Executive Summary
What began as a DevNet-led initiative to enable secure, compliant e-commerce for DevNet certification collateral and preparation materials has since evolved into a foundational framework benefiting Cisco at large. Over two years, the DevNet team navigated complex legal, security, and procurement processes to onboard global payment vendors like Stripe and VeriFone (2Checkout and VeriFone used interchangeably since VeriFone acquired 2Checkout), establish pricing strategies, and secure compliance with international tax regulations. Adding context, learners across the world need an easy way to subscribe to courses using credit cards, making such capabilities critical for accessibility and global reach. While the original e-commerce functionality was retired, the legal frameworks, vendor approvals, and contract structures remained—forming a ready-made foundation for other Cisco teams. Learning at Cisco organization, which conducts CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE certification etc., facing a critical deadline, was able to seamlessly leverage these existing approvals and agreements—not the platform itself—to integrate VeriFone without delay, ensuring business continuity. This effort demonstrates the strategic value of laying scalable, reusable groundwork far beyond the needs of a single team.
What to Expect from the Blog
This blog outlines how a targeted DevNet e-commerce effort matured into an enterprise-ready framework used across Cisco. It explores the technical architecture behind the original platform, the challenges of onboarding global payment and tax vendors, and the nearly two-year process of securing legal and financial approvals. It also highlights how Cisco Learning benefited from these foundational elements without using the DevNet platform itself. Readers will gain insights into how doing the hard work early—around compliance, vendor strategy, and legal enablement—can create lasting value and agility for future business needs.
Business Impact
Bringing Stripe and Quaderno into the Cisco ecosystem was far from straightforward. Each required approval through Cisco’s CASPR (Cisco Approved Supplier/Partner Registration) process, involving rigorous security reviews, compliance validations, and cross-functional collaboration with Cisco’s security and procurement teams. Pricing negotiations with payment vendors were equally demanding, requiring a clear understanding of volume-based pricing models and the long-term value proposition for Cisco.
As the platform matured, it transitioned to VeriFone—a global payment processor that not only handled transactions but also embedded tax services, simplifying the architecture. This shift eliminated the dependency on external tax tools and consolidated financial operations. Establishing VeriFone as an approved Cisco vendor meant going through similar rigorous compliance and security hurdles, along with complex contractual negotiations. The result was a robust, enterprise-grade payment gateway with negotiated per-transaction pricing under a Cisco Master Services Agreement—streamlined, scalable, and ready for broader use.
After two years of successful production, during which customers from over 130 countries accessed the DevNet marketplace, the e-commerce platform was gracefully retired. As part of this transition, DevNet also concluded its role in curating content to support users preparing for DevNet certifications—responsibilities that now fully reside with Cisco Learning, which has always managed the certification program itself. However, the infrastructure, agreements, and process frameworks remained—a silent but powerful asset.
In the months that followed, multiple business units—including Cisco Outshift and the Collaboration BU—evaluated leveraging this established system. While constraints prevented integration in some cases such as Outshift, the Collaboration BU successfully adopted the solution. The groundwork proved its true value when Cisco Learning faced a critical deadline. With only three days to migrate from a legacy e-commerce vendor, they turned to the already-approved VeriFone-based process. Because the foundation was already in place—from vendor approvals to contract terms—they were able to onboard seamlessly without any loss of business continuity or revenue. Transactions began immediately, uninterrupted, and with full compliance.
Today, Cisco Learning transacts over $50M annually through this process—a figure expected to grow to $150M. Just as importantly, any Cisco business unit can now adopt this system with minimal friction. The Master Agreement with VeriFone supports amendment-based onboarding, allowing each team to tailor usage to its specific needs while benefiting from a standardized, vetted, and enterprise-ready foundation.
The Origin: A DevNet Initiative with a Scalable Vision
In today’s enterprise landscape, enabling secure, scalable, and globally compliant e-commerce platforms is no small feat—especially when it involves navigating intricate vendor approvals, payment systems integration, and regulatory compliance across more than 130 countries. What began as an initiative to support the sale of DevNet-curated collateral for Cisco DevNet certifications eventually laid the groundwork for a Cisco-wide e-commerce infrastructure now poised to handle over $150M in annual transactions.
At its inception, the e-commerce platform launched under the Cisco DevNet umbrella was built to run on AWS with Kubernetes orchestration, providing resilience and flexibility. The initial payment gateway was powered by Stripe, integrated with an external tax calculation service, Quaderno, to ensure compliance with international tax requirements—particularly in regions like the EU and US.
System Architecture
1.1 Core Components:
‌         Payment Processor Abstraction Layer‌: This layer abstracts the complexity of interacting with multiple payment processors like Stripe and 2Checkout. It provides a unified interface for processing payments, ensuring that the upstream systems do not need to be aware of the specific nuances of each payment processor.
     Quaderno Tax Engine Integration‌: Integrated with the payment system, Quaderno handles real-time tax calculations for over 130 country/region combinations, catering to both digital and physical goods. It also automates report generation, including monthly VAT filings and annual 1099 forms.
‌         Product Catalog Microservice‌: This microservice manages the product catalog, handling operations like adding, updating, and deleting products. It integrates with the payment system to ensure that products are correctly represented and priced during the checkout process. Additionally, the service enables automated provisioning of user subscriptions based on the selected plan. Upon confirmation of payment, users are instantly granted access to the course for the duration of their subscription. This automation reduces the need for manual intervention, a limitation in many legacy systems, and ensures a seamless experience for learners.
     Transaction Reconciliation Module‌: This module is responsible for reconciling daily transactions, ensuring that all payments are correctly processed and accounted for. It also provides automated backup to cold storage for data integrity. Additionally, it may include reporting capabilities on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, providing comprehensive insights into transaction trends, payment status, and overall financial health.
Integration Flow:
The integration flow involves the client app interacting with the Payment API, which then communicates with the payment processors. The Product Management system and Quaderno Tax Engine are also integrated into this flow, ensuring that the correct products and taxes are applied during the checkout process.
1.2. Payment Processor Abstraction Implementation
Modern e-commerce platforms often require integration with multiple payment processors to maximize global reach and minimize transaction failures. A well-designed payment abstraction layer allows businesses to seamlessly switch between providers like Stripe and 2Checkout/VeriFone while maintaining a consistent API interface.
Stripe Integration:
- ‌Client-Side‌: PCI-compliant Elements.js is used for collecting payment information securely on the client side.
- ‌Server-Side‌: The PaymentIntent confirmation flow is handled server-side, ensuring that payments are processed correctly.
- ‌Webhook Handlers‌: Webhooks are used to handle events like payment_intent.succeeded and charge.refunded, ensuring that the system is updated in real-time.
2Checkout(VeriFone) Requirements:
- ‌Order API‌: The Order API is used with HMAC-SHA256 signing to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the requests.
- ‌IPN Listener‌: An Instant Payment Notification (IPN) listener is set up to handle payment notifications from 2Checkout.
- ‌Fraud Detection‌: Fraud detection parameters are configured to minimize the risk of fraudulent transactions.
1.3. Quaderno Tax Automation
Quaderno’s tax engine provides real-time tax calculation for a wide range of country/region combinations, catering to both digital and physical goods. It also adheres to VAT/GST/Sales tax rules, ensuring compliance with local regulations. Automated report generation, including audit trails for all calculations, further enhances the system’s robustness.
1.4. Product Onboarding
Product onboarding is simplified with CSV bulk import and auto-mapping, allowing administrators to quickly add products to the catalog. REST API endpoints provide programmatic access for more advanced use cases. The admin dashboard offers multi-language support, tax category assignment, and inventory synchronization, ensuring that the product catalog is always up-to-date and accurate.
1.5. Security & Compliance
Security and compliance are paramount in any e-commerce system. Cisco’s payment system adheres to PCI DSS Level 1 via tokenization, ensuring that sensitive data is protected. AES-256 encryption is used for sensitive data, and daily transaction reconciliation ensures that all transactions are accurately recorded and reconciled. Automated backup to cold storage provides an additional layer of data integrity and protection.
 Conclusion: A Foundation That Scales
This journey reflects more than a single project’s success. It’s a testament to the value of doing the hard work upfront—navigating compliance, security, pricing, and engineering of a scalable architecture beyond immediate needs, not just for a single team, but for the broader Cisco ecosystem. What started with DevNet has become a scalable asset for the entire company.
Acknowledgments
This project succeeded thanks to the dedicated DevNet engineering team and strong support from senior leadership. Many of these leaders have since moved to other Cisco business units, but their early vision laid the groundwork for a scalable and compliant e-commerce framework.
Special recognition goes to Ming Zhu, Sr. Manager, DevNet, for significant contributions to this blog and the initiative’s success. We also thank Cisco’s security, legal, finance, procurement, tax & customs, and vendor onboarding teams. Their partnership was critical for navigating approvals, compliance, and global operations. Their efforts ensured the platform’s long-term success.
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