ACI stands for "Application Centric Infrastructure." It is a term used in the field of networking and information technology to refer to a network architecture that focuses on application requirements and service delivery within a data center environment.
In ACI, the main objective is to achieve a more agile, scalable, and efficient network infrastructure that can adapt to the changing needs of applications and services. It emphasizes the integration of network, compute, storage, and virtualization resources, along with centralized policy management, to enable automated provisioning and configuration.
The ACI architecture is based on a Cisco-developed solution that utilizes a combination of hardware and software components. These components include Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), which acts as the central management and policy distribution point, and the Nexus series of switches, which provide the networking infrastructure.
Through the use of ACI, organizations can gain greater visibility and control over network resources and traffic flows, leading to enhanced security, improved performance, and simplified operations. It enables network administrators to define policies based on application requirements and have them automatically applied across the entire infrastructure, rather than individually configuring each network device.
Overall, ACI is a comprehensive approach to network infrastructure design and management that prioritizes application-centricity, central policy control, and automation to deliver more efficient and agile data center environments.
