Cisco Announce AI Enhancements And A $1 Billion AI Investment Fund

Recently, Cisco announced it had signed a global strategic partnership with Lenovo to boost AI innovation in business and drive digital transformation.

Now, at its premier networking and security event – Cisco LIVE 2024 – the company has made more announcements that’s set to propel its position in the artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) sector, while equipping enterprises with powerful and high-quality AI products and services.

So, what was announced? Let’s explore!
 

What AI Enhancements Did Cisco Announce?

 

• At Cisco LIVE 2024, the company announced a range of AI enhancements it was bringing to its offerings.

• This includes Cisco launching AI-infused networking, security and observability solutions across its entire portfolio of services.

• To make networking easier by using AI, the company is enabling the Cisco Nexus HyperFabric AI clusters, an AI cluster solution that comes with NVIDIA to offer users “a single place to design, deploy, monitor and assure AI pods and data center workloads.”

• Additionally, it brings new ThousandEyes capabilities and AI-native workflows in Cisco Networking Cloud, which will help deliver high quality digital experiences and “see and manage every enterprise, cloud, SaaS, and Internet network for exceptional digital experiences to every user, everywhere, every time.”

• It will also boost its AI security solutions by offering new capabilities by bringing in AI-fortified security, powerful firewall infrastructure, new sources of telemetry, superior network visibility and AI-native management architecture.

• Just after a month after launching Cisco Hypershield, the company announced support services for AMD Pensando DPUs and Intel IPUs, enabling an AI-driven, distributed security architecture across cloud, data centers and edge environments without compromising on performance and energy efficiency.

• The company will also bring improvements to observability using AI through its recent acquisition of Splunk, offering unparalleled visibility and real-time insights.

• The company is also bringing new capabilities in its Webex Contact Center, including an AI Assistant for contact center agents, which will soon be generally available.

• Furthermore, it will bring AI skilling, which will include AI partner specialization training to enable partners to optimize infrastructure for AI workloads using Cisco technology, as well as allowing enterprises to build an AI-ready workforce through Cisco’s new certification in designing modern AI architecture.

• The company also announced a $1 billion global investment fund that will “advance several critical areas including customer readiness, compute infrastructure, foundational models, model development and training.”

 

What Is Cisco’s Global AI Investment Fund About?

 

• Announced at its event and further through a news release, Cisco revealed that it will launch a $1 billion global AI investment fund to boost the AI startup ecosystem and expand and develop secure, reliable and trustworthy AI solutions.

• A part of the new fund will also see the company invest in AI companies such as Cohere, Mistral AI, Scale AI and others, to collaborate on products, enabling the company to co-innovate.

• As per the release, Cisco has already committed nearly $200M of the investment fund to date.

• This adds to the 20+ AI-focused acquisitions and investments the company made over the years.

 

What Did Cisco Officials Say?

 

• Talking about the new AI enhancement the company will be bringing in, Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO of Cisco, said, “We're thrilled to share incredible innovation and new AI-powered capabilities for our customers this week at Cisco Live.”

• [Contd.] “Cisco is uniquely positioned to revolutionize the way infrastructure and data connect and protect organizations of all sizes, and we are confident we are the right strategic partner for our customers in this era of AI.”

• Commenting on its $1 billion AI investment fund, Mark Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer, Cisco, said, “For more than 30 years, Cisco Investments has invested and partnered with hundreds of companies to drive innovation both within Cisco's core markets and in new strategic areas. Our recent investments in generative AI companies align perfectly with this long-standing strategy.”

• [Contd.] “At Cisco, we believe we are well positioned to be the best strategic partner for our customers in the AI era as they look to build, secure, and power AI. In addition to building essential technology to connect, secure and advance AI, Cisco is committed to investing in the broader AI ecosystem to more effectively meet our customers' needs.”

• Derek Idemoto, SVP, Corporate Development and Cisco Investments, said, “The establishment of our $1 billion AI investment fund is a testament to our commitment to the transformative power of artificial intelligence and its potential to redefine industries globally.”

• [Contd.] “This fund represents our unwavering commitment to AI and innovation, and to the entrepreneurs and visionaries who are defining the next wave of technology.”

Do you think this move by Cisco will help it boost its position in the market and increase its customer base? Do you think its rivals will consider making similar moves?

Let us know in the comments below!