#CiscoChampion Radio is a series by Cisco Champions as technologists. We're kicking off Season 2 with Cisco Senior Architect Azeem Suleman, who is talking about Cisco ACI. Lauren Friedman (@lauren) moderates and Scott Morris and Jason Benedicic are this week's Cisco Champion guest hosts.

Listento the Podcast.

Learn about the Cisco Champions Program HERE.
See a list of all#CiscoChampion Radio podcasts HERE.

Cisco SME
Azeem Suleman, Cisco Senior Architect

Cisco Champions
Scott Morris, (@ScottMorrisCCIE), Senior Instructor
Jason Benedic, (@jabenedicic), Technical Architect

Highlights
ACI Overview
Benefits of ACI
Use case examples
Why ACI is different (from an SDN perspective)
Best practices for implementing ACI
ACI Contracts
ACI "WOW" factors

Resources
Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure

Transcripts
Mohamed AbousenaHi to all
@ChrisKnowsITHello
laurenmalhoitShameless plug: http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/general-virtualization-articles/cisco-aci-creating-basic-network-constructs.html
laurenmalhoitACI on GitHub: https://github.com/datacenter/aci
bwhaynesQ: Is cisco ACI a SDN solution? Some vendors move away from OpenFlow or Open Networking Foundation (ONF). what are Cisco similarities and differences?
laurenmalhoitIt is technically an SDN and hardware abstraction solution.
laurenmalhoitMain difference is that we work with the physical stuff, too
laurenmalhoitAnd we offer more visibility into the software and hardware layers with health scores, latency, etc.
@ChrisKnowsITReal interesting article from Joe Onisick regarding ACI\NSX posted yesterday: http://www.definethecloud.net/building-the-right-network-for-your-vmware
edmorganYeh, that post by Joe is really good
laurenmalhoitAnother video from Joe on visibility: http://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/aci-video-demo
CCIE4713I think all of us (at least those who were alive in the 80's) now have that playing in our heads!
laurenmalhoitMigration white paper: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/nexus-9000-series-switches/white-paper-c11-731686.html
laurenmalhoitConfiguring VMware Integration on the APIC http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/vmware-esx-and-vsphere-articles/general/cisco-aci-con
Cisco Champion RadioOk, folks... who has questions?
Fish14Lauren M -hadn't seen some of those URLs. Very nice
Fish14glad you are sharing them...... thanks!!!!!!
laurenmalhoitThanks!
smitmartijnQ: APIC is currently physical -is a virtual edition coming up?
laurenmalhoitNo commitments to a virtual APIC now that I know of, but someone should ask out loud
laurenmalhoitThat's spelled SHARD =)
bwhaynesQ: What is your "wow" feature of Cisco ACI or the APIC?
laurenmalhoitThinking more about the basic SDN question. Most SDN solutions just take the current complexities of th network and put it in the software layer
laurenmalhoitThat's where the application centric part comes in for ACI. We break down the barriers between apps teams and ops teams. We find out how apps really
laurenmalhoitcommunicate and what their dependencies are. It's also non-block and penalty free...no STP
laurenmalhoitwow factors: being able to copy application network profiles, fabric discovery, health scores
jabenedicicwow factor: default block, not like a traditional network which is default open
jabenedicicwow factor: integrate into UCSD, fully automated provisioning of services from end to end including network & security provisioning
laurenmalhoitwow factors: truly separating identity from location
WirelessStewWay to go Fish!!!
laurenmalhoityeah, a lot of great questions there!
bwhaynesQ: What about reports or analytics? Anything worth mentioning or anyone have some funky stories?
CCIE4713Fish got the lightbulb and ran with it!
jabenedicicwow factor: ability to visualise an application on the network for audit purposes
Fish14   we've been playing with ACI here can you tell?