As AI reshapes customer experiences at branches, knowledge work at campuses, and automation on factory floors, the resulting innovation potential and network demands are greater than ever. To unlock the value of these new possibilities, we must deliver networks that ensure operational simplicity powered by AgenticOps, security fused seamlessly into the network, and employ scalable, purpose-built devices designed specifically for AI workloads.
At Cisco Partner Summit today in San Diego, we proudly unveiled a new wave of innovations that do just that – accelerate our partners’ and customers’ ability to modernize campus, branch, and industrial networks. These solutions build on our momentum from Cisco Live San Diego, where we announced a new architecture for the AI-ready secure network, a totally refreshed device line up built for the AI Era, and our commitment to deliver a unified management platform powered by AgenticOps.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about great network infrastructure. It’s about ensuring IT leaders can deliver secure experiences without overburdening their teams.
Simplified Operations, Powered by AgenticOps
Most critical is how we’re leading the charge to an AgenticOps world, a new paradigm for modern IT operations. It turns real-time data, automation, and expert knowledge into smart, confident actions. It’s a fundamental and necessary shift as networks face rapidly increasing demands and complexity.
Our advancements integrate systems and platforms into a cohesive, centrally managed ecosystem, with AgenticOps supercharging these capabilities. We’re providing IT teams with a unified view and control plane to easily manage, secure, and optimize their entire infrastructure, transforming operations from reactive to proactive:
- One unified view for Catalyst Center and Meraki: We’re radically simplifying network management into a single global view that integrates Meraki and Catalyst Center. This provides a new way to look across your global network: campus and branch, on-premises and cloud. Streamlined alerts give admins network health at a glance, it puts action at your fingertips with single sign-on across Meraki dashboard and Catalyst Center. Becoming generally available in Q4 2025.
- Cloud-managed fabric orchestration: We know that network complexity is one of the biggest challenges customers face—especially as their environments grow and evolve. Admins can now quickly and easily deploy fabric architectures through the Meraki dashboard. This means powerful automation, simplified policy management, and adaptive segmentation are accessible, becoming generally available in Q1 2026.
- Agentic workflows and automation:Workflows, our amazing no-code/low-code automation tool is now powered by the Cisco AI Assistant. With a single prompt, you can automate complex tasks, rapidly migrate network configurations, and embed powerful AI reasoning into any automation, like switch migration and Wi-Fi setup.
- AI Canvas is now in Alpha: You’ve all heard about Cisco AI Canvas—the workspace where AgenticOps comes to life, bringing together every domain and every team in one real-time view. We’re excited to share the big news: AI Canvas is now in Alpha.
Cisco Unified Branch
All this operational simplicity comes together in the branch. When your IT teams are expected to navigate more complexity, move faster than ever before, and do it all while improving security, our new Unified Branch solution is a game-changer. Not only does it transform lengthy days-long branch deployments into one-click simple tasks, you also get new automation toolkits based on Cisco Validated Designs.
Powered by our Agentic capabilities, Cisco Unified Branch also uses the AI Assistant in Workflows to enable simple, natural language interactions, as well as more advanced deployment through Branch-as-Code for customers and partners with DevOps practices. Now, every branch location can deliver an amazing user experience, without huge strains on IT.
Scalable Infrastructure, Purpose-Built for AI
We kicked off a wave of infrastructure innovation back in June, and we’re continuing that momentum at Partner Summit. Just five short months after introducing the world to our new Smart Switches, Secure Routers, and Wi-Fi 7 solutions, we’re at it again, with new Secure Router and wireless options to help you make every workplace future-proof.
- New Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers: New Cisco 8200 and 8400 Secure Routers ensure that every can deliver secure connectivity from the smallest of branches to the most sophisticated campus deployments. Cisco Secure Routers deliver high-performance routing, advanced security, and ultra-low latency across the network and is a critical component of a Unified Branch and a secure networking architecture.
- Intelligent Wi-Fi 7 Solutions for Every Smart Space: Ideal for low- and medium-density sites, the new CW9171I, CW9174I, and CW9174E Wireless Access Points deliver on the promise of simple, secure, and scalable wireless experiences. Pair them with the new CW9800L Wireless Controller and get the seamless roaming you need across your dense campus environments. Just like our other Wi-Fi 7 devices, they come with Cisco Spaces capabilities out of the box. Available in Q4 2025.
- Enhanced Wireless Assurance: And what good is a Wi-Fi 7 network if you don’t have the end-to-end assurance to guarantee a great experience for every connection? We’re accelerating our AI capabilities across the platform with Roaming Health and the Cisco ThousandEyes Active Testing for Wireless. You’ll get enhanced visibility, faster troubleshooting, and the peace of mind that your Cisco network will always be tuned and ready to fly.
Secure Networking
It’s ironic to save it for last, because (at least for us) security can never be an afterthought in the AI era; it must be an intrinsic part of the fabric. We are fusing security into every layer, leveraging AI-powered management and unified policy enforcement to simplify operations and protect users, devices, and data across the entire campus-to-cloud environment:
- Zero Trust from Campus to Cloud: All Cisco SD-WAN offerings, including Meraki, now integrate with Cisco Secure Access, enabling a complete secure access service edge (SASE) offering. This delivers secure, seamless access for hybrid workforces by applying unified identity-based policies across SaaS, internet, and private apps.
- Cisco Access Manager: Another fundamental tenant of our secure networking approach, we’re fusing identity into the network as well, with Access Manager delivering access control natively through the Meraki dashboard. Powered by Cisco ISE, optimized for cloud-managed networks, and delivered as SaaS, Access Manager is designed for simple deployments with no hardware or complex setup.
At Cisco, we are leaping forward to help you build your ideal AI-ready network – one that’s not only secure and scalable but also incredibly simple to operate. For partners, this unlocks a huge opportunity to both put easy-to-manage technology in the hands of customers and revolutionize managed services capabilities. For our customers, they can look to the future, confident they’re securing the campus, unifying the branch, and evolving their networks now to meet tomorrow’s business requirements.
To dive deeper into these groundbreaking solutions, see live demonstrations, and learn how Cisco is continuing to lead the way in the AI era, I invite you to join us at Cisco Live Melbourne. Stay tuned for more details and discover how we are revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. The future of networking is here, and it’s more intelligent, secure, and simple than ever before.
