Last night I tuned into aspects of the Global Cisco Partner Summit on demand, (the live event taking part in San Diago this week).
Day one messaging to partners was firmly on monetising AI and driving the next wave of digital transformation with Cisco. Cisco were not just talking about AI as a buzzword – they were clearly (re)positioning themselves as the backbone of this revolution with some of the biggest innovations and product evolutions in decades and the value and importance of their partners to enable this for their customers.
AI doesn’t run on magic – it runs on silicon, bandwidth, and secure, scalable networks. From high-performance data centre fabrics to AI-ready networking and security, Cisco is building the digital highways that will power this era.
AI and Digital Transformation will fail without the right Infrastructure. This new age is as significant as the Internet and Cloud revolution and Cisco is there to power their customers and partners through it.
Think back to the 90s and early 2000s. The Internet was exploding, but none of it would have been possible without the underlying infrastructure – networks, servers, connectivity. Fast forward to today, and we’re seeing history repeat itself. AI is the new Internet, and infrastructure is once again the unsung hero, that invisible layer that defines how well stuff works, connects and secures.
There’s no question that AI is making a significant impact and that influence is only accelerating. We hear a consistent message from customers and partners: ‘AI is evolving faster than their infrastructure can keep up’. –
Tim Coogan, SVP Global Partner Sales
That statement sums up the challenge perfectly. Data strategies that worked two years ago are now struggling under today’s workloads, and the skills gap is widening.
Cisco’s beleive they are ready to help customer through their global partners to address this with a new wave of innovation designed to help partners and customers scale AI without disruption with connected infrastructure at the heart.
Cisco Unified Edge – for AI at Scale
One of the biggest announcements yesterday at Cisco Partner Summit was Cisco Unified Edge, a purpose-built platform for distributed AI workloads. It can integrate compute, networking, storage, and security at the edge, enabling low-latency, real-time inferencing for agentic and physical AI workloads. This includes:
- Modular architecture combining compute, storage, and networking in a single chassis.
- Zero-touch deployment and pre-validated blueprints for predictable AI rollouts.
- Full-stack observability via Cisco Intersight, Splunk, and ThousandEyes.
- Multi-layered zero-trust security with tamper-proof hardware and policy enforcement.
“Things like network bandwidth, throughput and power consumption are all becoming massive issues as AI permeates data centres and workplaces. “
Cisco Security: Mind the Trust Gap
AI adoption brings incredible opportunities but also new risks, which led nicely into Cisco’s re-engergized Security Play.
“We’re also seeing what we call a trust deficit… securing all this infrastructure and model safety is critical.” – Jeff Schultz, Cisco.
Security is embedded across Cisco’s tech stack, with Cisco Secure Access extending zero trust to the cloud and with Cisco Access Manager delivering identity-based access control natively through the Meraki Dashboard. This works seemlessly with leading Cloud Providers such as Microsoft 365 and Azure, AWS and GCP too as well as leading Enterprise SaaS providers.
Cisco re-iterated their approach to security in the AI era with their Multi-layered including:
- Zero Trust Everywhere – From edge to cloud, every device and workload is verified.
- Tamper-Proof Hardware – Protecting against physical and firmware-level attacks.
- Policy Enforcement at Scale – Automated compliance across distributed environments.
- Model Safety – Ensuring AI models and data pipelines remain uncompromised with their new Cisco AI Defense suite.
In a world where AI decisions can impact millions, trust is the currency of AI adoption and the value of trust that is needed for success what ever business you are in.
Observability & Visibility
The last piece in the puzzle was the importance of observability and visibility. AI workloads are complex, distributed, and dynamic and without visibility, “you’re flying blind” . Cisco are doubling down on full-stack observability (through their Splunk acquisition) to give partners and enterprises the clarity they need without gaps.
Key capabilities focussed on:
- Cisco Intersight for infrastructure lifecycle management.
- ThousandEyes for end-to-end network visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud.
- Splunk integration for deep analytics and anomaly detection across all platforms.
- Predictive Insights powered by AI to anticipate performance bottlenecks before they happen.
This was a strong message since Enterprise AI doesn’t just need connectivity, compute power and security and governance. It also needs predictability and reliability. Cisco’s Observability Platform is all about ensuring that every infrastructure component, from GPU clusters to edge nodes, to cloud is optimised and secure.
Cisco are also taking observability further with their AI Canvas. Originally announced at Cisco Live earlier this year, AI Canvas is a new (coming in 2026) collaborative workspace that combines telemetry, AI insights, and automation. It enables teams to troubleshoot issues using natural language, unify data across domains, and accelerate resolution – all powered by Cisco’s Deep Network Model.
Monetising AI for all
Steve Cougan said that Cisco’s strategy success aimed at Partner, Cisco and of course their Customers focuses on three core pillars:
- Responding faster with partners (sell together)
- Continuous innovation cycles (leading the pack)
- Scaling efficiently to maximise customer impact (across all sectors and segments).
Another key thing for me was the investment in multi customer management for their Managed Service Partners, focusing how MSPs, can scale and simplify operations for their customers. The introduction of multi-customer management capabilities within Cisco Security Cloud Control was a highlight for me.
“The new multi-customer management capabilities in Cisco Security Cloud Control, coupled with our Hybrid Mesh Firewall, are designed to eliminate operational friction, empower our partners to accelerate revenue growth, and ultimately deliver superior security outcomes for their customers”
Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer, Cisco
This isn’t just about monetising Cisco and their partners either. Every organisation that is re investing what they do, digitising and innovating with AI will fail without the right Infrastructure in place. The focus Cisco have in “selling together” – Customer, Partner, Cisco is a key part of this success driver and they are laser focussed on this approach which is why their partner eco system is to important.
Day 1 Wrap Up
AI is only as good as the platform it runs on and the infrastructure that connects users, endpoints, enterprise data and AI models and agents together. The refresh opportunity is huge for Cisco and their partners as it is (one) of they key things hiding back enterprise AI and digitial transformation at scale.
The opportunity to do this right is about working with organisations that are deploying or enabling AI applications and services to ensure they are also building and managing the infrastructure that makes AI possible. Cisco is betting big on this, and it’s good to see.
It was great to see a renewed focus on MSPs and multi customer management across their unified platform recognising the continuous importance for their customers and partners.