Cisco Unites Humans and AI Agents in Single Operations Platform
Cisco has released Cloud Control, a unified management platform that brings human operators and AI agents into the same operational environment to manage networking, security, compute, observability, and collaboration infrastructure.
The platform entered controlled availability in the United States on June 4, with global availability to follow. One login provides a single view across all infrastructure domains, with humans and agents working from the same data layer and maintaining visibility into each other's actions.
What operators get from one platform
Cloud Control consolidates cross-domain telemetry from networking, security, and observability tools so operators and agents act on identical information. The platform uses purpose-built models, including Cisco's Deep Network Model, which draws on 40 years of operational data.
Operators can build custom agents and applications directly within the platform using natural language. The system connects to more than 50 third-party tools including AWS, Microsoft, PagerDuty, ServiceNow, Slack, and Google Cloud through native connectors or the open Model Context Protocol.
AI Canvas, a shared workspace within Cloud Control, lets operators and agents investigate complex issues together in real time. Context persists across shifts and escalations, preventing duplicated work.
Autonomous agents that keep humans in control
The platform includes trusted agents that follow a structured path: spotting problems, identifying root causes, executing fixes, testing changes, and confirming recovery. Agents remain visible and governed throughout their actions.
Cloud Control Studio provides two customization environments. Agent Builder lets operators create agents tailored to their policies and workflows. App Builder generates applications and workflows from natural-language prompts using OpenAI Codex. Custom agents and apps can be published to the Cloud Control Marketplace.
Defense integrated into infrastructure
Cisco is expanding runtime protections across its product line to address vulnerabilities without requiring reboots or maintenance windows. Live Protect, now available on N9000 series switches, shields systems from newly discovered vulnerabilities. The protection is expanding to campus and branch switches, followed by secure routers later in 2026.
Hybrid Mesh Firewall extends unified protection across networks and applications, limiting damage if a breach occurs. Cisco announced additional protections specifically designed to secure AI agents and detect threats at machine speed.
Quantum-safe infrastructure path
"Harvest now, decrypt later" attacks are already collecting encrypted data for future decryption when quantum capabilities mature. Cisco is committing to quantum-safe communications across the majority of its core portfolio by December 2026.
New infrastructure launching today-including campus, branch, and data center routers, switches, and firewalls-will include quantum-safe secure boot. Quantum Ready Assessments, available through Cisco IQ starting in July 2026, identify assets most exposed to harvest-now attacks and prioritize remediation.
Services for long-term resilience
Cisco Services is introducing Resilient Infrastructure Services, a three-step approach combining exposure assessment, infrastructure modernization, and defense resiliency. The service addresses risks from frontier AI models.
Cisco IQ, integrated into Cloud Control, delivers AI-powered support and professional services. It now supports on-premises deployment for customers with data sovereignty requirements. Peer Benchmarking uses anonymized data to show operators how their vulnerability rates and support timelines compare to similar organizations, with global availability planned for July 2026.
Operations teams managing critical infrastructure at scale will need to understand how AI agents and automation function in their environments. For operations managers navigating this transition, the AI Learning Path for Operations Managers covers managing and defending infrastructure with AI systems.
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