Cisco Live 2025 Focused On Three Main Themes: AI, Simplification, And Security

At its annual Cisco Live event, the company delivered a clear message: It’s operationalizing AI across the core pillars of networking, security, and observability. Building on last year’s momentum with innovations like Hypershield and Splunk integration, the company has framed its vision around helping organizations become AI-ready by embedding intelligence into infrastructure, simplifying operations, and securing increasingly complex environments. Forrester analysts observed that Cisco is focused on efforts to do the following.

Accelerate AI Adoption And Transform IT

While this continues the narrative that Cisco began last year, the vendor has leaned heavily into its core DNA: its dominant network infrastructure presence. This year, however, the emphasis shifted to helping organizations make AI work for them. Cisco is now doubling down on making AI an operational advantage rather than an existential risk through a wave of targeted announcements, including:

  • Accelerating troubleshooting with AI. This arguably became the star of the show. In a nutshell, AI Canvas is the purpose-built, AI-based collaborative workspace that allows for advanced troubleshooting within an innovative UI. The idea here is for both NetOps and SecOps teams to work together with AI agents to diagnose, troubleshoot, and (ideally) proactively resolve complex network security issues. It will also be a core feature within Cisco’s latest Security Cloud Control (the product formerly known as Defense Orchestrator) and underpins Cisco’s “AgenticOps” narrative.
    • IT value: accelerates troubleshooting and reduces downtime through intuitive, AI-driven diagnostics
    • Security value: enables proactive resolution of complex network security issues with AI agents
  • Building AI-ready data centers. Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer, highlighted the need for enterprises and service providers to build out their current infrastructure to support their unique AI workloads. To support this transformation, Cisco announced the following: AI PODs built on NVIDIA GPUs combined with Cisco UCS; Cisco G200 switches and NVIDIA NICs; NVIDIA- and Cisco-validated designs; and new 400G optics.
    • IT value: scalable, high-performance infrastructure tailored for AI
    • Security value: secure, future-proof hardware for on-premises and hybrid data centers
  • Injecting AI into the workplace. From Webex to Cisco’s network management platforms, AI assistants and agents will help organizations ensure that infrastructure is always on, transport more traffic, and support Zero Trust. AI will help organizations shift from reactive to proactive approaches across campus, branch, and industrial networks.
    • IT value: ensures always-on infrastructure and proactive network optimization
    • Security value: enhances Zero Trust and visibility across campus, branch, and industrial networks

Secure The AI Infrastructure

Tom Gillis, senior VP of infrastructure and security, emphasized during an analyst roundtable that clients should “use AI to protect AI.” Cisco backed that up via several announcements that aim to deliver innovative hardware and software solutions to future-proof data centers and equip them for AI adoption. Here is a quick breakdown of those announcements.

  • Secure Routers and Smart Switches. The Cisco Secure Routers (8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 8500) will now combine native SD-WAN integration, L7 firewall capabilities, and post-quantum security within a single appliance. The vendor’s smart switches include its latest Nexus 9300 and Catalyst 9350 and 9610, which will come equipped with dedicated data processing units courtesy of its AMD partnership.
    • IT value: reduces hardware sprawl and simplifies operations. This allows the switches to seemingly take the place of a rack-mounted firewall, reducing costs associated with maintaining more equipment without jeopardizing the security of your data center. Key to this is Hypershield, which promises to deliver AI-driven security architecture across a distributed network for security enforcement.
    • Security value: delivers firewall-grade protection at the switch level, without added complexity or cost
  • Enhanced Secure Firewall portfolio. Cisco continues to improve upon its Secure Firewall, focusing on its integration with the broader Security Cloud suite, coupled with AI-driven capabilities. It announced two new models: the 200 series for branch offices and the 6100 series for data centers. Along with Hypershield, its Secure Firewall (both hardware and software instances) will contribute to Cisco’s “Hybrid Mesh Firewall” push, which also includes Meraki and (oddly enough) ASA.
    • IT value: streamlined deployment across hybrid environments
    • Security value: supports Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall strategy with AI-driven enforcement across Meraki, ASA, and more
  • Future-proofing the data center. Cisco’s announcements aim to secure data centers regardless of the hosting environment, especially as more organizations repatriate workloads on-premises.
    • IT value: scalable, future-ready infrastructure that supports hybrid workloads and simplifies data center modernization.
    • Security value: high-performance, security-centric hardware that protects assets without inflating capex. As more organizations repatriate some of their assets back on-premises, sectors outside of telcos and service providers now require high-performance, security-centric hardware to secure their evolving data center requirements.

Build Platforms To Simplify Operations

Cisco has one of the largest networking and security product portfolios. Historically, this portfolio was fragmented, difficult to implement, and complex to manage. Over the last 10 years, the company has fallen behind the market in enterprise networking, Wi-Fi, security appliances, and UC&C, along with its recognition as an innovator and thought leader declining. As Forrester highlighted in its Cisco Is Getting Back Into The Game blog, Cisco wanted to change its image and announced that it was merging the Catalyst and Meraki product lines.

  • Simplifying operations. Cisco’s Security Cloud Control aims to consolidate network and security management into a single platform, driven by its native AI Canvas and AI assistant. This seeks to reduce complexity and operational overhead by allowing for consistent policy management across Cisco solutions, leveraging a “mesh” policy engine that will even apply to third-party firewalls. The vendor is also promising that there will be no need to rip and replace current investments.
    • IT value: reduces operational overhead and training requirements
    • Security value: enables consistent policy enforcement across campus and branch networks
  • Security Cloud Control and AI-powered automation. The vendor aims to have its platform leverage AI to optimize policies, detect and identify network issues, and even recommend solutions. It also will seek to enhance the ability to automate routine tasks and support improved threat detection and response. It will do this via what Cisco calls “AI Defense” that will protect internal AI projects along with its recently announced Universal Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) offering with Duo built in for passwordless authentication and integration with Identity Services Engine (ISE).
    • IT value: reduces complexity with consistent policy management and automation
    • Security value: enhances threat detection and passwordless authentication with features like AI Defense and Universal ZTNA (with Duo and ISE)
  • Unified data center operations. Similar to what the company has done with its Catalyst and Meraki product lines, Cisco announced the Unified Nexus Dashboard that will consolidate LAN, SAN, IPFM, and AI/ML fabrics into a single pane of glass. Customers will be able to simplify network operations by merging ACI and NX-OS VXLAN EVPN fabrics.
    • IT value: simplifies operations by merging ACI and NX-OS VXLAN EVPN fabrics
    • Security value: enhances visibility and control across multicloud and on-prem environments

Cisco Must Accelerate Adoption To Deliver On Its Vision

To fully realize its vision, Cisco must accelerate its adoption strategy to transition legacy, standalone solutions to its modern, integrated platform solutions. While early feedback on innovations such as Hypershield have yielded strong positive feedback, its broader adoption remains slow; Cisco expects that it will take another two to four quarters for pilot deployments of Hypershield to scale into production. In the meantime, customers should assess their infrastructure, identify modernization opportunities, and leverage Cisco’s transition plans — such as those for enterprise firewalls — to prioritize high-impact areas.

Cisco’s core message this year is clear: Network security still matters. As emphasized by CMO Carrie Palin and CSO Oliver Tuszik, Cisco is not becoming an “AI security vendor” but remains a network-first company using AI to modernize infrastructure, automate operations, and enable secure AI adoption. With Zero Trust architectures pushing enforcement closer to endpoints and non-human identities introducing new risks, organizations must rethink network access, identity, and visibility from the ground up.

To learn more about how network security’s definition is modernizing, or for any questions about Cisco Live and how the vendor’s capabilities compare to its competitors in key network infrastructure areas or other security and risk domains, request an inquiry or guidance session with any of the authors.