Differentiators NSO / Cisco DNA Center or Overlap in functionality?

[ian.scheidler1]

Hi,

in an upcoming PoC with a customer they are currently already using DNA center.

I do not know much about the capabilities of DNA center but by the looks of it there is an overlap in functionality (at least there seems to be some sort of support for automation).

Can someone clarify where the capabilities overlap, where they differ and how the two solutions may contemplate each other?

Any input highly appreciated.

I have already signed up for an intro webinar on DNA center, but it doesnt take place until more than two weeks. I could do with some info (links to resources also welcome) soon/now.

[vleijon · Accepted solution]

This is a little bit of a complicated issue, and the answer is evolving as DNAc evolves.

I think about it something like this: DNAc delivers a few nicely packaged use-cases, which go beyond automation into analytics and reporting.

Originally DNAc did not have any real APIs but in the latest release they area adding that. But, those APIs are largely APIs towards the packaged use-cases, and are meant to let you combine, enhance and automate those use-cases rather than build new ones. But DNAc is being rapidly enhanced.

NSO delivers a toolbox for automation.

It is hard to say something generic, I am an NSO guy so I see everything as an NSO problem of course. :) But they are definitely complementary, NSO is an ideal tool for working around DNAc for use-cases the are customer-specific or not yet developed for NSO.

[KJ Rossavik · Accepted solution]

At a very simplistic level, DNAC is our offering to enterprises while NSO is an SP offering. Of course there are cases where DNAC is used by SPs as well as enterprises using NSO. The latter happens quite a bit with the largest enterprises that have requirements that lean themselves towards a generic platform approach.

The main area of overlap at the moment is for Enterprise NFV, where both offer solutions for spinning up VNFs on NFVIS based platforms, e.g. ENCS. However, the NSO vBranch core function pack (CFP) approaches this from a service provider perspective, with multi-tenancy and large scale.

We have seen interest in the NSO based vBranch/ENVF solution from large enterprises whose scale requirements go beyond what can be done with DNAC.

We have also seen interest from SPs in offering SD-Access as a service, which would involve integration of NSO with DNAC.

Cheers,

KJ.

[crench92]

I'm having a similar issue on figuring out whether to use DNAC or NSO....for NFV. When you mention this "We have seen interest in the NSO based vBranch/ENVF solution from large enterprises whose scale requirements go beyond what can be done with DNAC." What scale requirements are beyond DNAC? I posted a similar question on where DNAC fits into the ETSI NFV Framework. https://community.cisco.com/t5/cisco-digital-network/dna-center-in-the-etsi-nfv-framework/m-p/3823139