There are a lot of great technologies that have outstanding business benefits but are not widely deployed. For example, 802.1X for wired networks can determine appropriate network access based on user identity and additional contextual information. The technology is already built into the network to help customers improve their network security. If you ask your peers in the industry, however, you may hear that many of them have not turned on 802.1X on their switching network.  Why? Depending on who you ask, you might get different answers from different people. But one common response is that IT staff is too busy with so many burning issues on their network so they don't have time for something like 802.1X. It's not just about this technology. They never have enough time to do testing, troubleshooting and configuration changes. That's why any solutions that can help simplify and streamline networks and IT operations will go a long way.

Cisco launched Catalyst Instant Access at Cisco Live Orlando in June this year. This solution dramatically simplifies the design, deployment and operations of your access network. With this solution, you can manage your entire access switching infrastructure of a campus or a large branch office by taking care of a single core switch which in turn will push out the correct software image as well as the client switch configurations. With this simplification, you can deploy access switches instantly through a single touch point with feature and configuration consistency. You can watch this short Cisco video for a great summary or this Cisco TechWiseTV video to learn how it works.

Still, you might have more questions.  Is there more in-depth information on Catalyst Instant Access?  Are there any restrictions? In what type of environments does this solution work the best? And what are the things to know before deploying this solution?  Well, we hear you.  I'm excited to share with you that Cisco will have a Catalyst Instant Access Fundamentals Workshop this week on Wednesday, August 28th, 2013 to go over this solution in great details. Please register to get it on your calendar and join our experts to learn more!

The registration can be found here: