diff --git a/etc/neutron/plugins/cisco/cisco_plugins.ini b/etc/neutron/plugins/cisco/cisco_plugins.ini
index 5249bb8cd4..13d81f182b 100644
--- a/etc/neutron/plugins/cisco/cisco_plugins.ini
+++ b/etc/neutron/plugins/cisco/cisco_plugins.ini
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@
 # default_network_profile =
 # Example: default_network_profile = network_pool
 
-# (StrOpt) Time in seconds for which the plugin polls the VSM for updates in
+# (IntOpt) Time in seconds for which the plugin polls the VSM for updates in
 # policy profiles.
 #
 # poll_duration =
diff --git a/neutron/plugins/cisco/common/config.py b/neutron/plugins/cisco/common/config.py
index c3f25093e0..f13569cea6 100644
--- a/neutron/plugins/cisco/common/config.py
+++ b/neutron/plugins/cisco/common/config.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ cisco_n1k_opts = [
                help=_("N1K default policy profile")),
     cfg.StrOpt('network_node_policy_profile', default='dhcp_pp',
                help=_("N1K policy profile for network node")),
-    cfg.StrOpt('poll_duration', default='10',
+    cfg.IntOpt('poll_duration', default=10,
                help=_("N1K Policy profile polling duration in seconds")),
     cfg.IntOpt('http_pool_size', default=4,
                help=_("Number of threads to use to make HTTP requests")),
diff --git a/neutron/plugins/cisco/n1kv/n1kv_neutron_plugin.py b/neutron/plugins/cisco/n1kv/n1kv_neutron_plugin.py
index a31e570f0f..6ef51f3d01 100644
--- a/neutron/plugins/cisco/n1kv/n1kv_neutron_plugin.py
+++ b/neutron/plugins/cisco/n1kv/n1kv_neutron_plugin.py
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ class N1kvNeutronPluginV2(db_base_plugin_v2.NeutronDbPluginV2,
         """Start a green thread to pull policy profiles from VSM."""
         while True:
             self._populate_policy_profiles()
-            eventlet.sleep(int(c_conf.CISCO_N1K.poll_duration))
+            eventlet.sleep(c_conf.CISCO_N1K.poll_duration)
 
     def _populate_policy_profiles(self):
         """