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 are less complicated to function, safe by design, and prepared for AI.
I see it as validation of the strategic route we’ve got been pursuing. Now we have 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 preserve advancing for purchasers.
The community is getting 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 methods, autonomous robots, and clever purposes are working in the identical environments as workers and clients. In manufacturing, that may imply industrial imaginative and prescient methods inspecting product high quality, robots and automatic guided autos transferring by way of manufacturing strains, and sensors coordinating security, uptime, and effectivity. In healthcare, it will possibly imply related scientific gadgets, affected person monitoring, and location-aware workflows. In retail, it will possibly imply good cameras, digital signage, stock methods, and cell point-of-sale experiences working collectively throughout the shop.
These methods generate new sorts of site visitors, work together with purposes in sudden methods, and take motion at machine pace. The implication for IT is obvious: handbook, ticket-driven operations can’t preserve tempo. Networks have to determine what’s connecting, perceive context, implement coverage, preserve 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 up to now. IT groups want methods that correlate indicators throughout networking, safety, purposes, and digital expertise, then assist operators sense, motive, act, and validate with confidence throughout the complete connectivity path.
That end-to-end view has to lengthen past the infrastructure a corporation owns. It wants to offer visibility throughout the networks and companies clients depend upon, 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.
That is why 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, purposes, 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 pace, context, and confidence that the setting 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 World Overview carry 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, motive 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 site visitors patterns, entry habits, 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 site visitors flows. We’re additionally advancing post-quantum readiness throughout important 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 site visitors patterns, larger density, distributed workloads, and demanding digital experiences. Cisco Good 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, scientific environments, retail shops, and industrial websites. Throughout the Cisco Networking portfolio, our work offers clients a unified structure with the pliability to decide on cloud-managed, on-premises, or hybrid operations.
Over the previous 12 months, we’ve got made progress in opposition to 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 are 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, discuss with our product groups, and discover how Cisco will help you construct a community prepared for AI.
