Cisco is expanding its Cloud Control platform with new AgenticOps capabilities and introducing quantum-safe networking technologies, giving partners additional tools to automate network management and secure customers’ AI infrastructure.
The announcements, made at Cisco Partner Summit in Vancouver, also include expanded Live Protect support and new integrations designed to simplify network operations.
Cisco expands Cloud Control with AgenticOps
Cisco has expanded Cisco Cloud Control offerings to provide partners with new ways to build, secure, and manage AI-ready infrastructure.
Cisco Cloud Control addresses risks – such as downtime, visibility gaps, and identity-based threats as enterprises scale AI agents – by providing a shared, unified operations platform for teams and AI agents to secure and manage critical infrastructure across IT domains.
According to Jeff Schultz, SVP, Strategy & Planning, Cisco, combining telemetry with purpose-built models is intended to help Cisco identify and resolve problems more quickly.
“[We] bring this all together with custom-built, purpose-built models to allow Cisco to be able to identify and resolve problems autonomously and faster than ever before,” said Schultz. “And so this is really a critical capability that we’re talking to our partners about.”
New integrations simplify AI-driven network management
Cisco has introduced Cisco Cloud Control integration within Cisco IQ, an AI-powered digital interface and “one front door” platform to centralize Cisco CX, which will surface real-time risk intelligence, including quantum-readiness status, and enable one-click action on at-risk, controller-managed devices directly within Cloud Control.
Further, Cisco is introducing AgenticOps capabilities into Cloud Control, including:
- Model Foundry: This new platform service in Cisco Cloud Control for putting Cisco’s purpose-built models to work – discovering, evaluating, fine-tuning, and running them on your own data, all in one place. It is also the exclusive home to Cisco’s newest model versions and weights before broader release. Controlled Availability begins with Cisco partners.
- ThousandEyes intelligence for trusted autonomous operations: ThousandEyes is being integrated natively into WiFi 6E and 7 access points. This enables automated background testing to validate application and network performance around the clock, even when no users are online, and strengthens customer trust in agentic actions.
- Agentic integration: Cisco is bringing MCP connectivity to its platforms, serving as a standardized bridge that enables AI tools to easily access live network data. This removes the need for partners to build and maintain complex custom connections, making it easier to create automated workflows for tasks such as troubleshooting and reporting, while helping IT teams identify and resolve issues faster by linking telemetry directly to actionable experience metrics.
Quantum-safe Wi-Fi and Live Protect expand security options
To enhance the physical and digital foundations necessary to connect, power, and protect mission-critical workloads for the long term, Cisco introduced new resilient and quantum-safe innovations.
These innovations include:
- Extending quantum readiness across wireless networks: Cisco is launching a WiFi 7 access point with quantum-resilient capabilities. For quantum-safe communications with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) over the air, Cisco provides Qualcomm-powered access points, while the complete client-side solution is supported by an Intel WiFi chipset and driver, and Microsoft Windows software.
- Expanded support for Live Protect: Live Protect reduces the gap between vulnerability disclosure and patch completion on supported Cisco platforms and releases. It is now supported on N9000 Series Switches, N9300 Smart Switches, Catalyst SD-WAN, C9000 Series Smart Switches, and CW9800 Wireless Controllers. Support for Cisco 8000 Secure Routers and Cisco Firewalls is intended to be available by the end of 2026.
- Privileged infrastructure access: Developed in collaboration with Teleport, Cisco Privileged Infrastructure Access provides network teams and AI agents with fast, governed, task-specific access to Cisco routers and switches, using short-lived, identity-bound certificates. Sessions will be recorded, and privilege expires when the session ends.
“Live Protect is our ability that gives our customers shields to prevent the most critical vulnerabilities from being exploited, even if they have not applied a patch yet,” said Schultz. “This is something that is available free as part of the Essentials tier within our networking products, both across data centers, as well as campus and branch.”
Cisco builds on managed services opportunities for partners
For Cisco partners, the new capabilities could help streamline network management and expand the services they deliver to customers. AgenticOps and MCP integrations could reduce the time spent on troubleshooting and custom integrations, while expanded Live Protect support and quantum-safe networking technologies provide additional ways to address customers’ evolving security needs.
Together, the updates could help MSPs and other solution providers manage increasingly complex customer environments without a proportional increase in operational workloads.