Petur Petursson is VP of Micetro Enablement and Co-Founder of Men&Mice, now part of BlueCat Networks. With over 20 years of experience in network management and automation, he helps enterprises simplify DDI operations and unlock greater agility through BlueCat’s unified Micetro platform.
During a recent webinar, I joined Cisco’s Octavian Preda to introduce the Cisco Unified Branch architecture and demonstrate how BlueCat Micetro seamlessly integrates. This integration provides end-to-end control—from routing and switching to DNS and IP addressing—delivering unified management, automation, and centralized visibility across networking, security, and DDI services.
Why Unified Branch?
Today’s IT teams face fragmented branch environments, escalating security demands, lean resources, and AI-driven workloads impacting traffic and security. The clear solution is a modern branch architecture that simplifies management, scales automatically, and embeds security from the ground up.
Cisco Unified Branch: One Framework for Networking & Security
Cisco’s Unified Branch architecture stands out because it merges networking and security under a single, AI-powered operational model. This framework is built on three core pillars:
- Simplicity through automation: Cisco provides cloud-based dashboards that offer unified visibility and AI-powered assurance.
- AI-ready hardware: Their devices are designed to support data-intensive workloads and edge analytics.
- Security built-in: Cisco’s approach includes post-quantum-ready routers (incorporating cryptographic algorithms resilient to future quantum computing threats) and integrated Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)/Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) functions to protect every connection.
I’ve seen how the Meraki Dashboard now unifies management of IOS XE and Meraki MX devices, which is a significant step forward. Furthermore, Cisco’s Branch-as-Code initiative enables programmable infrastructure using Terraform providers and Cisco Validated Designs for repeatable, reliable deployments via Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
Secure Routers for the AI Era
Cisco’s Secure Routers 8000 Series are particularly impressive. Designed for all office sizes, they integrate:
- Embedded Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW)
- Post-quantum security readiness
- Automation hooks for rapid provisioning
These routers, along with Cisco Smart Switches and Wi-Fi 7 access points, form a robust hardware foundation for the Unified Branch.
Automation & Lifecycle Management
Automation is a journey, and Cisco offers paths for every stage:
- Manual: The Meraki cloud dashboard is ideal for lean teams.
- Partial: Pre-built templates streamline common operations.
- Full: Infrastructure-as-Code, leveraging Terraform and validated Cisco designs, provides comprehensive automation.
This tiered model ensures pre-change validation, review gates, and post-change verification, which is critical for reducing risk and ensuring compliance at scale.
BlueCat Micetro: Unifying DDI
This is where BlueCat Micetro comes in. Our DDI (DNS, DHCP, and IP Address Management) orchestration platform is designed to perfectly complement Cisco’s Unified Branch. Micetro acts as an intelligent overlay, connecting to your existing DNS/DHCP systems—whether they’re Windows Server, Azure DNS, AWS Route 53, or Meraki DHCP—and consolidating them into a single, intuitive graphical and API-driven interface.
With Micetro, you gain:
- Centralized management of all your DNS and DHCP scopes.
- Comprehensive subnet documentation with powerful tagging and search capabilities.
- Robust role-based access control to secure your DDI.
- A powerful REST API and Terraform provider for seamless automation.
- Real-time bi-directional synchronization with Meraki DHCP, which I believe is crucial for eliminating configuration drift.
Extending Visibility with BlueCat Edge
We also extend visibility with BlueCat Edge. This solution enhances Cisco’s Secure Access and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) platforms by adding critical internal DNS visibility. BlueCat Edge identifies precisely which user or device makes every DNS query, enriching data for tools like Cisco XDR or Splunk, and significantly improving threat response.
Deployment & Licensing
Micetro is incredibly flexible software, deployable exactly where you need it—on-premises or in the cloud. We’ve simplified licensing by basing it on active IP addresses, making scaling straightforward. And to make things even easier, Micetro is available through the Cisco Global Price List (GPL) Price Book, unifying procurement and support through Cisco.
Key Takeaways
From my perspective, the key takeaways from our collaboration and the Unified Branch approach are clear:
- Unified Operations: We achieve centralized policy and visibility across both access and security.
- Automation at Scale: This accelerates deployment and ensures consistency across your branches.
- Centralized DDI: It eliminates fragmented tools and the need for manual tracking, which is a huge win for efficiency.
- Integrated Security: BlueCat Edge complements Cisco ZTNA, providing deep DNS visibility that’s essential for modern security.
- Future-Ready: With post-quantum routers and AI-capable infrastructure, you’re prepared for what’s next.
Ultimately, unified operations translate directly into resilience, agility, and control for your organization. When your network and DDI layers work as one, you can innovate more and troubleshoot less.
Ready to See It in Action?
Visit BlueCat Micetro on Cisco Marketplace to learn more, or request a demo to see firsthand how Cisco Unified Branch and BlueCat Micetro can work together to simplify your networking.
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