Cisco unifies GUIs across security range

'Magnetic' design framework, already deployed in Meraki kit, will make it to other products in coming years

Cisco has created a design framework that will in coming years be applied to the user interfaces for all its security products.

Called Magnetic, the framework was quietly introduced to Cisco's Meraki range in July 2022.

Speaking today at the Cisco Live conference in Melbourne, Australia, Cisco's executive veep and general manager for security and collaboration Jetu Patel said Magnetic will become standard in all of Cisco's products in coming years.

The effort is not just cosmetic: Patel said 50 percent of security breaches happen because end users struggle to work with complex products. Magnetic is designed to simplify management, hopefully making it harder to make mistakes.

Magnetic will also be consistent across devices and services, so as IT pros move between tools they'll see familiar elements repeated. Again, Cisco hopes that means fewer opportunities to make a mistake, plus the bonus of faster skills acquisition. Switchzilla hopes it will mean training on its products becomes more valuable as it applies to more products.

The biz is also realistic enough to know that cross-selling won't get any harder once its products all behave consistently.

Patel said Magnetic will start to appear in more of Cisco's security products in the next three to six months, with "monthly drops" adding new features.

"Thousands and thousands of screens will be refactored," he said.

That's going to take a lot of effort and therefore a lot of time. Magnetic will not be omnipresent for years.

Cisco has published a couple of brief videos showing off the UI.

YouTube Video

A longer demo of Magnetic on Meraki is available here. ®