On Wednesday, networking giant Cisco has started offering its software in themed packages as part of the Cisco ONE Software brand.

ONE Software brings popular networking and infrastructure products together under three licenses which can be transferred to new hardware as old routers, switches and servers get replaced.

Cisco says this approach simplifies lifecycle management and improves speed of deployment, delivering on the company’s commitment to “Fast IT”.

Radical change

Instead of browsing through hundreds of separately priced software titles, Cisco customers now have the option to obtain a license for one of three software suites dedicated to data center networking, access control or WAN management.

Each suite will have three tiers: from Foundation to Advanced Application to Advanced Security.

ONE Software can be purchased via perpetual licenses, subscription licenses or through an Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) for company-wide access. None of them are tied to specific hardware, so following an infrastructure refresh they can be applied to the next generation of devices.

Cisco claims that adopting ONE Software is not just convenient, but also makes financial sense - especially for contracts of three years and longer.

“The advent of cloud services has opened up options for organizations in purchasing, consuming and managing IT, including networking,” commented Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research.

“People require flexible consumption models – enabling services on demand and greater IT services reach. Software is paramount – giving customers the ability to go-to-market faster, make changes quickly and harness the analytics and intelligence from their IT infrastructure.”

Cisco ONE Software is available under a perpetual license immediately, with a subscription version coming in the next few months.

At the Cisco Live conference in Milan, the company also took the wraps off ONE Enterprise Cloud suite - a new hybrid cloud solution that offers advanced security, self-service and automation features.

There are some new features for the Meraki network management platform too, which Cisco acquired for $1.2 billion in 2012. These include a Unified Threat Management component, new mission-critical switch features and intelligent WAN support – the company says these additions make Meraki more suitable for large enterprise networks than ever before.