Cisco is paving the way to an application-centric infrastructure with the launch of a new data centre networking architecture.

At this week’s Cisco Live in Orlando, Cisco announced a new architecture designed to transform data centres to better address the demands of new and current applications in the cloud era.

Accelerated to market by Cisco’s investment in Insieme Networks, this fundamental shift to application-centric infrastructure will provide IT with the ability to quickly deliver business applications to end-users with a simpler operational model, scalable secure infrastructure, and at optimised cost.

This shift requires an open, programmable and automated infrastructure that is ready to handle the challenges of cloud deployment models and today’s big data applications.

Cisco also announced two key enhancements to its Unified Fabric portfolio. Dynamic Fabric Automation (DFA), which automates network provisioning, simplifies fabric management and optimises fabric for greater efficiency and scale.

Extensions to the Nexus 7000 portfolio with new Nexus 7700 Series switches and new F3 Series I/O Modules that deliver industry leading 40G/100G scalability, with the most comprehensive set of data centre switching features.