Heading into 2026, digital transformation is no longer a distant goal; it is a daily reality. It is defined by the rapid growth of smart assets across the industrial landscape. At its core, being ‘smart’ means an asset must have the ability to communicate, which places the industrial network at the center of operations. The Cisco Industrial IoT team is dedicated to ensuring these connections are secure and resilient, regardless of the environment, making your digital journey seamless.
But connecting devices is only half the battle. The real challenge is maintaining them and operating this infrastructure over time, ensuring they remain resilient, secure, and efficient throughout their entire operational lifecycle.
Introducing AgenticOps for Industrial Networks
In my conversations with customers, I’ve seen a common pattern in how industrial sites handle problems. It’s a three-level escalation model:
- Level 1: The maintenance technician (the firefighter). They are on-site 24/7. They are experts at mechanical fixes and basic provisioning. While they are the first responders with broad knowledge, they often lack IT or networking expertise.
- Level 2: The plant network engineer (the doctor). When the “firefighter” hits a networking wall, they call the “doctor.” This person has the expertise but is rarely on-shift 24/7, is more costly, and may not even be on-site, so you would need to wait to have any issues fixed.
- Level 3: The IT specialist (the surgeon). If the problem is systemic or more serious, it goes to the “surgeon.” They have the deepest knowledge but are the furthest removed from the factory floor and once again, it can take more time to get the problem fixed.
The goal of our latest innovation is simple. We are focusing on where most of the problems are, using AI to put more tools in the maintenance technician’s toolbox. If the “firefighter” can resolve a networking issue on the spot, you don’t have to wait for the “doctor,” and your operations get back online faster.
This week at Cisco Live EMEA, we are launching AgenticOps for industrial networks, a set of AI-driven capabilities designed to upskill the frontline worker.
- For Manufacturing: The agentic capabilities help the maintenance technicians identify operational and misconfiguration issues in real time. These capabilities help technicians identify and root cause issues to maximize network availability. It turns an operational challenge into a step-by-step fix that a non-expert can follow. No need to wait for the doctor!
- For Utilities: To keep the lights on and prevent outages, utilities are building ‘smarter’ grids by deploying thousands of cellular-connected industrial routers to monitor and control power flow remotely. Managing a network spread across an entire territory is a massive undertaking, which is why we’ve integrated AI into the Cisco Field Network Director (FND). Now, operations teams can troubleshoot connectivity and automate deployments at scale without needing to call in a specialist engineer. Instead of hunting through complex dashboards, you simply ask FND: ‘Which devices are offline?’ or ‘How can I optimize cellular usage?’ These agentic capabilities turn troubleshooting from a frantic race against alarms into a guided experience.
Simplifying Multi-Site OT Security
Whether you operate tens or hundreds of sites, keeping them running is critical, but it all starts with ensuring they’re secure. But managing security across distributed locations is a major pain point.
To solve this, we are introducing Cisco Cyber Vision Site Manager. This tool acts as a central nervous system for your security, allowing you to automatically distribute software upgrades and the latest threat intelligence to every site simultaneously. It provides insights to trigger alerts when industrial network traffic flows to or from unexpected locations. It monitors the health of the OT security infrastructure to ensure every site is covered.
Furthermore, we’ve released a new Cisco Cyber Vision application for Splunk. This brings OT-specific security data directly into the hands of your security teams, giving them a unified view of the global security posture without adding tool complexity. It simplifies multi-site security data into customizable dashboards, allowing both plant managers and security teams to drive actions.
Simple IT Management for Rugged Enterprise
For many of you, the challenge is extending your network into spaces that aren’t quite “industrial”, not a factory floor or a utility grid, but not a traditional office space either. We call these rugged networks, spaces like outdoor areas requiring Wi-Fi, security cameras, gate access controls, drive-thrus, charging stations, and even ATMs.
To simplify this, we are excited to announce cloud management for Cisco rugged switches, specifically the Cisco IE3500 Rugged Series switches. Now, your IT team can extend the enterprise network into challenging physical environments while managing everything from the same familiar cloud dashboard. It’s the same IT experience you love, built for the tough environments you need to reach.
Putting it into Action: The Hockey Puck Factory
We aren’t just talking about these technologies; we are showing them to you in action. This week at Cisco Live in Amsterdam, we have built a pallet-sized factory that produces Cisco branded hockey pucks in the World of Solutions.
You can walk through the entire lifecycle of a product:
- Injection molding: where the puck is formed.
- Printing and labeling: where the branding is applied.
- Packaging and shipment: where the product is prepared for the real world.
As you watch the puck move through the line, you will see the Cisco IE3100 Heavy Duty Series switches with 90-watt 4PPoE, Cisco IE3500 Rugged Series switches running Cisco Cyber Vision with Secure Equipment Access and our AgenticOps for industrial networks working in the background to keep the process moving. You will see our new Unified Edge server running virtual PLCs to demonstrate the power of Software Defined Automation. It’s a hands-on look at how a connected factory floor turns innovation into something you can see, follow, and experience from start to finish.
The Future is Simple
Our message this week in Amsterdam is clear: we want to give your frontline industrial teams the confidence to act. The teams that see the full picture instantly can act with confidence when it matters most. By empowering the “firefighter” with AI and simplifying multi-site security, we are helping you build a more resilient, self-sufficient industrial future.
As we continue the week here at Cisco Live EMEA, I encourage you to see these innovations in action. Come see the factory for yourself!
We’re going live on LinkedIn. Join Richard Mullen and me on March 24th at 9 AM PT / 6 PM CET for a deep dive into our latest announcements – register here.
