When it comes to visions of the future, what's the one aspect that's the same for anyone discussing that topic? From Gene Roddenberry to Isaac Asimov to George Jetson, the one constant is that life becomes easier the more mobile and more automated it is. Well, welcome to the future, courtesy of Cisco.

Cisco Digital Network Architecture (DNA) automates your network while specializing in its mobility. In short, it is a solution that will change the way you deploy and manage your network for the digital era. Cisco DNA is a software-driven architecture focused on automation, security, and analytics.

How does Cisco DNA make things simpler? This question is best answered by looking at the three pillars of Cisco DNA:

Lower Cost and Complexity. This is the key component of automation and assurance, as Cisco DNA simplifies deployment and streamlines operations with better user experiences and confidence.How does automation and mobility work together? Cisco DNA provides an always-on, always-ready infrastructure that self-optimizes to deliver optimal performance in a dynamic environment. For example, when Wi-Fi demand increases, the network will automatically increase capacity. The network also automatically uses optimized roaming, which connects the mobile device to the optimal access point without impacting the end user.This optimization is further augmented on Apple mobile devices resulting in eight times faster roaming-Cisco is the only network provider to jointly deliver this functionality with Apple. Optimal network performance for critical apps can be ensured at all times. This is done through the Apple partnership for iOS applications as well as through application visibility and control.

Higher Compliance and Lower Risk. Wireless is your first line of defense and Cisco DNA takes care of your security and compliance needs. According to the white paper: "High Powered Network Edge 2016" published by ZK Research, 80% of security breaches occurring inside the perimeter, Cisco DNA prevents unauthorized access. It also limits the impact of incidents, logically segments your network with granular policies and protects the airwaves from: rogues, wireless attacks and interference.Cisco Identity Service Engine is the brains behind Cisco DNA security. It includes device profiling which encompasses user, device, and app-specific policies to enforce role based access control. It also allows for the ability to intelligently segment the network for users, guests, and IoT device traffic to limit the threat surface and track anomalous behavior.

This means:

• Greater control of policy segmentation for consistent policy and enforcement end-to-end.
• Network wide visibility, tracking anomalous behavior and delivering improved security activity monitoring.
• Quickly identifying and quarantining infected hosts, thus preventing attacks from propagating.
• Protecting all devices including less capable IoT and legacy devices, that do not support 802.1x.
• Securing the edge by Identifying rogue access points and devices to protect against wireless attacks and malware.

Faster Innovation.With insights and experiences provided by Cisco DNA, you will make better business decisions and drive user engagement.You tell Cisco DNA what you want to learn from your network and the solution provides you with easy-to-understand analytics. Built-in features such as Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX) give you the network insights to make faster business decisions based on customer behavior or what your employees are doing.

You know that when it comes to a network it isn't just about connecting devices and then calling it a day. Mobility is much too important for that, 56% of Line of Businesses say a mobility strategy is very or extremely important to their objectives.  This translates into a demand for the network to have high reliability, conquer overall complexity and still be cost-effective.

What does this all mean though? Customers that have deployed the Cisco DNA solutions have seen key improvements such as:

• A five-Year ROI of 402% and a nine-month payback period with an average of$48K annual benefits (per 100 users)
• 42% faster WAN branch deployments
• 17% faster delivery of applications
• 28% more efficient IT networking staff teams

Still not convinced you're a step away from the future? Check out this table comparing Cisco to our competition, you'll see that we truly have the DNA in us.