The Intelligent Information Network (IIN) is a Cisco ideal wherein network and application services are integrated, allowing for cost savings and improved user productivity. The IIN is broken up into the following three individual phases:
- Integrated Systems (Integrated Transport)
- Integrated Services
- Integrated Applications (AON)
Phase 1 of the IIN is the Integrated Systems (also referred to as Integrated Transport) phase. This phase involves the convergence of voice, data, and video into a single transport network or across a system of networks. This phase is facilitated by platforms such as Cisco ISR routers.
Phase 2 of the IIN is the Integrated Services phase. This phase merges common elements such as storage and data center server capacity. Additionally, virtualization technologies allow for the integration of servers, storage, and network devices.
Phase 3 of the IIN is the Integrated Applications phase. This phase is the ultimate goal of the IIN in that it allows the network to become application-aware. Cisco refers to this as Application-Oriented Networking (AON).
The Cisco Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) framework applies IIN within the enterprise network. SONA divides the IIN ideal into the following three different layers:
- The Network Infrastructure Layer
- The Interactive Services Layer
- The Application Layer
The network infrastructure layer, also referred to as the physical infrastructure layer, facilitates the transport of services across the network. It refers to a hierarchical converged network that includes servers, storage, and clients.
The interactive services layer, also referred to as the core common services layer, optimizes the communication between applications and services using intelligent network functions such as security, identity, voice, virtualization, and quality of service.
The application layer contains the business and collaboration applications used by end users. These applications include commercial and internally developed applications, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and composite applications within the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).