Business|customers|in every industry are facing fierce competition from digital born-in-the-cloud disruptors. As their businesses have grown, so has the complexity of their networks. Yet, the network is at the heart of their business, and increasingly so is software, cloud, and IoT, so digital transformation become critical to their business growth strategy.

Customers know they must accelerate their digital transformation journeys to compete and win, so they started asking us (Cisco and our partners) different questions. They are asking us for much more than networking and connectivity. Now they're asking us to help themautomate their networksand they're asking us to help them use it tosolve their business problems.

This can be done because the new network has new capabilities -it is programmable, has APIs, and supports DevOps -and it can be used to solve business problems. The new network is capable of intent-based networking to gather telemetry from the network and use that information to provide assurance and optimize performance. It integrates security at the network layer, using methods like network segmentation to give appropriate access and isolation by setting policies for users, devices, and applications. It brings IoT to life in industrial settings with capabilities like WiFi 6 and 5G coupled with edge computing architectures. These capabilities of the new network make network automation possible for our customers. This allows them to deploy business applications and policies across the network at the speed their businesses demand.

Networking is different now. The new network places IT front and center for driving business priorities and outcomes. It is the IT pros -network engineers, systems architects, DevOps engineers, software developers -inside our customer and partner organizations who now find themselves in increasingly important roles. Roles that require new skills, new technologies, new ways of thinking. These are the exact people that make up the DevNet community.

Cisco DevNet provides the resources our community needs to develop skills to be ready for the future; to ensure customers get the most value out of their technology investment; and to ensure partners can deliver differentiated service offerings to help their customers automate their infrastructure and drive business outcomes.

The scope and pace of new technology to learn about can be daunting, so DevNet keeps working to provide IT professionals with ready access to the skills and resources needed to succeed in a digital future. DevNet is also helping CIOs and IT leaders build IT teams they need to succeed. Let me tell you about some of the new resources and opportunities for you coming from DevNet:

Get ready for DevNet Certifications to go live February 24, 2020!

Last June we announced our new Cisco DevNet Certifications to complement our Cisco CCNA, CCNP, Specialist, and CCIE Certifications. You knew it was important to skill up on software, automation, and DevOps, but there was no way to formally test and recognize your new capabilities and the value you provide. The new DevNet Certifications enable individuals to validate skill sets in areas such as software & application development, automation, programmability, DevOps, Cloud, and IoT. The exams will be available on February 24, 2020.

The first level of DevNet certification is the Cisco DevNet Associate certification. This first-in-its-class certification is being pioneered by Cisco and validates associate-level skill sets in:

• Understanding and Using APIs
• Software Development and Design
• Application Deployment and Security
• Infrastructure and Automation
• Cisco Platforms & Development
• Network Fundamentals

DevNet helps you prepare for the Certification exams

To help the DevNet community study and prepare for the certification exams, we are introducing 61 Cisco training courses. We also designed a new learning experience for theDevNet Associate Fundamentals Training Coursewith exam-focused materials and an interactive all-in-one learning experience with a hands-on coding environment. Candidates who take the DevNet Associate Fundamentals training course have an opportunity to assess and demonstrate their software and automation skills in advance of the exam being made available widely -and help better prepare them to ensure success. All the courses will be available Feb. 21, 2020.

We noticed that people started forming study groups to prepare for the DevNet certification exam, so DevNet created and is launching aDevNet Study Group platformthat allows you to skip the hassle of finding, starting, or running a study group. The new online platform allows study group organizers and members to focus on learning any technology topic, or preparing for Cisco Certification Exams.

The DevNet Study Group platform provides:

• A platform with collaborative learning experience for high touch online groups;
• One place for peer sharing materials, group learning activities, discussions and quizzes;
  An opportunity to start and lead a group, or discover and join an existing group.

To stay up-to-date on availability of all of DevNet's tools for you to power up your software skills, simply visit developer.cisco.com/certification to mark your interest and stay informed.

Will you be among the "DevNet 500"?

OK... DevNet certifications... makes perfect sense... but if you know DevNet you know we like to have a little fun along the journey. So today we are introducing the "DevNet 500" -a program that recognizes and distinguishes the first 500 individuals who become DevNet Certified in any certification. The DevNet 500 will recognize all individuals regardless of the specific learning path they take -Associate, Specialist or Professional -and from wherever in the world they pass the exam.

DevNet 500 individuals will be recognized with a designated web-enabled badge -a credential that can be leveraged online for professional and personal recognition. So register for your exam today and aim to be part of the DevNet 500!

DevNet Specialization for Cisco Partners:

Partners can help customersautomate their networksand help them use it tosolve their business problems. This does require a new way of doing networking, and it needs a software skillset to fully leverage the network's new capabilities. I'm happy to say that our partners are investing in developing their software capabilities and business practices. Over 9,000 Cisco partners have DevNet members, and among those partners there are nearly 50,000 DevNet members.

We're also announcing thenew Cisco business specialization for Partners-you guessed it -The DevNet Specialization. This specialization will recognize partner companies who have built and demonstrated software and automation capabilities, and have the business offers to deliver the solutions that our customers need to lead in this software-driven world.

The DevNet Specialization for partners will be available in Summer 2020, a few months after the DevNet Certification exams are available. The details of the specialization will be published then, but at a high level, the eligibility of the DevNet Specialization will include having a number of DevNet Certified individuals, demonstrating your software capabilities, and having software and automation business offerings in the market.

DevNet resources for your network automation journey

DevNet has long been known for its network automation focused learning labs and sandboxes -all easily available from the DevNet Networking Dev Center. We've added the DevNet Automation Exchange provides shared code repositories for network automation and guides teams through their journey with a walk-run-fly methodology:

? Walk - Get visibility and insights into your network
? Run - Activate policy and intent across different network domains.
? Fly - Proactively manage applications, users, devices with DevOps workflow.

You'll find automation use cases, sample code, and be part of a community of network professionals and software developers to unleash the capabilities of the new network. And check out DevNet Code Exchange where you can discover, learn, build, and collaborate on curated GitHub projects to jumpstart your work with Cisco platforms, products, APIs, and SDKs.

IoT -Cisco Cyber Vision

Organizations are expanding and converging multiple domains onto a common Ethernet/IP-based networks. This is happening because users want immediate access to data and information from their devices, all the way to the edge. Now, Cisco is announcing Cisco Cyber Vision that automates discovery of industrial devices providing visibility into OT, and Cisco Edge Intelligence that simplifies data governance and control for these devices.

Cisco Cyber Visionis the first software-based security solution for OT and integrated into Cisco's industrial networking portfolio. It analyses traffic from your connected devices and assets, allowing IT and OT to secure the operational network so you can maintain production integrity and continuity.

Cisco Edge Intelligenceis a new IoT software that extracts, processes, and delivers data from connected assets at the edge to multi-cloud destinations. Like Cisco Cyber Vision, it is a software service deployed on Cisco's industrial networking for easy, out-of-the box deployments.

Visit DevNet's IoT Dev Center to learn more

Find tools and answers in DevNet "Dev Centers"

• Service Provider Dev Center
• Meraki Dev Center
• Networking Dev Center
• Data Center Dev Center
• Security Dev Center
• Collaboration Dev Center
• IoT Dev Center

In Barcelona? Come see us in the Cisco Live DevNet Zone

We'd love to hear what you think. Ask a question or leave a comment below.
And stay connected with Cisco DevNet on social!

Twitter @CiscoDevNet | Facebook | LinkedIn

Visit the new Developer Video Channel