows it to connect to the rest of the network. This method is expensive, time consuming, and vulnerable to error. Due to these factors, customers would like to increase the speed and reduce the complexity of the deployment without compromising the security.

For PnP solutions we have the following 3 major pillars:

1. The solution should be simple, as that is critical for automation. For this our device should be able to call home to our controller, and this path should be robust.

2. The solution should be secure. We know some vendors have ZTP provision but that is traditional and not secure, specially through WAN connections. In PnP, the device gets secured connection via HTTPS solution and this gives the image to device. SUDI authentication is an added layer on top of this. When device calls home, a challenge is sent over the tunnel, and device will un-sign the certificate with a private key and it will be determined if the device is legit.

3. The solution has to have a consistent workflow for all kind of devices. Hence, we needed a simple secure unified and integrated solution that eases new branch rollouts or provisioning existing deployments.

What are the PnP solution components?

1. First, we need a server or orchestrator that makes the device do what it needs to do. This could be running on DNAC.

2. Second, the PnP agent is embedded in Cisco devices and communicates to the Cisco Network Plug and Play application using the open plug and play protocol over HTTPS during device deployments. The PnP agent attempts to obtain the IP address of the PnP server it wishes to connect with. The agent interacts with the PnP server to conduct deployment-related activities after a server is identified and a connection has been created.

3. PnP Server communicates with the PnP agent on the device using PnP protocol.

PnP protocol is the main connection. From that connection they will start using PNP schema (XML schema) to tell each other what they need to do and from there we provision the image or config.

4. If the device is not able to communicate to the server using DHCP or DNS it can use the PnP connect cloud-based service. This is the PnP Connect solution we launched that redirects device to the on prem DNAC.

How does PnP connect work?

PnP connect is a highly automation-based pre -provision workflow. Under this solution all the configurations that are to be pushed, site hierarchy and software image details are associated to a certain Serial Number of a device. All of this information will be linked to the device using the Smart Account. We can put our smart account information in our order when we buy it.

If you order plug and play network devices through Cisco Commerce Workspace (CCW), these network devices are automatically registered with Plug and Play Connect as long as a Cisco Smart Account is assigned to the order and you include the NETWORK-PNP-LIC option for each device that you want to use with Cisco Network Plug and Play. This option causes the device serial number and PID to be automatically registered in your Smart Account for plug and play.

There is also an option to manually add the device. The users can import a device from a CSV file or enter the devices information manually.

We also need to register DNAC as the default controller for the Smart Account, which will port all the SNs to DNAC. So, we will not need to import separate CSV files. Now, when device boots up their SN will get mapped and it will be sent to the mapped on-prem DNAC and all of configurations that were supposed to be pushed will be done accordingly in association to site.

The flexibility and efficiency that is achieved by using PnP connect is what makes it the true-blue solution.

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One Architecture on Multiple Devices with No Compromise

Service providers, web scale companies, and equipment manufacturers have long struggled with networks comprised of multiple unique architectures driving up huge operational complexity and cost. Power-hungry routers, feature-limited web scale switches, and an ever-expanding footprint have them seeking new alternatives. Unfortunately, it seems the only solution is to wait for another chip family release once every 24 months.

Well, we have some good news. Those days are over. In December of 2019, we made a bold announcement about how we’ll forever change the economics of the Internet. Two of the key elements in that announcement were the introduction of Cisco Silicon One and a new business model. For the first time in the industry, customers can buy our state-of-the-art silicon and discrete optics parts directly from us.

The 10Tbps Cisco Silicon One Q100 is the first device in a family of chips that mark a fundamental shift in the routing silicon market. Whereas it once took at least five pieces of routing silicon to build a complete system, this can now be accomplished with just one. More than ever before, customers have the freedom to innovate at their own pace. We designed the new Cisco Silicon One architecture to be endlessly scalable, enabling faster iterations of future generations. Naturally there were skeptics – after all, this defied the norm.

Today, less than 10 months later, we’re proud to announce six new 7nm additions to the Cisco Silicon One portfolio: three highly efficient web scale switching devices, and three high-scale and deep-buffered routing devices covering an expanded performance range between 3.2Tbps and 12.8Tbps. The Cisco Silicon One portfolio now covers the entire space from service provider and web scale routers all the way to the Top of Rack (TOR) switches and everything in between. With one architecture, one Software Development Kit (SDK), and one P4 forwarding code, Cisco Silicon One unifies the network across routing and web scale switching.

The Cisco Silicon One Q200 extends our market leadership in routing silicon with a 7nm high performance, large scale, run-to-completion P4 engine and deep buffers. At 12.8Tbps, it enables customers to build a 32x400GE 1RU router with a single piece of silicon while others on the market require between two and 10 pieces of silicon. This dramatic difference alters the fundamental economics of building fixed-box routers.

Multiple Q200 devices can then be interconnected to create massive multi-petabit systems with a fully scheduled Ingress Virtual Output Queueing (VOQ) fabric. The Q201 and Q202 extend the portfolio down to enable lower bandwidth and less expensive 64x100GE and 32x100GE 1RU systems. Cisco Silicon One now covers the entire routing market, from 3.2Tbps to multiple petabits.

Today we also expand the market addressability of Cisco Silicon One in a big way by adding purpose-built devices for the web scale switching market. The Q200L is a 7nm 12.8Tbps web scale switching device featuring high performance, run-to-completion P4 engines and a fully unified on-die buffer. The Q200L is also foot-print compatible with the Q200, which enables one hardware design to support a 32x400GE router with the Q200 or a 32x400GE web scale switch with the Q200L, simplifying the development costs for our customers.

Although the leading switching devices are at rates of 12.8Tbps (and soon 25.6Tbps), we found that many customers are searching for highly efficient 3.2Tbps and 6.4Tbps to play different roles in their network. Because Cisco Silicon One is built with a scalable, slice-based architecture, we can easily create fully optimized, lower-speed devices from the same architecture. The Q201L at 6.4Tbps enables a highly efficient 64x100GE web scale switch and Q202L at 3.2Tbps can be used to build a 32x100GE web scale switch.

The efficiency of the Cisco Silicon One architecture combined with 7nm creates a truly unique offering in the web scale switching market.

Cisco Silicon One erases the hard-architectural boundaries that have existed for decades in the industry between routing and web scale switching devices by providing a single architecture that optimally spans both market segments. Customers can port one SDK and address multiple markets, while network operators need only train their support staff once to troubleshoot one architecture across their entire network. But in the end, this unique level of convergence wouldn’t be so interesting if each of the devices weren’t best of breed themselves. What sets Cisco Silicon One apart from the competition is how it brings convergence without compromise.

Cisco Silicon One was created by the team that built the silicon carrying more than 90 percent of the world’s Internet traffic and we believe this clean sheet architecture will serve the industry for the next several decades. To do this, we had to solve many of the problems that other architectures stumble over, but just as important, we’ve created an architecture that is highly efficient and scalable.

The impacts of a unifying architecture are clearly visible today. Most silicon vendors announce new silicon once every few years, whereas today we’re announcing six new devices in less than a year, just as we promised back in December 2019.

But as exciting as these new devices are, this is just the beginning. We’ve started a journey and we have more devices on the way. Stay tuned because there will be exciting news ahead!

Source: cisco.com

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Deploying World-Class Rural 4G/5G Networks Just Got a Lot Easier

Rural areas need fast, reliable mobile connectivity just as much as cities. As service providers know, actually delivering that is far from simple. With new service opportunities that come with 5G, the demand picture for new rural investment is more attractive than it was with 4G. However, with sparse populations and long distances between population centers, making the numbers work is still challenging.

If you’re a service provider serving rural regions, that’s the baseline you’re starting from. Now, add a need to overhaul existing infrastructure or add new cell sites, and things get even harder. At least, that’s how it used to be. Now, Cisco is making it much easier to bring 4G/5G connectivity to rural subscribers—even for service providers who’ve never dealt with mobile networks before.

With the Cisco Cloud Services Stack for Mobility, we’re providing best-in-class mobile packet core solutions that are pre-integrated, validated, and ready to deploy. You can expand your mobile footprint much more quickly and cost-effectively. By working with Cisco, you can ensure your network is secure, reliable, and delivering the performance your subscribers expect.

Overcoming Complexity

Service providers may have any number of reasons for updating rural infrastructure. Maybe you need to replace your existing technology stack. Maybe you’re preparing to roll out new 5G services. Maybe you’ve historically focused on wireline services, and you’re looking to 5G or CBRS as a cost-effective option to bring fixed-access broadband to residential customers.

In all cases, you’re likely looking at a virtualized solution—deploying mobile core components via cloud software running on general-purpose hardware. There are big benefits to this approach; it’s much more scalable, flexible, and cost-effective than buying and maintaining dedicated appliances. But, as service providers have discovered in recent years, assembling all the components and integrating them into your environment can be enormously complex. Here’s what you’re looking at:

1. Design and build your solution. Do you have the expertise in house to select and assemble all the right components? How long will it take you to test everything (not just at the component level, but as a complete system) for functionality, security, scalability, and performance? Keep in mind, there’s a good chance you’re using a unique combination of products and software versions that no one else has used before.

2. Plan your deployment. Will you be working with multiple vendors? Will they be able to automate and accelerate your rollout? If you run into issues, will you be able to call one vendor for help, or will you be playing phone tag with half a dozen or more?

3. Strategize how you’ll maintain and evolve the solution. Do you have the resources in-house to manage roadmaps for all the components in your stack—across potentially dozens of combinations of products and software versions? If issues crop up (and they inevitably will), how long will it take you to isolate which vendor’s product is causing the problem and get it fixed?

For all these reasons, rural service providers are shying away from the “DIY” route, looking instead for pre-integrated mobile core solutions. A number of vendors now offer them, and some even claim their solutions are “pre-integrated” with other vendors’ products. Even in those cases though, there is no guarantee that the vendor has a roadmap for that solution that it plans to manage. Nor can you be sure that integration testing has been conducted on the most current versions of all software components.

The vendor may have plugged some version of these components together and confirmed that they worked. They may have successfully deployed some variation of this solution in the past. But, unless they’re providing a formal reference architecture—with every component thoroughly tested and validated to operate as a single, secure solution—you’re taking a big risk. That could entail blown timelines, extra costs, and frustrating delays in your rollout. In the worst case, it could mean exposing your network and subscribers to a serious security vulnerability.

Introducing the Cisco Cloud Services Stack for Mobility

Now, Cisco is bringing rural service providers a pre-integrated, ready-to-deploy mobile core solution that’s fully tested and validated by the industry leader in network security. It’s the Cisco Cloud Services Stack for Mobility, and it’s changing the game for deployment-ready mobile connectivity in rural regions.

This cloud-based “packet core in a box” combines best-in-class components from Cisco—designed by Cisco experts, pre-integrated and validated as a secure building block for 4G/5G mobile core networks. The solution includes all the foundational components (SAE gateway, CUPS, MME, 5G non-standalone architecture) to run 4G and deploy new 5G NSA-based services. It’s the fastest path to offer new services such as fixed wireless access (FWA). And, the best part: it eliminates the long list of tasks and risks you’d have to worry about when building out the solution on your own—such as those illustrated in the table below.

Simplify and Accelerate Your Rollout

With a complete, validated mobile core stack, you’ll be able to bring new 4G/5G services to rural customers much more quickly, with less risk and lower costs—both upfront and over the life of the solution. At the same time, you and your stakeholders can move forward with confidence, even if this is your first foray into mobile services. By working with Cisco, you’re getting:

◉ A proven reference architecture for your mobile core, designed and integrated by the market leader in network security

◉ A comprehensive, feature-rich solution used in the world’s largest (T-Mobile USA) and most rapidly deployed (Rakuten) mobile networks

◉ A platform to underpin your end-to-end mobile network solution—not just the core—via the Cisco Open vRAN Ecosystem

◉ Expert assistance automating and accelerating your rollout from the Cisco Customer Experience team

◉ Single-point-of-contact support for your entire solution—no matter where the problem resides—from the award-winning Cisco Technical Assistance Center

Just as important, Cisco understands exactly what rural service providers are up against and what they need to succeed. In the United Kingdom, we have invested in the world’s most ambitious rural 5G trial to date, 5G RuralFirst (a project I’m happy to note that I kick-started back in 2018!). No other vendor comes close to this level of investment in rural networks.

Bottom line, mobile core technology may be complicated, but your network rollout and operations don’t have to be. Reach out to your Cisco account manager today. Let’s work together to bring next-generation services to your rural subscribers and accelerate your 4G/5G success.

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