Current events dramatically show how critical it is to maintain business continuity to support enterprise and consumer applications. Data Center Networking (DCN) resources are proving to be a lifeline in delivering content and supporting transformations such as the rapid shift to digital-only business, on-demand healthcare, and remote working and learning.

To deliver on the need for business continuity, DCN operators must have a solid infrastructure supported by automated activation and assurance analytics that together provide performance, ease of use, and no-compromise security. Since data center elements require a high-standard of compliance for integrity and reliable functionality, the administrator needs to have visibility into every detail of the complex network configuration, deployment, change control, visibility and real-time fault IDs from a single pane-of-glass provided by Data Center Network Management solutions.

There are multiple solutions for managing complex data center operations in the marketplace. What is the best way to cut through the clutter of claims, features, and capabilities promoted by networking vendors? Independent testing and analysis provide one clear path. Cisco worked with analysts fromMiercom, an independent third-party performance testing and certification company, to define a set of use cases for testing in a lab environment to create an apples-to-apples comparison among data center management products. During the test and compare cycle, Miercom analysts personally observed the use cases being run to demonstrate capabilities as diverse as resource management, brownfield configuration import, and topology overlay views. By documenting and comparing the same capabilities across vendors the true value to data center operators can be determined.

Miercom assessed the Cisco Data Center Network Management (DCNM) 11 capabilities during a hands-on, week-long testing marathon. As a result, Miercom endorsed the Cisco DCNM solution with the