Get ready for a shift in network dynamics!
The landscape of network modernization is on the brink of transformation as artificial intelligence progresses from model training to inference. While the focus has primarily been on data center network performance and expansion with customers gobbling up as many GPUs as they can, the spotlight will start to shift towards the increasing significance of Wide Area Networks (WAN). Recent events, like the #DeepSeek tremor, (although not as newsworthy to the Silicon Valley ilk) have hinted at the imminent transition towards agentic AI and software to improve performance, efficiency and adoption. Future applications will revolve around AI-driven workflows that are multi-task, multi-agent, multi-LLM and geographically dispersed, relying on various entities to host/ manage #LLMs, #Agents, and orchestrators/controllers. This evolution will highlight the critical role of private Enterprise WAN and Service Provider networks in transporting this AI workload traffic as they will be ultra-sensitive to the impact latency and packet loss will have on AI workflow efficiency. As these intricate workflows traverse the network, the synchronization of agent processes will be paramount, with agents interdependent and reliant on each other's outputs. This stacking of latency budgets will pave the way for AI network infrastructure readiness with modernized infrastructure, highly precise, granular and near real time network assurance and AI-powered network automation to ensure optimal performance. #Cisco is poised to build upon its data center network leadership as a key beneficiary in this demand transition from DC to WAN, offering industry-leading routing, automation, and assurance solutions to meet the escalating demand for highly performant networks.
