The AI-Ready Enterprise: Building the Intelligent Workplace with Cisco

The pace of innovation sparked by generative AI has been breakneck—and it’s only just beginning. This AI wave is a major technology disruption, and we’ve learned from past technology disruptions (cloud, mobility, the internet) that networks need fundamental change to support the new technology. 

In the workplace, AI will impact the nature of work itself, with humans orchestrating the work of AI assistants and AI agents, robots in factories making decisions autonomously, and self-service customer interactions handled agentically. AI will perform human-like work, but at machine speed and scale. And it’s going to give companies a higher level of productivity. Across a population of eight billion people, it will feel like we have the collective throughput capacity of 80 billion. 

Yet paradoxically, in a world where adoption of generative AI is mainstream, human interaction becomes even more critical. Whether one-to-one or many-to-many, real-time discussion, debate, and communication of ideas are the moments when teams make progress and work gets done.  

AI not only reinforces the importance of collaboration, it also puts huge demands on networks. Taken together, this requires a fundamental rethinking of infrastructure to build a future-proofed workplace. 

To address these new network demands, at Cisco Live San Diego we announced a new architecture for the AI-ready secure network. It starts with a unified management platform—cloud-first management for Meraki, Catalyst, and new devices across every network domain: routing, switching, wireless, and industrial. Our approach delivers consistent operations for cloud, on-premises, or hybrid, including complex enterprise deployments with capabilities like advanced configuration of routing and network fabrics.  

Digital assurance is built-in for visibility across both owned and unowned infrastructure. We are also announcing expanded ThousandEyes vantage points, including new Wi-Fi 7 access points, mobile devices, and industrial IoT devices. New organization-wide and client-level assurance views enable rapid drill-down to issues. 

Simplifying network operations with AI 

Unifying device management and digital assurance in one platform unlocks new possibilities for AI-driven operations. Fact: AI depends on data. And the best network data comes from a common network platform. With our platform, we’re evolving network operations to be AI-driven.  

Cisco AgenticOps is our new paradigm for modern IT. Powered by data aggregated across the network in our unified platform, it enables increasingly autonomous diagnosis and resolution across domains—with humans always in control. At its core is our Deep Network Model, a domain-specific large language model (LLM) trained on Cisco’s vast networking knowledge, including CiscoU and Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) materials. This AI understands networks like IT professionals do, slashing resolution time. 

AgenticOps starts with Cisco AI Assistant, a conversational interface for identifying issues, diagnosing root causes, and automating complex workflows. It’s deeply integrated into the platform, so IT teams can easily incorporate it into their workflows.  

On top of AI Assistant is the new Cisco AI Canvas. This shared, interactive workspace features a groundbreaking generative UI that pulls from the same networking, security, and observability data that powers the unified platform. IT teams interface with AI Assistant and solve with AI Canvas, building real-time dashboards to guide corrective action. Team members can share dashboards with colleagues and save them to persist across sessions. AI Canvas uses advanced reasoning models to break down troubleshooting into structured steps. When teams agree on a proposed solution, AI Canvas takes action to fix the problem, from implementing a configuration change to executing steps in a runbook. This collaborative approach uses AI to bring NetOps, SecOps, and other teams together for faster problem resolution.  

The foundation: scalable devices ready for AI 

AI applications are adding pressure to all networks—campus, branch, and industrial—demanding greater capacity and lower latency. To handle this traffic surge, we’re introducing a new generation of purpose-built network devices. 

For access networks, two new smart switches: the Cisco C9350 Fixed Access Smart Switch offers 48 multigigabit (mGig)/90W Universal Power over Ethernet (UPoE) downlink ports, up to 4×100 Gbps uplinks, and up to 1.6 Tbps stacked capacity. The Cisco C9610 Modular Core Smart Switch scales up to 256×100 Gbps ports and 51.2 Tbps capacity with redundant supervisors. Powered by Cisco Silicon One, these switches build on our data center smart switch momentum and have network processors and co-processors for additional functions like AI and security.  

We’re also extending our Wi-Fi 7 portfolio with the new Cisco CW9179F access point. Featuring software-controllable beam switching, 16 spatial streams, redundant 10 Gbps ports, and integrated GPS for auto-location and Automated Frequency Coordination outdoors, it brings high performance to large venues like stadiums and arenas. The new Cisco Campus Gateway offers high-performance cloud management for campuses with up to 5000 access points and 50,000 clients, with no need to reconfigure networks and VLANs deployed with traditional wireless LAN controllers. 

Additional demands on access networks puts additional demands on the WAN, and 10 Gbps uplinks are giving way to 40+ Gbps uplinks. Our new Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers deliver fast and scalable SD-WAN, integrated next-generation firewall, and post-quantum security in a single-box solution. With up to 3x performance of previous generations, multiple uplink options up to 2×100 Gbps, and flexible WAN connectivity options (including 5G and LTE), they offer forwarding throughput up to 190 Gbps and IPsec throughput up to 63 Gbps (at 512-byte packet size). We are also introducing our Unified Branch solution to simplify managing branch networks with a DevOps approach, replacing CLI commands with APIs and programmatic automation. Learn more about the new 8000 Series Secure Routers and Unified Branch. 

For industrial settings, we are introducing 19 new switches in the Cisco Industrial Ethernet Series, designed for industrial AI applications like vision-based quality inspection, AI-powered robots, and autonomous high-speed vehicles. Paired with a new unified Wi-Fi and Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul (URWB) solution, we deliver resilience and scalability for IT/OT convergence.  

Fusing security into the network 

New AI workloads and increased traffic volume mean an expanded attack surface. AI is creating a generation of vibe coders; next is a legion of vibe hackers. IT and security teams are facing an amplified threat landscape, and this demands a new approach: fusing security into each layer of the network.  

Our multi-layer approach to security starts with the system itself, with our devices are secure by design. Quantum-secure boot ensures only verified software runs, and we are introducing Live Protect—compensating controls that let administrators address new exploits quickly, before patches can be applied. 

Next, we’re securing network connectivity with quantum-resistant encryption for IPsec, MACsec, and WAN MACsec, future-proofing your network against increasingly common “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks. We are also enabling quantum-resistant encryption for management traffic to the device itself. 

We’re securing users, endpoints, and applications with scalable segmentation, Software Defined Access (SDA), and next-generation firewall. By integrating with Cisco Security Cloud Control, we can have policy defined centrally with enforcement distributed throughout the network.  

But we’re not stopping there. We’re continuing to push the envelope in security for the network. Our new smart switches are also ready for Hypershield—Cisco’s innovation for distributed mesh firewalls. Moreover, our Universal Zero-Trust Network Access (UZTNA) architecture secures users and devices with least-privileged access, delivering a consistent experience from anywhere users connect.  

Empowering people: intelligent collaboration experiences 

Building future-proofed workplaces is also about empowering people to work more effectively. AI must enhance experiences for both customers and employees—so we’re delivering innovations to transform contact centers, conference rooms, and everyday work.  

The new AI-powered Room Vision Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera redefines meetings by tracking presenters, framing speakers, and adapting to room dynamics. This camera features simple deployment with power, video, and controls over one Ethernet cable and cloud-based management with Control Hub. Explore how we’re delivering cinematic meetings in Snorre Kjesbu’s blog. 

Organizations also need to deliver real-time, personalized customer interactions. We’re introducing new Webex AI Agent capabilities for easier self-service, including expanded AI engine support and prebuilt, industry-specific templates for faster AI Agent deployment. Read more on our AI-powered customer experience announcements in Jay Patel’s blog. 

We’re committed to empowering our customers with choice and flexibility, and now Cisco brings the power of AI to on-premises deployments.  

With innovations like background noise removal and background blur, we’re making meetings on our on-premises solution distraction-free. For customers of Cisco Contact Center Enterprise, general availability of release 15 enables Webex AI Agent and AI Assistant capabilities.  

The future-proofed workplace, powered by Cisco 

Cisco provides the solutions and innovations you need to thrive in the AI era. We understand that building future-proofed workplaces requires a comprehensive approach, and Cisco delivers the full breadth of networking, security, and collaboration solutions needed to empower your organization for whatever comes next. 

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