A year ago, we launched Cisco ONE Software, to give customers a simpler and more valuable way to consume Cisco's software capabilities for their infrastructure. This approach was radically different than previous models, which tightly linked the software features to the underlying hardware. The new model would need to better support evolving customer preferences, including cloud, virtualization, and SDN.

Cisco ONE Software introduced a set of software suites designed to address the most relevant customer use cases. The software was made persistent by granting customers "license portability" -the right to transfer that software to future generations of Cisco devices (with a software maintenance contract). Over time, we expanded the capabilities of these software suites, including ACI, Intercloud Fabric, APIC-EM IWAN, etc.

We never removed the traditional way to purchase Cisco's software, so there has always been choice. Customers voted with their feet, and within a year of the launch, over 7,000 customers purchased Cisco ONE Software. In fact, 76% of the Fortune 100 companies have Cisco ONE Software today. Cisco's latest technologies including the Nexus 9k, ISR 4k, Enterprise Cloud Suite, and the new 8540/5520 wireless controllers are seeing the most dramatic shift to the Cisco ONE Software model.

What's driving customers to choose Cisco ONE Software? It's quite simple:

1. Software suites based on customer use cases
2. Attractive pricing for the software included
3. Investment protection through license portability
4. Access to the latest technology

At Cisco's Partner Summit 2016, we made several announcements on how Cisco ONE Software is getting even better! We launched the Digital Network Architecture (DNA), which is an open, extensible and software driven architecture for digital business. This includes new capabilities like Enterprise NFV and CMX Cloud.  How do you get access to DNA?  Through Cisco ONE Software, of course.

We also announced the availability of the Enterprise Cloud Suite as a software subscription for pilot customers. This is the first offer within Cisco ONE Software that will be available entirely as a subscription service.  It's tailored for customers who would prefer to pay for their software over time.  We're working on subscription offers across the entire portfolio.

If you haven't had a chance to be briefed on Cisco ONE Software, I'd recommend connecting with your Cisco account team or partner, to see if you could benefit from this new model. I'd appreciate any questions or feedback in the Comments section below.

Dan Lohmeyer