As Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins exclaimed from the Cisco Live stage in Las Vegas this week, “the network is truly more important than the node.”

It’s a lesson that goes back to Cisco’s founders, who more than 40 years ago connected computers with the first router, opening massive possibilities for networking, collaboration, and our modern world, from the internet to mobility to cloud and beyond.

And It’s never truer than now, as agentic AI represents perhaps the biggest tech transition of all. And at a time when only 15% of organizations feel fully confident to deploy AI, Cisco is delivering the critical, secure infrastructure to accelerate the journey to AI value.

“The buzz we hear around GPUs is incredibly important,” Robbins continued. “The models are incredibly important. Inference is incredibly important. The apps, the agentic revolution, they’re all nodes though, and they’re super powerful independently, but they’re massively more powerful when they’re networked.”

Speaking before more than 20,000 customers, partners, tech analysts, and press at the company’s premier annual event, Robbins clarified Cisco’s focus on building AI-ready data centers, resilient infrastructure, and future-proof workplaces — with key announcements around Cisco Cloud Control, Cisco Live Protect, Cisco IQ, and agentic security, to name a few.

All are part of a comprehensive portfolio, integrated with Cisco’s platform advantage, and powered by AI to meet new challenges.

“We have a unique capability,” Robbins emphasized, “because we have this full stack, from silicon to the platform and with security and observability — to help you implement the infrastructure that you need for your organization to take advantage of this wave.”

Cisco is enabling that wave with innovation at a pace that’s never been seen before — essential at a time when AI-driven network traffic is expected to triple in three years and AI-powered cyberthreats gain new levels of sophistication, especially in a post-Mythos world.

“Today I’m really proud,” Robbins stated. “I stood on stage a few years ago and talked about how we were going to increase the pace of innovation. And the teams have done just that, maybe to a point where it’s hard to absorb sometimes.”