The AI systems taking shape today aren’t just responding to prompts — they’re taking action. Agentic AI orchestrates workflows, moves data, communicates with other agents, and makes decisions autonomously. This represents a fundamental shift in how technology operates within organizations.
And it changes everything about what infrastructure must deliver.
When agents act independently and communicate machine-to-machine at scale, the network becomes more than connectivity. It becomes the foundation for trust, performance, and competitive advantage. We believe that the organizations that will thrive in this era will be those that treat infrastructure not as a cost to manage, but as a strategic asset to leverage.
That’s the opportunity in front of Cisco and our partners. And it’s the opportunity we’re helping customers seize.
One platform for the agentic AI era
The AI age punishes complexity. When organizations cobble together separate tools for networking, security, and operations, they inherit friction, cost, and risk at exactly the moment they need speed and clarity.
Cisco is taking a different approach. We’re delivering a unified platform — networking, security, observability, and sovereignty working together as one system — so customers can scale AI without the usual trade-offs.
This is what it means to be a platform company in the AI era. And it’s what sets Cisco apart.
Today in Amsterdam, we’re unveiling innovations across the critical capabilities organizations need to make agentic AI real.
Infrastructure for AI at scale
AI workloads are pushing networks to their limits. GPUs deliver extraordinary compute power, but they lose value when they’re waiting on data. In large AI clusters, the network can quietly become the bottleneck that undermines the entire investment.
We’re solving this with Cisco Silicon One G300 — 102.4 Tbps switching silicon designed for the most demanding AI environments. The impact is measurable: 33% higher network utilization and 28% faster job completion times compared to non-optimized infrastructure. To give some perspective, this capability is in the order of five million simultaneous 4K Netflix streams.
And we aren’t just launching a chip. We’re also introducing systems that these chips will power. The new N9000 and 8000 systems will be available as 100% liquid cooled and are built for all AI network builders – from hyperscalers to enterprises.
Alongside G300, we’re enhancing Nexus One to unify data center operations and simplify management across different types of workloads and networks. Together, these innovations give hyperscalers, service providers, sovereign clouds, and enterprises the flexibility to build and evolve AI infrastructure with confidence.
Breaking down complexity for IT
As agentic workloads accelerate, traditional IT operations simply can’t keep pace. The familiar cycle — wait for a ticket, diagnose manually, escalate, resolve — doesn’t work when systems move at machine speed and scale.
We’re expanding Cisco’s AgenticOps — going deeper into networking, and expanding into security, and observability — to meet this moment. This is AI that operates the infrastructure for AI.
AgenticOps delivers autonomous troubleshooting that cuts resolution time to minutes and provides continuous optimization that prevents problems before users feel them, along with trusted validation that assesses risk before changes go live. The result is closed-loop execution with humans firmly in control of outcomes, but machines handling the complexity and scale.
Security reimagined for agents
Agentic AI introduces risks that traditional security tools weren’t designed to address. Agents interact with other agents, call external tools, and generate traffic that’s difficult to interpret with conventional approaches.
We’re meeting this challenge with the most significant expansion of Cisco AI Defense since its launch — bringing supply chain governance, real-time guardrails for agent behavior, and advanced testing to surface vulnerabilities before they’re exploited.
We’re also delivering advanced AI capabilities across our SASE portfolio, with inspection that understands not just what agents are doing, but why. Business leaders can’t unlock the value of agentic AI if they can’t trust agents are doing what they’re supposed to do. Nor can they assign AI to critical workflows if bandwidth-hungry agents overwhelm the network. That’s why Cisco SASE now features AI-aware traffic optimization techniques to keep calm and carry on through bursts of traffic.
In addition, with Cisco IOS XE 26 powering our secure routers and smart switches, we’re introducing industry-first full-stack post-quantum cryptography to protect communications against emerging threats.
Take a look at the full security announcement here.
Sovereignty for those who need it most
For regulated industries and governments, AI adoption must meet strict data sovereignty requirements. Today we’re announcing that Cisco Critical National Services Centers are now operational across France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain — with Italy under development.
These centers operate under rigorous sovereign controls: dedicated facilities, segregated processes, and cleared personnel. They ensure that organizations with the most demanding compliance requirements can embrace AI without compromise.
This approach builds on 15 years of sovereign operations in Germany and reflects our commitment to meeting customers where they are — with the controls they require.
Meeting the moment of agentic AI
The organizations that get AI right today will pioneer new economies and shape more inclusive societies tomorrow. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the opportunity in front of every enterprise, government, and service provider navigating this transition.
But realizing that opportunity requires more than ambition. It requires infrastructure that removes barriers, embeds security and governance into every layer, and operates as a unified system rather than a collection of parts.
That’s what we’re delivering at Cisco.
The energy here in Amsterdam is unmistakable. The excitement isn’t just about what agentic AI can do — it’s that we’re making it practical. By bringing performance, operations, security, and sovereignty together on one platform, we’re giving customers the confidence to move fast without losing control.
To learn more about today’s announcements, visit the Cisco Newsroom.