Overview
- On Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, Cisco president and chief product officer Jeetu Patel publicly gave Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy unrestricted access to AI “tokens” and a four‑week window to prove an AI‑driven refactor.
- Krishnamurthy joined Cisco after the 2025 EzDubs acquisition and was described by Patel as previously “buried” in a nonstrategic role before proposing a two‑person, AI‑first approach to rewrite legacy systems.
- The plan relies on heavy AI usage rather than traditional large engineering squads, with “tokens” referring to the processing units AI systems use to handle requests and generate code.
- Patel frames the move as an organizational bet that pairing early‑career, AI‑native hires with decades‑tenured staff will create productive friction and reverse‑mentoring that drives new ideas.
- The 98% rewrite target is aspirational and not yet achieved, so the proof‑of‑concept will be watched for technical results, operational risks, and whether this model changes hiring and modernization at other firms.