I’m happy to share that Cisco has been named a Chief within the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Wired and Wi-fi LAN Infrastructure.
This recognition displays the main target and execution of our groups and companions, and the belief clients place in us to ship networks which might be easier to function, safe by design, and prepared for AI.
I see it as validation of the strategic course we’ve got been pursuing. We’ve introduced Cisco Switching and Cisco Wi-fi collectively right into a unified campus networking platform. We’re giving clients versatile administration throughout cloud-managed, on-premises, and hybrid deployments. And we’re embedding AgenticOps and safety into the community itself, so operations and safety work collectively by design.
From our perspective, this recognition aligns with the work Cisco has been driving throughout the portfolio: bringing wired and wi-fi operations nearer collectively, giving clients selection in how they handle their environments, making use of AI to simplify operations, and constructing safety into the community material. That’s Cisco’s technique, and it’s the work we are going to maintain advancing for patrons.
The community is coming into a brand new chapter
AI is altering community necessities in two related methods: networking for AI, and AI for networking.
Networking for AI means constructing infrastructure that may assist AI-powered work throughout the enterprise. AI brokers, IoT techniques, autonomous robots, and clever functions are working in the identical environments as workers and clients. In manufacturing, that may imply industrial imaginative and prescient techniques inspecting product high quality, robots and automatic guided autos transferring by way of manufacturing traces, and sensors coordinating security, uptime, and effectivity. In healthcare, it might imply related medical gadgets, affected person monitoring, and location-aware workflows. In retail, it might imply sensible cameras, digital signage, stock techniques, and cell point-of-sale experiences working collectively throughout the shop.
These techniques generate new sorts of visitors, work together with functions in surprising methods, and take motion at machine velocity. The implication for IT is obvious: handbook, ticket-driven operations can not maintain tempo. Networks must establish what’s connecting, perceive context, implement coverage, keep resilient experiences, and assist groups reply earlier than small points interrupt the enterprise.
AI for networking means making use of intelligence to the way in which networks are operated. Remoted automation can solely go thus far. IT groups want techniques that correlate indicators throughout networking, safety, functions, and digital expertise, then assist operators sense, cause, act, and validate with confidence throughout the total connectivity path.
That end-to-end view has to lengthen past the infrastructure a company owns. It wants to supply visibility throughout the networks and companies clients rely on, together with ISP, cloud, and SaaS paths, so groups can perceive expertise from the consumer to the applying and scale back blind spots exterior their direct management.
This is the reason Cisco believes enterprises want an AI-ready safe community structure.
Our technique: an AI-ready safe community
Cisco’s AI-ready safe community structure is constructed round three priorities: operational simplicity, safety constructed into the material of the community, and infrastructure prepared for AI-scale calls for.
As AI turns into a part of enterprise processes, IT groups should assist a broader set of customers, endpoints, functions, related environments, and AI-powered workflows. On the identical time, threats transfer quicker, operational complexity grows, and expectations for dependable digital experiences proceed to rise. The community has to assist groups reply with the velocity, context, and confidence that the surroundings now calls for.
First, simplifying operations with AI.
Community groups want to maneuver past reactive troubleshooting and fragmented workflows. It begins with a constant platform. Cisco has introduced collectively Catalyst and Meraki product households right into a converged platform. Capabilities like International Overview deliver on-premises and cloud working fashions right into a single, constant administration aircraft. On prime of this, Cisco AgenticOps helps clients use AI-driven insights, automation, and cross-domain visibility to sense throughout end-to-end connectivity, cause over context, act with confidence, and validate outcomes throughout wired, wi-fi, campus, department, industrial, and cloud-connected environments.
Second, fusing safety into the community.
Safety can’t be handled as an overlay. The community is a key management level as a result of it sees visitors patterns, entry conduct, utility flows, gadget posture, and agent interactions. Cisco is embedding safety into the community material by way of capabilities resembling segmentation, firewall companies, SASE, identity-driven entry, and coverage enforcement nearer to the place visitors flows. We’re additionally advancing post-quantum readiness throughout vital layers of the community stack to assist clients put together for rising threats.
Third, modernizing infrastructure for AI-scale calls for.
AI-ready networks require resilient, high-performance wired and wi-fi infrastructure that may deal with new visitors patterns, greater density, distributed workloads, and demanding digital experiences. Cisco Sensible Switches create a safe networking basis with capability for embedded companies and coverage enforcement nearer to the sting. Cisco Wi-Fi 7 APs ship the throughput, latency, and reliability wanted to drive AI experiences throughout campuses, branches, medical environments, retail shops, and industrial websites. Throughout the Cisco Networking portfolio, our work offers clients a unified structure with the flexibleness to decide on cloud-managed, on-premises, or hybrid operations.
Over the previous yr, we’ve got made progress towards this technique: deeper integration throughout our wired and wi-fi portfolio, a constant AI-driven working mannequin, end-to-end visibility with ThousandEyes, safety embedded into the community, post-quantum readiness, and AI-ready infrastructure designed to assist the subsequent wave of experiences.
Collectively, these developments assist enterprises construct, safe, and function networks which might be prepared for AI.
Persevering with the momentum at Cisco Reside
We’re grateful for Gartner’s recognition. From my perspective, it reinforces the trail we’re on, and it raises the bar for what we do subsequent.
At Cisco Reside, we are going to proceed the dialog with clients and companions about easy methods to modernize networks for AI, safety, and scale. I’m excited to construct on this momentum and assist clients take sensible steps for their very own environments.
Meet with us there to see the structure in motion, speak with our product groups, and discover how Cisco might help you construct a community prepared for AI.
