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Cisco Launches Cloud Control to Centralize AI, Networking and Security

A controlled U.S. rollout combines runtime shields and an agent marketplace to let companies automate and protect AI-driven infrastructure at machine scale.

Overview

  • The platform, unveiled at Cisco Live in Las Vegas on Tuesday, is live for U.S. customers under a controlled rollout with global access planned before year-end.
  • Cloud Control unites networking, security, compute, observability and collaboration in a single environment where both human admins and automated AI agents operate from the same data layer.
  • A feature called Live Protect provides runtime shielding that blocks newly found vulnerabilities without reboots and is already deployed on Cisco’s N9000 switches with wider rollout through 2026.
  • Cisco said new routers, switches and firewalls will ship with quantum-safe secure boot and it will enable quantum-ready assessments by July as part of a commitment to make most core products quantum-safe by December 2026.
  • The launch followed a strong fiscal quarter and a raised AI order target, prompted analyst upgrades and a near 5% stock rise to a 52-week high, illustrating investor support but leaving marketplace monetization details and execution risks to watch.