Network Services Orchestrator from Cisco Systems Inc. is moving into the mid-market space.

The software, which automates services across traditional and virtualized networks, provides end-to-end orchestration and bridges multiple equipment manufacturers. In partnership with CCI Systems Inc., a provider of telecommunication solutions and services, Cisco is expanding the market for its software orchestration tool.

“Network Services Orchestrator was primarily targeted at large providers that have the investment resources and programming staff,” said Mike Saur (pictured, left), solutions architect, NetDevOps, at CCI Systems. “Cisco and CCI have come together to solve two of the big problems in our space for our customers, the math problem of the investment that’s needed to bring up Network Services Orchestrator and also the programming piece of that. Not a lot of providers in the mid-market space have that expertise, so CCI and Cisco are really pulling all of that together with various trusted partners to bring that to life in a shorter time frame with more sets of controls.”

Saur spoke with Stu Miniman, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, for a digital CUBE Conversation. He was joined by Omar Sultan, leader of project management, network automation, at Cisco, and they discussed how mid-market customers are using automation solutions and the need for tools to handle an explosion of enterprise data. (* Disclosure below.)

Less building, more assembly

NSO has been available for over eight years and is used inside over 100 production networks globally. As Cisco and CCI have moved into the mid-market, the customer base has shown an interest in NSO as part of a larger automation solution.

“In the mid-market, one of the things we see is customers doing less building and more assembly,” Sultan said. “They take things off the shelf, maybe a little bit of NSO, but it’s also paired with a little bit of Ansible or Python, and that’s how they’re going to handle their automation requirements. It’s probably faster and, in the long run, easier to maintain.”

Cisco and CCI are addressing a need among mid-sized businesses to find solutions that can handle the volume of data created by internet of things and the plethora of new devices being migrated online.

“I preach a lot and talk about the vicious cycle of not automating,” Saur said. “More devices mean more work; it’s just a volumetric problem and certain automation tools can really make a difference in their world. It’s reducing human error, helping those businesses provide more uptime for their end customers, and driving a different way to operate networks in a more efficient and accurate way.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations. (* Disclosure: Cisco Systems Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Cisco nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE