Artificial intelligence dominates Cisco Live 2024 amid ambitious innovations

Cisco Live 2024, held in Las Vegas from June 2-6, witnessed an unparalleled surge of AI-driven innovations that permeated every aspect of Cisco’s strategy and messaging.

From AI-powered chat assistants for network troubleshooting to new capabilities in Webex Contact Center and Security Cloud, the tech giant unveiled a pragmatic approach to harnessing AI’s potential across its portfolio — including the announcement of a $1 billion global investment fund to increase safe and reliable AI solutions and strategic partnerships with companies like NVIDIA.

Amid all the AI hype, Cisco appeared committed to empowering customers with AI capabilities while maintaining a realistic outlook overall.

Hypershield redefines network security with distributed AI

In April, Cisco introduced Cisco Hypershield — “a cloud-native, AI-powered approach to highly distributed security for AI-scale data centers that’s built into the fabric of the network.” At Cisco Live 2024, the company revealed a new development: Cisco Hypershield support for AMD Pensando™ DPUs and Intel IPUs.

This support ensures high performance and energy efficiency across diverse deployment scenarios, allowing enterprises to realize the benefits of AI-driven security without compromising operational agility or resource utilization.

Hypershield’s unique approach involves embedding thousands of software agents close to the applications and containers they protect. Each agent has a tailored security policy for its specific domain, creating an adaptive mesh of microsegmentation. By harnessing AI to refine and maintain these distributed policies, Hypershield delivers a more efficient and responsive security posture than traditional perimeter-based models.

Networking reimagined at the intersection of AI, security, and observability

Cisco Live 2024 showcased the convergence of networking with AI, security, and observability, highlighting the company’s vision for the future of connectivity.

Cisco’s networking announcements centered on simplifying and consolidating AI networking through solutions like Nexus HyperFabric AI Clusters, which streamline the design, deployment, and management of generative AI applications.

Cisco ThousandEyes, the expansion of Digital Experience Assurance capabilities, further demonstrated the company’s commitment to delivering end-to-end visibility and insights across enterprise, cloud, and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environments. “By utilizing robust telemetry data and AI-native technology, customers can now achieve digital resilience and transition from reactive to proactive operations by assuring user digital experience across domains for both owned and unowned environments.”

Cisco’s networking innovations aimed to provide a solid foundation for the AI-driven future while addressing modern enterprises’ evolving security and observability requirements.

Splunk acquisition propels Cisco’s observability leap

Cisco’s completion of the $28 billion Splunk acquisition took center stage at Cisco Live 2024, signaling a major shift in the company’s observability strategy.

At the event, Cisco introduced AppDynamics Log Observer Connect, the marriage of Splunk Log Observability with Cisco AppDynamics Application Performance Monitoring (APM). This fusion illustrates Cisco’s commitment to delivering unparalleled visibility and real-time insights across complex IT environments.

Cisco’s talent enablement initiatives

Recognizing the critical role of talent in the AI era, Cisco unveiled a range of initiatives to equip customers and partners with the necessary skills and certifications. The launch of the AI Fundamentals for Partners program will give the organization’s ecosystem the knowledge and expertise needed to design, deploy, and manage AI solutions.

The program, created as a multi-stage learning journey, covered AI basics, key concepts, solution architectures, and best practices for implementing AI on Cisco platforms. By empowering partners with a deep understanding of AI technologies and their business implications, Cisco aims to accelerate the adoption of AI across industries.

In addition to partner enablement, Cisco introduced a new certification program focused on designing modern AI architectures. This vendor-agnostic certification hopes to validate the skills required to architect and implement AI solutions in real-world scenarios.

Paving the way for an AI-driven future

Cisco Live 2024 was a testament to Cisco’s dedication to innovation and leadership in AI. The event highlighted a range of AI-powered solutions, significant investments, and comprehensive training programs, all designed to equip businesses with the tools they need to thrive in an AI-driven world. The future of enterprise technology looks brighter than ever.

As a trusted Cisco Gold Partner, SHI is uniquely positioned to help organizations leverage Cisco’s cutting-edge technologies and solutions.

We recently hosted a webinar (now available on-demand) exploring the power of Catalyst Center, Cisco’s management system that utilizes AI to connect, secure, and automate network operations.

You’ll gain valuable insights into the latest features and capabilities of Catalyst Center’s software-defined access (SDA) and how it can be implemented in real-world scenarios to drive business advantages and simplify network management. The presentation also includes a case study that demonstrates how easy it is to migrate to Catalyst Center and the tangible benefits it brings.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from real-world success stories and gain actionable insights into the future of networking.

Watch now to discover how SHI and Cisco can help you accelerate your digital transformation journey.