Enterprise Agreement Provider Connectivity Portfolio Guide
Solve the broadest set of customer problems with a worldwide leader in networking.
Cisco’s Provider Connectivity portfolio offers wide area network, metropolitan area network, and data center interconnect solutions for enterprises, public sector entities, and service provider agreements from a global leader in networking.
From connecting private or public sector networks to distributed sites, connecting data centers, colocation sites, or cloud providers using routing and optical technologies to support mission-critical traffic, to providing real-time data to identify and address service issues, our networking solutions help you quickly adapt to change, simplify operations, and drive outstanding customer experience.
With the new EA Buying Program, your organization can implement cross-architectural solutions more efficiently. This program enables rapid deployment of Cisco technologies, standardized across your enterprise, and offers comprehensive support under a single contract.
Introduction
The Cisco® Enterprise Agreement (EA) comprises six portfolios that encompass our software and services suites. These include Networking Infrastructure, Applications Infrastructure, Collaboration, Provider Connectivity, Security, and Services. An EA offers you more than just a service agreement or buying program; it brings you the power and breadth of our entire software and services portfolio under a single, simplified agreement. It gives you easy access to the Cisco technologies you need to scale rapidly and accelerate at the speed of business. Not only does an EA simplify purchasing, it also offers you a future-ready software subscription strategy that delivers greater value, agility, and flexibility for your organization.
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One agreement
The Cisco EA is designed to cover your entire organization. When you purchase through an EA, the EA Program Terms will apply from your initial purchase to any future purchases you make within the term of the agreement. With Cisco’s EA management platform, you can manage your Cisco EA from one place with complete visibility and granular control.
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Easier expansion
The Cisco EA makes it easy to invest in the technology to support accelerated business transformation when you need it. Add additional software and services to your existing contract without another enterprise-wide commitment. It includes flexible commitment levels and lower spending minimums so you can respond to business changes rapidly.
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Comprehensive solutions
Organizations can combine suites from the six portfolios available in a Cisco EA to create a custom solution to address business needs. Complementing the bespoke ability customers have to meet their needs, Cisco offers solutions specifically designed to address the network security threats customers face today.
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Exceptional value
The Cisco EA delivers preferred pricing that rewards increased commitment with invaluable benefits, including pricing incentives, financial predictability, and investment protection. Maximize your investment with access to exclusive offers such as multisuite discounts.
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Simple membership
Get all the benefits of the Cisco EA for as little as $100,000 total contract value. The Cisco EA makes it easy to invest in technology when you need it.
Deliver and monetize differentiated services, and surpass customer expectations
The Cisco Provider Connectivity portfolio focuses on helping you adapt quickly to change and simplify and scale operations, while protecting against service degradation and threats. Imagine being able to execute intent-based, proactive service assurance across your entire multivendor, multidomain network. With the capabilities of the Cisco Provider Connectivity portfolio’s suites, you are empowered to optimize service performance, enabling you to deliver and monetize differentiated services that not only meet but surpass customer expectations.
The simplicity of the new EA brings together industry-leading Cisco service provider offerings with other Cisco offerings in a way that can help supercharge business operations. You can more easily and effectively implement critical cross-technology solutions, such as security and services.
Suites
Cisco Provider Connectivity solutions
Under the new EA, the Cisco Provider Connectivity portfolio includes the following solutions:
- Network automation
- Network assurance
Network automation
Network automation is the process of automating the configuration, management, testing, deployment, and operation of physical and virtual devices within a network. With everyday network tasks and functions automated and repetitive processes controlled and managed automatically, network service availability improves. Hardware- and software-based solutions enable data centers, service providers, and enterprises to implement network automation to improve efficiency, reduce human error, and lower operating expenses. Select from the following software suites in a Cisco Enterprise Agreement:
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Cisco Crosswork Network Services Orchestrator (NSO)
Cisco Crosswork® Network Services Orchestrator provides a single, network-wide interface to all network devices and services—both physical and virtual—using a single-state model and configuration database. Through this common model, Cisco Crosswork NSO acts as a conduit between applications and service owners and infrastructure operations. Bridge the gap between intent and action for dynamic service delivery, now with even higher performance.
Learn more about Cisco Crosswork Network Services Orchestrator
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Cisco Crosswork Hierarchical Controller platform
The Crosswork Hierarchical Controller provides a single pane of glass for all the network components—from Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) links to routers and from wavelength services to private line services. It controls your existing optical, microwave, and packet domains with the same unified approach and allows you to create services that meet strict low-latency and high-availability requirements. Manage and operate your IP and optical networks with ease. Build a seamless path toward converged transport.
Learn more about the Cisco Crosswork Hierarchical Controller platform
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Cisco Crosswork Workflow Manager
Crosswork Workflow Manager enables customers to build their own automation workflows, with capabilities to integrate to existing operations support systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS) within their environment. Run your network confidently with reliable and repeatable processes. Leverage prebuilt workflows from the Crosswork Router Automation Kit to speed deployment.
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Cisco Evolved Programmable Network (EPN) Manager
Our EPN Manager is designed for element and network management systems. It provides simplified, converged, end-to-end lifecycle management for carrier-grade networks of all sizes. Businesses can improve agility and operational efficiencies through automated device operations, fast provisioning, and proactive assurance.
Network assurance
Imagine being able to execute intent-based, proactive service assurance across your entire multivendor, multidomain network. With Cisco’s network assurance capabilities, you are empowered to optimize service performance, enabling you to deliver and monetize differentiated services that not only meet but surpass customer expectations using the following suite:
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Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance, formerly Accedian Skylight
Provider Connectivity Assurance is designed to deliver granular, service-centric performance visibility and “provider-grade” assurance for communications service providers (CSPs) and any business or public sector entity that operates its own private network. Continuous, real-time visibility into end-to-end network and service quality, as well as per-segment visibility with microsecond precision, enables you to proactively identify and resolve performance issues across your entire multivendor, multilayer, and multidomain network infrastructure.
The solution combines advanced data collection, analytics, and visualization capabilities to give network teams a deep understanding in real time and a single view of network and application behavior. Granular performance metrics from Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensors are correlated with Cisco telemetry and/or third-party data, and AI-enabled analytics provide real-time anomaly detection and predictive insights to speed up troubleshooting and automate issue remediation.
Eligibility requirements
To make the EA more accessible, we’ve lowered its minimum eligibility requirements by reducing the required commitment across a business as follows:
Term minimum: 3- and 5-year terms with a 7-year exception
Contract value: $100,000 net at program level, after discount and preinstalled base credits at program level
| Fully committed suite | Partially committed suite | |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 minimum net requirement, enterprise-wide device coverage | No minimum requirement | |
| Customers receive all EA benefits for committed suites | Customers receive limited benefits for partially committed suites |
Popular add-ons, software support, and available services
Accessing services for Provider Connectivity
One of the primary benefits of the new EA is that it makes it easier to quickly adopt and integrate a broad array of technologies from across Cisco’s portfolios.
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Solution Support
Cisco Customer Experience (CX) has a portfolio of end-to-end services that provide world-class expert guidance and digital intelligence to help our customers drive business outcomes faster. Cisco Solution Support provides centralized support across more than 30 solutions and more than 250 products. Engage with Cisco Services for prebuilt workflow packages and integrations that help you achieve faster go-to-market times and address commonly encountered business needs.
Available portfolios
Easy access to other Cisco subscription portfolios
Now that the new EA brings all Cisco portfolios under one agreement, it’s easier for you to access our full complement of technologies and innovations and be able to respond to the dynamic changes in your industry.
Networking infrastructure portfolio
As a worldwide leader in networking, Cisco’s Networking Infrastructure portfolio serves the broadest range of networking needs across industries and segments. Our networking solutions help you quickly adapt to change and simplify and scale operations, while also protecting against service degradation and threats.
Plus the new Cisco EA brings together our industry-leading Cisco DNA software, Meraki®, and cloud networking offerings to supercharge your business. Your organization can more easily, quickly, and effectively implement critical cross-technology solutions, such as security and services. And you can dynamically adjust and adapt your networking infrastructure to keep pace with your network’s expanding and evolving demands.
Applications infrastructure portfolio
From hybrid cloud architectures to application experiences, enterprise-wide full stack observability to low-code workflow design, Cisco’s broad portfolio of applications can address your most pressing technology requirements and help you meet your strategic objectives.
The new Cisco EA makes it simpler to get the applications you need today and enables flexibility and agility as your needs shift. It also simplifies and speeds up your ability to deploy other critical Cisco portfolio solutions, such as combining with collaboration tools for hybrid work or leveraging networking technologies for more efficient data center operations.
Collaboration portfolio
Webex Suite, available in the new EA, delivers the calling, meeting, messaging, and events tools you need to bring people together easily and help them work together productively. It can also help you meet increasingly complex security and compliance requirements, which are key to keeping your business information safe and secure.
The new Cisco EA makes it easy to get a holistic collaboration enrollment with a single contract, standardized across an entire enterprise and with a higher level of comprehensive support. It also makes it easier to take advantage of Cisco collaboration solutions when you enroll for one of the other Cisco solution portfolios covered by the EA, including Networking Infrastructure and Applications Infrastructure.
Security portfolio
Cisco security solutions, known as Cisco Secure, take an integrated platform approach to radically simplify business security. They apply intelligence to anticipate the changing needs of your business and provide the protection you need everywhere to enable your employees to work from anywhere. The broad portfolio of Cisco security solutions includes leading solutions that protect organizations at the user, device, network, and application/data levels.
Plus the new EA makes it easy to get a holistic security enrollment with a single contract, standardized across an entire enterprise and with a higher level of comprehensive support. The new EA also makes it simpler to take advantage of Cisco Secure when you enroll for one of the other Cisco solution portfolios covered by the EA, including Networking Infrastructure, Collaboration, and Applications Infrastructure. Combine portfolios in ways that support cross-architectural solutions. For example, a SASE implementation might incorporate offerings from the Cisco Networking Infrastructure, Security, and Services portfolios.
Services portfolio
Customers like you have told us they feel pressure to defend investments and ROI, that a skills gap is slowing transformation, and that IT projects are more complex than ever before, increasing risk.
We designed Cisco Success Tracks to provide you with a more tailored approach to removing the roadblocks of today’s most critical technology challenges with the agility to navigate change. Success Tracks is a suite of success services connecting you to the right expertise, insights, learning, and support at the right time to accelerate success.
The Services portfolio, featuring Success Tracks, can help you get more value from your Cisco Enterprise Agreement. Simplify contract management by pairing the Services portfolio with one or more of the software portfolios, and you converge software and support for both software and hardware to one agreement, one renewal date, and one set of terms.
Financial benefits
Financial benefits of the new EA
In addition to delivering on technology and business needs, the new EA offers financial benefits designed for the needs of enterprises. The following are a few examples:
Financial flexibility
As with technology, financing increasingly needs to be more dynamic. The new EA delivers new levels of flexibility for financing, such as flexible terms and volume ramp options.
Financial predictability with True Forward
The financial predictability of True Forward makes the EA stand out from other agreements. Unlike enterprise licensing agreements from other technology providers that require businesses to true up every year, the new EA does not retroactively charge for a year's extra usage if it stays within 15 percent of the initial order. This saves you from potentially having a large, unexpected bill at your contract anniversary—as frequently happens with other technology providers. Instead, Cisco will work with you to update the next year’s contract to bring it closer in line with your actual usage.
Cisco Capital
Flexible payment solutions to help you achieve your objectives
Cisco Capital® makes it easier to get the right technology to achieve your objectives, enable business transformation and help you stay competitive. We can help you reduce the total cost of ownership, conserve capital, and accelerate growth. In more than 100 countries, our flexible payment solutions can help you acquire hardware, software, services and complementary third-party equipment in easy, predictable payments. Learn more.