We rely on connections with everyone and everything. But secure networking can be challenging in a distributed world of people, places, and things across premises to the cloud. Learn how Cisco is helping customers securely connect everything, everywhere through the latest enhancements to our SASE solution.

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In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the intersection of security and networking presents both challenges and opportunities. As a renowned security expert once said, “The worst enemy of security is complexity.” This statement underscores the pressing need to simplify how network security is delivered and embedded across our increasingly complex technology stack.

According to Enterprise Strategy Group, 73 percent of organizations believe their network environment is more complex than it was two years ago.

Consider the impact this kind of complexity has on the supremely digital world we live in today. Digital experiences in our hyper-connected world have a ripple effect across our lives. They influence customer satisfaction, employee retention, and competitive differentiation. These digital experiences span locations, things, and applications through people, teams, communities, and organizations, and they rely on stable, secure connections between everyone and everything.

In my last blog, I highlighted the growing talent gap that is presenting huge challenges that IT leaders simply cannot ignore. Employee experiences matter just as much as customer experiences, and convergence can be a catalyst to transform everyone’s experience while also addressing the talent gap.

Network and security convergence is needed now more than ever

In a world where digital transformation is not an option but a necessity, converging network and security with a simple, unified framework has never been more critical. As organizations grapple with expanding connections, a distributed workforce, and applications across multicloud environments, complexity and risk increase, making a converged network and security strategy essential.

In the words of a customer I met at last year’s Cisco Live, “We don’t have time to manage management tools.” This underscores the necessity for streamlined processes in an era where this proliferation of connections, dependencies, and potential threats makes traditional network and security operations silos untenable.

Convergence is not merely a technical adjustment but a strategic imperative that necessitates a shift toward a unified, simplified IT framework. By enabling converged networking and security access with secure access service edge (SASE), IT professionals can transition from managing architectures to orchestrating a platform blueprint to experience a streamlined, secure, and agile IT environment and ecosystem.

Embracing this convergence also fosters innovation, ensuring robust security and optimal user experiences in an increasingly interconnected world.

Discover exciting new enhancements coming to the Cisco unified SASE platform

Trusted, unified experiences center on what Cisco delivers through the Cisco Networking Cloud platform—our vision to transform business and securely connect the world. Built on this foundation, Cisco Secure Connect seamlessly converges software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and security service edge (SSE) in a unified solution that provides customers with a blueprint for SASE made easy. Through this single platform, customers can easily manage secure connectivity for branch and remote connections, delivering a seamless experience for hybrid users wherever they work.

This week, Cisco announced that it is delivering the most complete unified SASE solution with Cisco Secure Connect, now powered by Cisco Secure Access as the newly embedded SSE engine. This convergence presents another step forward in bringing Cisco Networking and security clouds together to deliver a unified SASE fabric with advanced security capabilities, starting with client-based zero trust network access (ZTNA). With this advancement, Secure Connect is evolving zero trust to better support remote workers and power hybrid work. This delivers several key outcomes for customers, including:

Rich ZTNA functionality powered by Secure Access to deliver better remote worker experiences and stronger security with high-performing zero trust access.
Seamless end-user experiences that eliminate the need for users to take extra steps to connect to private apps—access is instant and “just works.” This includes:
Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) support with multiplexed application substrate over QUIC encryption (MASQUE) proxy, which provides mobile device support for users to instantly access apps from anywhere
Unified Cisco Secure Client with connection brokering automated on the back end to ensure seamless user experience everywhere

One place to manage all connectivity options (VPN, browser and client-based ZTNA, as well as the branches) for streamlined operations and better user experiences.

All of this new functionality is now available via streamlined management through the Meraki dashboard to make it easier for admins to manage zero trust and policy enforcement across networking and security functions.

Ultimately, this evolution of the Secure Connect SSE engine with Secure Access delivers a simple, complete, and unified way to flawlessly connect users to both private and public applications anywhere they work.

In addition to this exciting first step forward in converging with Secure Access, Cisco is also announcing these Secure Connect updates:

An expanded footprint with the addition of new data centers to support global availability for secure private access across more regions.
Global transactability for the Secure Connect Complete package option, giving customers more flexibility in choosing the path to SASE they want and need.
Customers around the globe can now choose between the Secure Connect Foundation or the Secure Connect Complete package based on their needs.
Secure Connect Foundation is designed for organizations that want to get started with unified SASE and includes secure internet access for sites and roaming users.
Secure Connect Complete offers the full suite of unified SASE capabilities, including remote access and ZTNA, that now includes both clientless and client-based zero trust.

EA 3.0 availability makes it easier for customers to purchase and consume unified SASE with Secure Connect as part of their enterprise agreement.

Through these new advancements to our unified SASE platform, Cisco is taking steps to continually make secure networking easier for customers and helping power flawless experiences anywhere work happens.

Think unified SASE to navigate your way to secure networking

If you are seeking an easier way to manage secure connectivity, simplify IT, build greater security, and create more operational consistency, unified SASE is the clear path forward. Cisco Secure Connect is designed to make it effortless to interconnect everything through the unified fabric and to seamlessly secure devices and connections everywhere. IT wins, users win, and everyone is happy. Secure networking has never been this easy.

Learn how Cisco Secure Connect can help you deliver seamless,

trusted experiences for users everywhere.

"}]]  We rely on connections with everyone and everything. But secure networking can be challenging in a distributed world of people, places, and things across premises to the cloud. Learn how Cisco is helping customers securely connect everything, everywhere through the latest enhancements to our SASE solution.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium seeks to ensure that workers around the globe are equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in an AI-driven future. We are collaborating with G7 governments on an Inclusive Global Action Plan for AI to to benefit women, underrepresented communities, and developing countries. 

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As global leaders prepare to discuss the world’s most pressing challenges at the G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy, I am excited to share that the AI-Enabled Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Workforce Consortium, led by Cisco and joined by industry leaders Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft, and SAP, is extending our reach to include all G7 countries.

According to a recent study from the International Labour Organization, generative AI is more likely to augment than destroy jobs by automating some tasks rather than taking over a role entirely. But how? What new skills will workers need to adapt? How can the private and public sectors meet the challenges and opportunities presented by the AI revolution?

We don’t have all the answers, but our mission as a Consortium is clear: to take a proactive stance in addressing the profound impact of AI on the workforce.

About the ICT Workforce Consortium

Catalyzed by the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council’s (TTC) Talent for Growth Task Force and informed by input from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Consortium is a private sector collaboration focused on exploring AI’s impact on ICT job roles and enabling workers to find and access relevant training programs. We are joined by advisors from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, CHAIN5, Communications Workers of America, DIGITALEUROPE, the European Vocational Training Association, Khan Academy, and SMEUnited.

Launched April 2024 in proximity to the 6th U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council Ministerial Meeting in Belgium, the Consortium committed to a Phase 1 evaluation of the impact of AI on 56 ICT job roles.  These job roles include 80% of the top 45 ICT job titles garnering the highest volume of job postings for the period February 2023-2024 in the United States and five of the largest European countries by ICT workforce numbers (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands) according to Indeed Hiring Lab. In response to feedback from leaders across the globe, we are expanding our Phase 2 scope to include all G7 countries—adding Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom to our analysis of the most in-demand ICT job roles.

An Inclusive Global Action Plan for AI

The Consortium seeks to analyze and act, ensuring that workers around the globe are equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in an AI-driven future. We are leveraging the collective insights of our members and advisors to recommend and amplify reskilling and upskilling training programs that are inclusive and can benefit multiple stakeholders – students, career changers, current IT workers, employers, and educators – in order to skill workers at scale.  This vision is deeply aligned with the G7’s commitment to fostering workforce development amidst the rapid adoption of AI across their economies.

Our work has just begun! We look forward to collaborating with G7 governments on the AI Action Plan as we evolve our work to expand its impact, particularly among women, underrepresented communities, and in developing countries. As technology accelerates and global organizations assess how to move forward, we need to be diligent in bringing people forward. Understanding how AI intersects with ICT roles is the first and most important step in making sure the digital divide doesn’t deepen.

This summer the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will deliver on this with its Phase 1 findings and actionable insights to help employers and employees prepare for the future. Beyond that, we anticipate adding new companies, advisors, and countries to our efforts to ensure that workers have the tools, training, and opportunities to succeed in the AI era. Today’s announcement that we are extending our reach to include all G7 countries is an exciting start, but just the beginning of this long and important journey.

Read the April 2024 press release to learn more about our partners in the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium:

Leading Companies Launch Consortium to Address AI’s Impact on the Technology Workforce

"}]]  The AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium seeks to ensure that workers around the globe are equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in an AI-driven future. We are collaborating with G7 governments on an Inclusive Global Action Plan for AI to to benefit women, underrepresented communities, and developing countries.   Read More Cisco Blogs 

Read how Cisco Security Cloud Control prioritizes consolidation of tools and simplification of security policy without compromising your defense.

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Over the past year, I’ve spoken with hundreds of professionals about what they expect from their network security. This question is mostly met with equal parts enthusiasm and angst. As we wrap up another successful Cisco Live, I’m eager to share the deep insights I’ve gathered from these extensive conversations and how Cisco is actively addressing your security needs.

As organizations navigate application transformations and grapple with the intricacies of defending increasingly complex networks, they’re also confronting a new wave of technological advancements.

Naturally, these advancements can be a double-edged sword. While they offer the potential for enhanced security measures, they also empower threat actors, who can now exploit vulnerabilities with alarming speed and efficiency.

The overwhelming message is twofold: Organizations need help bolstering their security, but also in streamlining their processes. Integrating too many security tools alone has become its own source of complexity, diluting the focus on threats and stretching resources too thin.

This point was poignantly made during a recent conversation with a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), who expressed a sentiment all too common in the industry. Faced with the prospect of integrating yet another security solution, the CISO lamented, “I can’t ask my team to adopt the 212th tool in our portfolio!”

The CISO’s frustration illustrates a critical challenge for security leaders: They must balance the adoption of necessary security measures with the practical limitations of their teams’ capacity and the potential for tool sprawl.

In response to this complexity, organizations are hungry for a more streamlined approach to security, one that prioritizes the consolidation of tools and the simplification of security policies without compromising the efficacy of defense mechanisms.

Meanwhile, cybersecurity organizations must deliver solutions that are not just robust and cutting-edge, but also manageable and user-friendly. This way we can empower security teams to effectively combat the threats of tomorrow while keeping their operational sanity today.

Vendors, point products, and a transition to the cloud 

For many professionals, buying a specialized security product leads to something called “the Ferrari problem”. Like that expensive sports car, you’re purchasing something costly and specialized. The product may indeed do the specialized task very well. But security is not done in isolation—some level of integration will inevitability be required.

Thus, the expensive, specialized product opens the door to even more costly integrations (or, in the case of the car, costly repairs).

This doesn’t even count the disjointed security of working with different vendor solutions or the radical complexity of deploying a configuration or security policy across hundreds or thousands of branch offices.

There’s a reason many security professionals avoid updating their tools. With all this complexity, they’re afraid it will disrupt the business or the customer experience.

How Cisco is redefining effective, simplified security for the cloud  

It’s no secret that Cisco built the backbone of switching and routing across the globe for our one million+ customers and partner ecosystem. And we’re currently responsible for facilitating 85% of the world’s internet traffic.

Now, we’ve taken another giant leap by launching Cisco Security Cloud Control.

Cisco Security Cloud Control is designed to unify management for the Cisco Security Cloud, starting with a network security fabric.

Security Cloud Control delivers an AI-native approach to proactively surface actionable insights and automate resolution across hybrid environments. It is designed to help teams get the most of out their Cisco Security investment—saving time and benefiting from simpler and streamlined policies

Building robust security for complicated, ever-shifting cloud environments  

With too many tools and too much complexity to manage, the only answer is a security system that seamlessly ties everything together. We’ve answered the call, building a platform that blends Cisco Hypershield, multi-cloud defenses, advanced firewalls, and microsegmentation technologies.

This platform can collect information across the system and explain what it finds in reports, and via a natural language interface, show the risks to sensitive business assets like PCI databases. You can even ask the system about its own insights and next steps.

But at its heart is the promise of comprehensive visibility and complete detection across every facet of the network, whether it’s ingress/egress at a cloud edge, data center edge, campus, or branch, all the way down to every process and connection from your applications and workloads.

The level of visibility and management from Security Cloud Control helps leaders focus on delivering the outcomes their teams need. From taking intent-based policies in one place and translating them throughout all the control points in your network to streamlining, troubleshooting and recommending policies that span multiple solutions, Cisco Security Cloud Control helps with it all.

And Security Cloud Control’s ability to translate the complex language of cybersecurity delivers an added benefit: the ability to explain and articulate what’s happening–and what you need– to decision-makers. The simplicity and clarity of reports can help you keep leadership informed and engaged in your cybersecurity work.

At the core of this is, yes, AI technology but not just a prompt-based assistant—this is one driving proactive insights and sections across your network and will transform how you engage across the platform.

In essence, what we’ve built stands as a testament to the future of cybersecurity—a single platform that not only anticipates and neutralizes threats, it also empowers organizations to develop a more sophisticated, responsive, and resilient approach to protecting their digital assets.

It’s not just a powerful solution; it’s a strategic enabler for any enterprise looking to secure its future in an unpredictable cyber world, across network requirements that are only destined to become even more complex.

Security Cloud Control is slated for initial availability in September 2024, with support for Secure Firewall Threat Defense, Secure Firewall ASA, Multicloud Defense, and Cisco Hypershield.  

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Security on social!

Cisco Security Social Channels

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"}]]  Read how Cisco Security Cloud Control prioritizes consolidation of tools and simplification of security policy without compromising your defense.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

See how administrators can use AI Assistant to effortlessly manage firewall devices, configure policies, and access reference materials whenever required, streamlining their workflow and boosting overall efficiency.

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Cisco AI Assistant is now available for Cisco XDR and Cisco Defense Orchestrator

Managing firewall policies and locating relevant documentation can be daunting for firewall administrators. However, the AI Assistant integrated with the Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO) and the cloud-delivered Firewall Management Center simplifies these processes. With this powerful combination, administrators can effortlessly manage firewall devices, configure policies, and access reference materials whenever required, streamlining their workflow and boosting overall efficiency.

Prerequisites

Administrators need to ensure they have met the following prerequisites to use the AI Assistant:

User roles:
● CDO and cloud-delivered Firewall Management Center – Super Admin or Admin
● On-Prem FMC – Global Domain Admin

Upon successful login into your tenant, you will notice an AI Assistant button positioned in the top menu bar of the dashboard.

Click the AI Assistant button on the CDO or cloud-delivered Firewall Management Center home page to access the AI Assistant.
The Cisco AI Assistant interface contains the following components: Text Input Box, New Chat, Chat History, Expand View, and Feedback.

Cisco AI Assistant interface following the best Generative AI assistant practices.

AI Assistant interaction

AI Assistant completion with the prompt “Can you provide me with the distinct IP addresses that are currently blocked by our firewall policies?”

AI Assistant completion with the prompt “What access control rules are disabled?”

If you think that response is wrong, please click the thumbs-down button below for the related completion and fill out and submit the form.

AI Assistant can’t proceed with some prompts and questions. In this case, you can see the following completion:

It looks like the engineering team decided not to display answers if there is insufficient data to correct them or in cases where the model can hallucinate.

Try it! Firewall Assistant User Guide

"}]]  See how administrators can use AI Assistant to effortlessly manage firewall devices, configure policies, and access reference materials whenever required, streamlining their workflow and boosting overall efficiency.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Discover how the Cisco XDR and Meraki MX integration provides advanced threat detection and network insights. Join us at Cisco Live 2024 for a demo.

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Most organizations recognize the benefits accrued by connecting their digital technology stacks for addressing gaps in their cyber-defenses. However, one gap that continues to challenge organizations of all sizes exists between the network and security operations, making breaches a significant root cause for network outages. Breach related disruptions can last for months before normal operations are restored. Giving Network Administrators advance warning into security threats emerging in their environment remains aspirational for many.

At Cisco, we have always strived to build security into the network, rather than bolting it onto the network as an afterthought. Towards this end, we are pleased to announce the integration of Cisco XDR, our innovative extended detection and response solution, with the much-adored Cisco Meraki portfolio.

Meraki Networks gets a Security shot in the arm

Today, we are arming Meraki network and security administrators with the ability to proactively monitor emerging threats as they develop in their environment. Rather than wait for ‘Breaking News’ from their security counterparts, network administrators can catch the warning signs early and assign suspicious incidents to security analysts for further investigation. In this way, they can stay ahead of the curve and prevent events from mushrooming into full-blown incidents.

This year at Cisco Live 2024, customers can experience where security meets the network with new capabilities integrating Cisco XDR with the Meraki MX Security and SD-WAN portfolio in furtherance of Cisco’s built-in security strategy. 

Benefits flow in both directions

The benefits accrued from integrating Cisco XDR with the Meraki Network are a two-way street. While the Networking teams undoubtedly benefit from advanced warning of emerging threats, the Security operations teams gain valuable network insights from the Meraki portfolio.

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is a tool for correlating and applying analytics on discrete security alerts from various control points in an organization’s security stack. While XDR traces its origins as an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) extension, it has evolved to include integrations with Email defense, Firewall traffic, Cloud protection, and Identity-based intelligence.

However, many organizations miss the connective tissue linking these disparate security control-points: The Network. Tracking network connections natively as part of XDR’s correlation process allows organizations to “connect the dots”, something that many security teams struggle to do. By partnering with Meraki devices, Cisco XDR can leverage data about network connections to fill-in-the-blanks between security events, thus providing visibility into lateral movement and help track the progression of an attack. Add to this data from existing Cisco XDR and Third-Party integrations as well the Cisco XDR Network Visibility Module, and a blurry picture comes into sharp focus.

While the Meraki MX portfolio is the inaugural Meraki family of products enabled via this integration, future development will encompass Meraki Switching (MS) and Meraki Wireless (MR) family of products. This same closely integrated but loosely coupled model will also be extended to Catalyst networking portfolio, making security built into Cisco networks a reality.

What capabilities are being delivered today?

Since most of our readers have busy eyes, here is a bulleted list of capabilities that are being delivered as a part of this integration:

Connection between a Meraki Organization (inclusive of child Meraki Networks) to a Cisco XDR tenant, using an ‘easy button’ process
Agentless streaming of Meraki MX network telemetry data (NetFlow) to XDR cloud in real-time
Cisco XDR detections based on Meraki MX logs, and correlation of those with findings from other data sources available to Cisco XDR
Providing Meraki administrators, the ability to review, assign, and modify the status of an XDR Incident form within the Meraki dashboard. Incident investigation is enabled via a cross-launch into Cisco XDR
Real-time Threat Hunting and Investigation of Meraki MX security events Cisco XDR, and enhancement of XDR Asset Insights context based on Meraki Systems Manager provided device attributes

Where can I learn more?

Visit the Cisco XDR and Meraki spaces at Cisco Live 2024 Las Vegas from June 3 to June 6 to learn more and view a live demo of this capability. Please contact your Cisco security or Meraki sales representatives or partners for enrolling in the private preview of this capability starting in July 2024.

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Security on social!

Cisco Security Social Channels

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"}]]  Discover how the Cisco XDR and Meraki MX integration provides advanced threat detection and network insights. Join us at Cisco Live 2024 for a demo.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

In three months since the Splunk acquisition, Cisco and Splunk have been hard at work with new use cases and integrations. Find out what's being announced at Cisco Live US 2024.

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When Cisco initially closed the acquisition of Splunk, we promised we would swiftly deliver more together, capitalizing on each company’s incredible products and skillsets to bring exponential value to our customers. This week at Cisco Live, I have the pleasure of helping showcase how Cisco AppDynamics and Splunk are making our Better Together vision a reality and how we are expanding Cisco Full-Stack Observability to an organizations’ entire enterprise.

In less than three months since the acquisition, we’re able to announce early integrations, share how we are delivering a unified observability experience between Cisco AppDynamics and Splunk, and give insight into what our near-term vision and roadmap looks like. Together, we are helping to provide unified visibility across any environment and stack and providing customers the insights they need to take actions where it matters most for their business. We are also continuing to innovate within Cisco AppDynamics — particularly in AI — and expanding its availability in the Microsoft Azure marketplace.

New Cisco AppDynamics + Splunk Innovations

Here are some of the expanded use cases and integrations we’re sharing at Cisco Live US 2024.

Unified Observability Experience

Our observability users want to have a simple, streamlined experience between Cisco and Splunk. They don’t want to feel like they’re using multiple products, and having to repeatedly log in, and log out. Our new unified experience across Cisco and Splunk Observability products includes single sign-on credentials to simplify workflows, and context-driven investigations with deep linking to ensure rapid identification of performance issues.

Log Observer Connect for Cisco AppDynamics with Splunk

Our customers look to Splunk and Cisco AppDynamics to deliver the best when it comes to logs, and other telemetry data types in APM. With Log Observer Connect, we are centralizing logs for the entire enterprise — including observability teams —and providing the ability to analyze logs in-context within the troubleshooting workflow and allows teams to swiftly reduce the time taken to solve problems.

Cisco AI Assistant for Cisco AppDynamics

We want to empower teams at every level to make informed decisions, faster. With our new AI Assistant, built with responsible, generative AI technology, we can tailor responses to a diverse set of users — helping them with meaningful guidance, regardless of their skill sets or knowledge levels.

Cisco AppDynamics on Microsoft Azure

We are excited to be expanding Cisco AppDynamics SaaS, now hosted on Microsoft Azure, with our first region located in Toronto, Canada. Most teams have a multi-cloud approach, and we are committed to meeting them where they’re at and providing more choice in selecting their preferred cloud service provider. With Cisco AppDynamics on Microsoft Azure, we can help expand regional coverage, help maintain compliance with industry-specific regulatory requirements, and help organizations streamline their workflows.

Continuing our Better Together Story

This is just the beginning of our Better Together story with Splunk, and I could not be more excited about the capabilities we can deliver with our combined solutions. We aim to deliver a cohesive Observability experience across our portfolios, so that our customers get frictionless and complete visibility across any environment and any stack in one place. It’s an exciting time for Observability, and with the power of Cisco and Splunk together, we can help our customers build and mature their observability practices to meet their business KPIs. I’m looking forward to taking you all along with me on this journey together.

You can read more in the press release, Cisco and Splunk launch integrated full-stack observability experience for the enterprise.

Learn about new observability and operational efficiency enhancements—
from AI innovations to Splunk log analysis solutions for AppDynamics.

Register now for the webinar: 

Better Together: Introducing new Splunk integrations and AI innovations for Cisco AppDynamics 

AMER: June 26 at 11 a.m. PST / 2 p.m. ESTAPAC: June 27 at 10:00 a.m. IST / 12:30 p.m. SGT / 2:30 p.m. AESTEMEA: June 27 at 10 a.m. GMT / 11 a.m. CET

Dive deeper into each of these announcements via their respective blogs on our Cisco AppDynamics Blog: 

Cisco Builds a Unified Observability Experience between AppDynamics and Splunk

Introducing Cisco AppDynamics Log Observer Connect with Splunk

Revolution your Cisco AppDynmaics Experience with the new Cisco AI Assistant

Optimize Application Performance with Cisco AppDynamics on Microsoft Azure

"}]]  In three months since the Splunk acquisition, Cisco and Splunk have been hard at work with new use cases and integrations. Find out what's being announced at Cisco Live US 2024.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

At Cisco Live 2024, Outshift by Cisco announces two major milestones — Motific's limited availability and a new collaboration with Mistral AI — that will accelerate the reliable delivery of new Generative AI (genAI) solutions.

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Moving quickly to accelerate artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption in your organization has the potential to serve as a stepping function to revolutionize your business. Since the expansion and breadth of access to generative AI (GenAI), 97% of companies have reported an increased urgency to deploy AI-powered technology. However, only 14% of organizations worldwide are fully ready to integrate AI into their business, according to the Cisco AI Readiness Index. This furthers the need to find a trusted advisor who can help you navigate the complexities associated with GenAI adoption.

According to Maribel Lopez, Founder and Principal Analyst at Lopez Research: “Navigating through the complex world of Generative AI requires integrating and managing multiple Large Language Models, data sources, policy controls, and user access without impeding innovation and increasing risks. Organizations need a full-stack technology approach to GenAI with building blocks that streamline and accelerate the design, delivery and governance of AI-enabled applications while reducing compliance risks.”

Today at Cisco Live Las Vegas, we are pleased to announce two major milestones as part of Cisco’s commitment to help accelerate the reliable delivery of new GenAI solutions.

Extended Availability of Motific

The first milestone in our announcement is the broader availability of Motific for free trial usage for all customers and for production usage for a limited set of customers. Additionally, we are targeting Motific general availability for production usage by July 31, 2024.

“The launch marks the introduction of Cisco’s first product that navigates the complexities of generative AI deployment. And the timing could not have been better. Enterprises across sectors are bullish on the potential of generative AI and are bringing the technology into their internal and customer-facing applications.”—Venture Beat

First announced earlier this year at Cisco Live EMEA, Motific is a new SaaS product for rapid and trusted delivery of GenAI applications in organizations. Motific empowers central IT and business function teams to quickly provision GenAI assistants and applications, while improving compliance with their organization’s trust, security, and cost policies. Motific also helps you understand user insights and ROI benefits.

“A product like Motific that analyzes user model interactions to quantify the time savings as users’ leverage GenAI can help organizations get a better handle on the ROI. Further, Motific’s what-if model suitability analysis can help organizations compare, contrast, and select the most cost-effective models for the actual GenAI powered tasks their users are performing.”—Ritu Jyoti, GM/GVP AI, Automation, Data and Analytics Market Research and Advisory Services, IDC

The development and release of Motific was made possible through Outshift, Cisco’s incubation engine. Outshift drives what’s next and new for Cisco, including researching emerging technologies that target new markets and personas and building meaningful products and solutions for our customers. This brings the best of new ventures, combined with the scale, resources, and leadership of Cisco. With Outshift, Cisco brings the unique innovation required to simplify and accelerate GenAI deployments.

Collaborating with Mistral AI

The second milestone is Cisco’s announced plan to collaborate with Mistral AI, a recognized leader in GenAI as a large language model (LLM) provider.

“We are pleased to launch this collaboration with Cisco, which will bring new opportunities for GenAI assistants through Motific. We are looking forward to see our models enhancing innovation and optimizing operations for Cisco’s clients, all while ensuring compliance with their organization’s trust, security, and cost policies.”—Arthur Mensch, CEO and Co-Founder, Mistral AI

When selecting the first LLM provider to work with, we aligned our efforts with a provider who values developing open, efficient, and trustworthy models. Mistral AI, a global company headquartered in Paris specializing in generative artificial intelligence, brings a strong focus on privacy and security and also bolsters our ability to provide diverse options to our global customer base. Today, we’re also announcing the first integration between Mistral AI and Motific.

Motific makes it easy for customers to select Mistral AI’s model within Motific to build their GenAI assistants and applications. Mistral AI is available as a model provider connection in the Motific free trial and as a pre-connected model provider in the Motific sandbox as part of the June 2, 2024 release. With a few clicks, organizations with Mistral AI relationships can quickly leverage their models in Motific to power their custom GenAI assistants and applications.

As we look to the future, we plan to leverage Mistral AI technology across the Cisco portfolio. Outshift is exploring expanding its collaboration with Mistral AI including:

Powering Motific guardrails, intelligence, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) capabilities using Mistral AI GenAI models.
Building new domain- and task-specific models for new Outshift products and features.

Building AI with a Foundation of Trust

Together, Cisco and Mistral AI offer powerful ways for organizations across the world to deploy GenAI. This reinforces Cisco’s commitment to being a platform agnostic, global AI player for our customers, who are increasingly feeling the pressure and complexity of advancing their AI initiatives.

These shared values anchor our ability to jointly help our customers to build Gen AI more rapidly, with a foundation of trust, by:

Delivering diverse AI solutions

We are committed to being a multi-model player in AI, offering options and coverage for our global customer base.

Committing to trustworthy AI

We are committed to responsible AI principles. As we work with Mistral AI, we will develop offers that help customers deliver more trustworthy solutions.

Driving efficiency and sustainability

Cisco is committed to helping customers advance their sustainability goals to improve energy and resource efficiency. With the power of Mistral AI, we will be able to focus on delivering optimized and more efficient models.

See Motific at Cisco Live!

We hope that you find the opportunity to visit Outshift at Cisco Live!
in Las Vegas to meet our leadership team and other AI enthusiasts.

We will also be at AWS re:Inforce 2024 – June 10-12, Philadelphia, PA.

Additional Resources

If you would like to learn more about Cisco’s AI strategy, Motific, and our collaboration with Mistral AI, visit these resources:

Check out Motific.ai

Sign up for Outshift’s newsletter, The Shift

Learn more about Cisco AI Solutions

Take the Cisco AI Readiness Assessment

"}]]  At Cisco Live 2024, Outshift by Cisco announces two major milestones — Motific's limited availability and a new collaboration with Mistral AI — that will accelerate the reliable delivery of new Generative AI (genAI) solutions.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

AI is a prime example of how we are greater together, with partners bridging the gap between Cisco AI technology and unique customer use cases.

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At Cisco Live 2024 in Las Vegas, there was as much discussion as excitement around Cisco’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation. Across every stage, Cisco executives highlighted the incredible power of our AI strategy, especially in meeting customer needs. Innovation is at the heart of everything Cisco does, and this is particularly true for AI, where customer demand for AI-powered technologies is extraordinary, and partner opportunities are substantial. AI is a prime example of how we are greater together, with partners bridging the gap between Cisco AI technology and unique customer use cases.

Cisco enables partners to help customers harness the power of AI

Cisconians are proud of our AI history and expertise as well as using AI to enhance our own products. As Cisco expands its AI portfolio, our unique differentiator remains our unmatched ability to provide the infrastructure that AI requires, alongside giving customers access to an enormous amount of relevant data. Our acquisition of Splunk has not only created one of the largest software companies globally, but our complementary capabilities in AI, security, and observability will unlock the tremendous value of data for customers of all sizes.

Cisco investing to scale partners’ AI maturity

The accelerating urgency for customers to deploy and leverage AI-powered technologies is driving a substantial opportunity for our partners to build profitable AI practices. Cisco is committed to ensuring our AI offering serves both partners’ business goals and bottom line, making everyone smarter and any organization better. Cisco is moving the needle faster than ever before, helping partners and customers achieve more and succeed bigger, evidence of the recent AI launches and the promise of more to come.

AI launches to enhance partner capabilities

At Cisco Live, we announced several AI launches designed to enhance partner capabilities and success in our collective AI journey, offering more value to our shared customers:

Cisco Nexus HyperFabric — Cisco’s fully managed data fabric-as-a-service

This revolutionary full-stack, cloud-managed AI solution is designed to eliminate deployment complexities and streamline AI implementations. Partners can assist customers in designing, deploying, and managing their AI-based networks at scale—all through a user-friendly interface or APIs. With Cisco handling the infrastructure, partners can focus on driving business objectives and accelerating time-to-value, while enabling customers to harness the full value of AI to propel innovation and growth. It’s about meeting our mutual customers where they are and how they want to consume Cisco technology.

Cisco’s AI Fundamentals for Partners

The first stage of our AI partner specialization training series starts with AI Fundamentals, equipping partners with the knowledge needed to optimize infrastructure for AI workloads using Cisco technology. Partners will explore AI basics, including key concepts and terms, progressing through the taxonomy of AI solutions, as well as Cisco’s AI strategy, risks, governance, and real use cases to master AI solution implementation—in, on, and through Cisco’s platforms. With the mission of elevating our entire partner ecosystem and empower customer outcomes, Cisco invites all our partners to invest in this personalized learning journey from Cisco Black Belt, available free of charge.

Register for the AI Fundamentals for Partners training in Cisco Black Belt Academy. 

And this is just the beginning. In the coming months, Cisco will provide partners with more opportunities to be recognized for their ability to sell, deploy, build upon, and operate Cisco AI technologies. This includes expanded training with advanced concepts to help partners develop more complex AI solutions, as well as specialized tools and early access to Cisco’s AI-based products. Stay tuned for more announcements, including at Partner Summit, about how we’re planning to support our partners’ AI practices. Also, check out my session in the Cisco Partner Launch Experience called The Cisco-Partner AI Opportunity.

Exciting New AI Award

Given the high customer demand, our commitment to AI and empowering partners is part of everything we do. Previously announced, Cisco is championing partners who leverage AI through a new AI-specific award category in the annual Global Partner Innovation Challenge. This new AI award features a $200K USD prize, focusing on innovation, impact, Cisco alignment, technical feasibility, and scalability. Last year, 41 percent of submissions incorporated AI—a number we are confident will continue to increase. Register for the Partner Innovation Challenge.

Start the AI Fundamentals training today by registering here!

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