Artificial intelligence is no longer just changing applications – it’s exposing the limits of enterprise network infrastructure.
In their Q2 earnings report, Cisco’s leadership team described the current campus refresh cycle as “the top of the first inning”, signalling a long‑term shift in how organisations should think about “networking in an AI‑driven world.”
The networks many enterprises rely on today were never designed for AI workloads.
Why AI Is Reshaping Enterprise Network Infrastructure
Traditional campus networks were built for predictable user traffic, cloud and client-server communications and incremental growth. AI changes those assumptions entirely.
AI is forcing enterprises to rethink campus networking. Cisco’s AI‑driven refresh success highlights why legacy networks are no longer fit for purpose. AI‑driven environments introduce:
- Latency‑sensitive workloads that expose weak network design especially when we have agents working with other agents!
- Increased east‑west traffic across campus and edge locations
- Security requirements that must be embedded, not layered on. Security must be part of the network aka Secure Networking
- Operational complexity that manual network management cannot scale with driving vendor consolidation.
The above are the reasons why Cisco are seeing renewed demand across switching, routing, wireless, and edge networking – and why this refresh cycle is being positioned as multi‑year rather than opportunistic.
Is this just a Hyperscaler Problem?
While hyperscalers dominate AI headlines, Cisco say that the more significant shift is happening inside enterprise environments, especially in environments that have not refreshed in the last 5 or so years.
As organisations move AI from experimentation into production, they quickly discover that:
- Legacy campus networks struggle under AI‑driven traffic patterns
- Performance issues become business‑critical risks
- Security gaps are amplified by AI workloads
- Network visibility becomes essential, not optional or bolt on.
The enterprise network is no longer background infrastructure. It is becoming part of the AI platform and fabric itself.
What This Means for Cisco Partners
This moment should an ideal opportunity for partners to position and service the refresh demand, but also creates pressure as demand increase, coupled supply chain challenges create a perfect storm.
Cisco’s recent changes to partner contract terms, driven by rising component and memory costs, highlight the commercial realities partners are navigating alongside technical transformation.
For partners, AI‑driven network modernisation is not about faster hardware refreshes. It is about:
- Designing AI‑ready campus and edge networks
- Embedding security into the network fabric
- Modernising network operations and observability
- Aligning infrastructure decisions to long‑term outcomes
Partners who lead with outcomes – resilience, performance, security, and readiness – will remain relevant. Those who focus solely on speeds and feeds will struggle to differentiate.
The Real Shift Is Strategic, Not Technical
The most important signal from Cisco was not about revenue growth or new product announcements (though there were plenty of those). It was more the acknowledgement that old networking assumptions no longer hold true and that this AI Transformation wave needs a thinking reset.
AI is forcing organisations to confront technical debt they have tolerated for years. And the enterprise network is often where that debt becomes impossible to ignore.
This campus refresh cycle will be as big as the Data Centre and Hypercaler demand. It is not simply about chasing AI hype (even though much of a Cisco’s new kit is baked with AI naturally) but it is about empowered organisations to invest in the secure network foundations that can support their current and future AI workloads without collapsing under them.
Cisco say that this is a conversation organisations – and partners need to have early, and with intent. Cisco have assessments and resources to help shift the conversation from speeds and feeds to business readiness.