Health is about more than just taking medicine when we get ill. To stay healthy, we need to think long-term. It's about understanding the different components of a healthy lifestyle, as well as what the potential dangers are and how to prevent them. And we need to continuously monitor our health, so we can become aware of problems when they start to appear and take action quickly.

Overseeing the health of a telecoms, internet or cable provider's network is just the same. Service providers need a strong understanding of how networks function. But they also need comprehensive, timely information about its operations, so they can know when something might go wrong, and step in to resolve it if necessary.

In today's networking environment, that's increasingly hard to do. Data comes from lots of different sources, and in different formats. Not having a clear picture of the system can lead to delays in tackling problems, with issues stacking up on top of each other. At a time when customer expectations are increasing, things could become impossible to keep on top of.

Cutting through the noise

Cisco's engineers have been focusing their resources on how they can help service providers stay in control of their systems, and make the most of future growth opportunities. The solution that they've come up with is Cisco Crosswork -a new, holistic framework for managing the networks of the future.

Crosswork uses technology like streaming telemetry and open APIs tobring together data from all parts of the network, even when these are built using technology from different vendors.

This information is essential, but there's a lot of it. We also need a way to cut through the noise. This is where Crosswork's augmented intelligence comes in, using techniques such as machine learning to provide you with an informed assessment of how things are ticking over. By analysing patterns in data, often in near real time, it can tell you what's working fine and where there might be a problem, faster than any human can.

You can then use these insights to take effective action -whether that's preventing outages, changing or deleting services, or dealing with other maintenance issues.

A unified view

Our world-leading technology provides a holistic network management framework that's ready to take on future challenges. It monitors wellbeing, identifies issues early, and in many cases resolves them automatically. And when you have confidence that your network is running smoothly, you're free to concentrate on what really matters.

Find out how Cisco's world-leading technology can lay the foundations for future growth.

Read more aboutaugmented intelligence with Cisco Crosswork