Cisco

Recent news

• Sep 4, 2026

  When analyst benchmarks miss the mark: Why Nvidia doesn’t fit Forrester’s data center matrix

  Zeus Kerravala argues that Forrester’s latest Data Center Networking Solutions Wave misjudges Nvidia by applying a legacy enterprise framework to modern AI networking.

  • Kerravala says Forrester gave Nvidia a 1 out of 5 for vision and only 2% weight to AI infrastructure support, even though Nvidia scored 5.0 in the AI Infrastructure category.
  • He says Nvidia’s networking business is built around high-throughput AI fabrics, including Ethernet for AI, scale-across topologies, co-packaged optics, and integrated DPUs; he also notes Nvidia’s networking run rate is more than $11 billion.
  • This is an opinion/commentary article, not a company announcement. It references the Forrester Wave for Data Center Networking Solutions Q3 2026 and discusses how buyers should use more specialized evaluation frameworks for AI and high-performance compute.
• Sep 4, 2026

  HPE’s record Q3: AI infrastructure, networking demand drives growth, but supply constraints tap the brakes

  HPE reported a record third-quarter result driven by AI, networking, and server demand.

  • HPE revenue reached $12.2 billion, up 34% year over year; CEO Antonio Neri said the company booked more orders than any prior quarter and set a record backlog.
  • HPE said AI systems orders of $2.4 billion rose over 30% sequentially; CFO Marie Myers said HPE expects networking revenue to grow 13%-17% and cloud and AI revenue to grow 14%-18% in fiscal 2027.
  • Neri said routing and data center switching demand accelerated, while supply constraints in DDR5, DDR4, NAND, and high-bandwidth memory continue to limit fulfillment; HPE is seeking multi-year supply agreements and offering alternative configurations.
• Sep 2, 2026

  VMware by Broadcom: Product, service and support news

  Broadcom has announced multiple VMware-related product and support changes, including a new AI infrastructure stack and a slower release cadence.

  • At VMware Explore in Las Vegas on Aug. 31, 2026, Broadcom announced the VMware AI Factory, a new packaged AI infrastructure stack, plus a new agent governance platform and an open-source security portfolio.
  • Broadcom also said enterprises will be able to run production AI on-premises with VMware Private AI Cloud; separately, VMware’s release cycle is shifting from 2 years to 3 years, and VCF 9.0 support is being extended to 6 years instead of 5.
  • The article is a timeline and analysis of Broadcom’s VMware strategy since the May 2022 acquisition announcement; it also references earlier deals, lawsuits, licensing changes, layoffs, and other market reactions.
• Sep 2, 2026

  NTT DATA launches AI Factory Lab in Saudi Arabia

  NTT DATA has announced the launch of an AI Factory Lab in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, scheduled to open later this month.

  • The lab will support executive briefings, AI strategy workshops, and hands-on demos for use cases including employee productivity, customer experience, cybersecurity, networking, and software development.
  • The lab will showcase how organizations can build, deploy, secure, govern, and scale AI workloads on an enterprise-grade foundation, in collaboration with Cisco and NVIDIA.
  • Hani Nofal, Executive Head of Infrastructure Solutions in Middle East and Africa at NTT DATA, said the lab is meant to help clients identify the right use cases, deploy AI securely, and scale with confidence.
• Aug 31, 2026

  Private AI cloud, agentic infrastructure dominate VMware Explore

  Broadcom has announced VMware AI Factory, AgentMinder, and new TrueSource open-source security services at VMware Explore in Las Vegas.

  • Broadcom said VMware AI Factory is a packaged AI infrastructure stack built on VMware Cloud Foundation, supporting Nvidia and AMD accelerators, certified servers from Cisco, Dell, Lenovo, Supermicro, and more than 150 models.
  • Broadcom also announced AgentMinder for AI-agent governance, upcoming AI gateways and agentic security features across VCF Private AI Services, Tanzu Platform, Avi Load Balancer, and vDefend, plus TrueSource Trusted Artifacts and TrueSource Data Services for open-source software security; several offerings are available today, while others are coming later this year or were already part of VCF.
  • The article is a news report and analysis based on Broadcom statements and media briefings, not a standalone company press release; it also mentions Flexential building offerings on top of VMware AI Factory early next year.
• Aug 25, 2026

  Cisco bulks up its AI infrastructure portfolio with Supermicro’s liquid-cooled servers

  Cisco has announced that it will add Supermicro’s liquid- and air-cooled compute systems to its AI infrastructure portfolio as part of Secure AI Factory with Nvidia.

  • The expanded offering will include high-density Supermicro compute solutions, validated and sold through Cisco’s Secure AI Factory with Nvidia architecture.
  • Cisco said the systems will support rack-scale and dense GPU deployments, including rack-to-fabric liquid cooling and interoperability with Cisco N9000 Series Switches; availability is planned for October.
  • Cisco also described the architecture as incorporating Cisco UCS servers powered by Nvidia GPUs and Blackwell Servers, Cisco networking and security tools, Splunk, and Nvidia AI Enterprise software.
  • The article is a news report summarizing Cisco’s statement and FAQ, not a transcript or opinion piece.
• Aug 21, 2026

  Bhavin Gandecha: The Permitting Bills Won’t Fix What’s Actually Broken

  Broadband Breakfast published an expert opinion arguing that broadband permitting delays are a governance problem rather than only a speed problem.

  • The piece says the Senate Commerce Committee’s July 2026 hearing on AI and communications networks repeated the view that Congress should pass pending permitting bills, while noting that witnesses did not define when delay becomes a program-level failure.
  • It cites BEAD as a $42.5 billion program that had already absorbed a roughly 74% funding cut, and argues that a pre-agreed threshold should have been set before the cut or before rule changes forced telecoms to redo paid engineering work.
  • The commentary extends the same logic to AI infrastructure, saying hyperscalers are guiding toward about $650 billion in 2026 AI infrastructure capex and that global data center spending may reach $7 trillion by 2030.
  • The article is an opinion/commentary, not a first-time corporate announcement, and it refers to recent hearing testimony, committee action, and prior funding changes rather than reporting a new deal.
• Aug 21, 2026

  Network architecture pay climbs amid AI shift

  Foote Partners has reported that network architecture skills earn a premium in enterprise IT pay, with AI and automation reshaping networking roles.

  • Network architecture earns an average cash pay premium of 20% of base salary, according to Foote Partners’ latest IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index.
  • The report covers 1,417 certified and noncertified IT skills across 5,137 U.S. and Canadian employers; the CCDE credential carries an 11% average pay premium and its market value rose 50%.
  • Foote says employers are paying for enterprise-wide design decisions, as AI workloads, multicloud, zero trust, edge computing, Wi-Fi 7, and private 5G increase network complexity; routine operations are being devalued by AI and automation.
• Aug 20, 2026

  AI Data Center Networking: Scaling Up, Out, and Across with 102.4T Ethernet

  Cisco, Broadcom, and Nvidia are being discussed as vendors racing to deliver AI data-center networking silicon, with Cisco outlining shipment timing for its new Silicon One chips.

  • Cisco said its Silicon One G300 is for scale-out networking inside the data center, and its Silicon One P200 is for scale-across inter-data center connectivity over optical networks.
  • Cisco said the new devices were initially announced in February 2026 and were expected to ship broadly before year-end; P200 systems are already available to select customers, with 28.8 Tbps switches due in Q3 2026 and 51.2 Tbps models due before year-end.
  • The article also cites competing 102.4 Tbps-class offerings from Broadcom Tomahawk 6 and Nvidia Spectrum-6, and notes that some high-end Cisco switches use liquid cooling.
• Aug 13, 2026

  Five takeaways from Cisco’s Q4 and what they mean for IT pros

  Cisco has highlighted FY26 results and Q4 earnings-call commentary showing how AI is reshaping enterprise networking, data centers, and security.

  • Cisco reported record Q4 revenue of $17.3 billion and full-year revenue of $63.3 billion, while guiding to $7.5 billion in FY27 AI infrastructure revenue.
  • The article also cites Cisco’s internal and customer AI-operations examples, including 145,000 support cases resolved by AI, 75 million prompts handled by Circuit, and $4 billion in Q4 AI infrastructure orders.
  • This is an analysis/commentary article, not Cisco’s original announcement, and it references multiple Cisco earnings-call figures and product updates such as Silicon One, Cisco Cloud Control, and PQC-compliant networking gear.
• Aug 11, 2026

  IT infrastructure shortages are real and lasting. Here’s how to cope

  Network World has published an analysis of IT infrastructure shortages affecting enterprise AI, networking, storage, and compute planning.

  • The article cites analysts and vendors saying memory shortages are driving lead-time extensions to 6, 12, or 18 months, with memory prices up 50% to 200%, PC prices up 35% to 45%, and some server prices up over 125%.
  • It also reports enterprise network equipment pricing is projected to rise over 20% in 2026 and by a further 3% to 5% into 2027, with no price reduction expected until end-2027; examples and advice are drawn from Gartner, TD SYNNEX, WWT, Backblaze, Cisco, and Equinix.
• Aug 4, 2026

  With FCC ban on new Chinese-made optical transceivers for DCs likely, it may be time to stock up

  The article says the FCC is reportedly drafting a ban on new Chinese optical transceivers for US data centers, but no formal ban has yet been announced in the story.

  • Reuters reported that the FCC is working on a measure to bar imports of new Chinese optical transceivers and may publish and implement it this year.
  • Analysts said the likely effect would be panic buying, tighter supply chains, and increased scrutiny of non-Chinese components that may still contain Chinese parts.
  • The piece is a news analysis/commentary article based on unnamed sources and expert interviews, not a company press release.
  • It also discusses possible follow-on restrictions on switches, SmartNICs, DPUs, BMCs, storage controllers, and cooling/power management components.
• Jul 28, 2026

  AI Clusters and the New Economics of Data Center Optics: A Conversation with Cisco's Bill Gartner

  Cisco discussed the changing economics and reliability demands of data center optics in a podcast episode on The Data Center Frontier Show.

  • Bill Gartner, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Optical Systems and Optics business, said optics now consume a much larger share of network cost and power as AI networks move from 400G/800G toward 1.6-terabit connectivity.
  • Gartner said Cisco is sampling 1.6T optics with customers and expects first volume deployments later this year; he also described co-packaged optics, near-packaged optics, and routed optical networking as key architectures for AI clusters.
  • The episode said link flaps can reduce GPU infrastructure efficiency by as much as 40%, and that AI networks are increasingly organized into scale-up, scale-out, and scale-across tiers, including coherent optical links between data centers.
• Jul 17, 2026

  Mitch Carrel: Dark Fiber's 3 Barriers of Land Use, Engineering, and Sales

  This article is an expert opinion commentary arguing that dark fiber is essential infrastructure for the AI economy and that deployment is slowed by land use, engineering, and sales barriers.

  • The author says dark fiber offers up to 48% TCO savings over carrier ethernet at 400G in metro networks, 61% in short-haul networks, and 46% in long-haul networks, based on Cisco-commissioned research.
  • The piece discusses the FCC’s WC Docket No. 25-253 and a June 2026 NPRM draft aimed at speeding permit approvals, capping fees, preventing added local restrictions, and clarifying authority over wireline deployment; it also references the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the 2018 small-cell orders.