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Cisco Live 2025 in San Diego (June 8–12) delivered an unbelievable week of groundbreaking bulletins, insightful periods, and significant conversations that proceed to resonate throughout our associate ecosystem.
For our #CiscoPartners, this yr’s occasion was distinctive. The Cisco Security Partner workforce hosted focused roundtable periods to discover the way forward for cybersecurity and focus on how improvements like embedded agentic AI and Duo IAM will influence companions and their clients. These dialogue — led by Brian Feeney, VP Global Security Partner Sales, and myself — targeted on strategic and technical priorities tailor-made to our companions’ wants.
From Products to Outcomes: Our Unified Mission
For the final two years the Cisco Security workforce has been on a transformative journey, from a product-centric method to specializing in buyer outcomes. Partners have performed a crucial function on this shift bringing their vendor-agnostic experience and customer-first mindset to ship significant outcomes.
As Scott Stout, Cisco Security Chief Revenue Officer, famous throughout the Executive Roundtable, “We can’t scale and bring value to our customers without our partners.” This partnership-first mission was the muse of all the things we achieved in San Diego.
This method aligns with the imaginative and prescient shared by Raj Chopra, SVP of Security Product Management and Design, throughout the Technical Roundtable: “fusing security into the network, making security simpler, and innovating with AI.” These priorities have pushed the creation of a unified platform designed for associate profitability and buyer success.
What turned clear in San Diego is how this partnership-centric method is reshaping our go-to-market technique. Partners aren’t simply promoting our options they’re serving to us construct them, providing real-time suggestions knowledgeable by their hands-on experience with clients.
Innovation Highlights & Partner Opportunities
Our roundtable periods highlighted the applied sciences that can outline the way forward for safety. Here are the important thing bulletins and their significance for your small business:
- The SOC of the Future: Cisco XDR & Splunk Integration
The SOC of the Future (Security Operations Center) was a key focus of our technical discussions. Rob Gresham, Cisco Principal Technical Marketing Engineer, shared invaluable insights from his expertise at Splunk, in incident response, and now at Cisco. His central message: it’s not about changing instruments however utilizing the appropriate instrument for the job. This method is exemplified by Cisco XDR 2.0, which delivers “Clear verdict. Decisive action. AI speed.” With options like Instant Attack Verification and Attack Storyboard, analysts can perceive full assault chains in beneath 30 seconds, whereas Splunk continues to deal with deep investigations, compliance, and log retention.
Why It Matters for Partners: This confirmed multi-vendor method simplifies complicated environments at scale. For instance, at main occasions just like the Paris Olympics, Cisco XDR was particularly chosen to unify visibility and response throughout endpoints from a number of safety distributors, enabling seamless operations in demanding environments.
- The Evolving Firewall: Hybrid Mesh Architecture
Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall technique redefines conventional firewall structure. With coverage written as soon as and enforced throughout campus, information middle, and cloud environments, it delivers seamless safety integration. The portfolio refresh contains the brand new Secure Firewall 200 and 6100 Series, alongside Security Cloud Control for centralized coverage administration.
Why It Matters for Partners: This creates huge aggressive displacement and refresh alternatives. As Stephanie Hagopian, Vice President of Security at CDW, famous,
“Like with the SASE play, we need persona based messaging for Hybrid Mesh Firewall. We can be the drivers between the networking and security teams, but we need the journey mapped out.”
Cisco is dedicated to offering that clear path—serving to you information clients as they fuse safety instantly into their community for unprecedented ROI.
- The Unified Experience: Universal ZTNA and Security Suites
Complexity stays one of many trade’s greatest challenges, particularly as customers join from wherever on various units, exposing gaps in conventional safety fashions. Cisco addresses this with Universal ZTNA, which strikes past siloed instruments to ship seamless, safe entry for each consumer, on any system, wherever. By unifying identity-first zero belief entry throughout trendy and legacy purposes, IoT/OT units, and sophisticated environments, Universal ZTNA eliminates complexity whereas guaranteeing resilient safety and constant efficiency. This method simplifies coverage administration, enhances consumer expertise, and allows versatile enforcement in cloud or on-premises environments.
At the center of this innovation is Duo IAM, which doubles Duo’s capabilities by delivering a security-first identification platform with end-to-end phishing resistance—a cornerstone of Cisco’s Security Suites. Additionally, Cisco’s unified SASE structure integrates Firewall, Catalyst, and Meraki SD-WAN right into a consolidated SSE backend powered by Cisco Secure Access, giving clients strong integration choices on the edge.
Why It Matters for Partners: Cisco suites are a cornerstone for platform gross sales. Sanjay Aggarwal, Cisco VP of Security Product Management & Strategy, emphasised that these suites improve efficacy with AI, enhance administrator and consumer experiences, and ship higher economics by consolidating merchandise to cut back complete value of possession. While many shoppers use Microsoft licenses as a baseline, the reliance on blended third-party instruments to fill safety gaps typically will increase complexity and prices; Cisco suites present a complete, built-in different that simplifies operations and lowers complete value of possession.
We’re Listening: Your Voice Shapes Our Direction
Cisco Live offered invaluable alternatives for candid suggestions, and we heard you loud and clear: when you love the expertise, you want less complicated messaging, a stronger presence with trade analysts, and extra buyer success tales to strengthen your place available in the market.
We’re dedicated to supporting you with the assets and tales that show the worth of Cisco’s options. Here are just a few standout examples:
- LTI Mindtree: 80,000 customers deployed in beneath 90 days
- United Rentals: 80% discount in assist tickets
- Innovation Federal Credit Union: Comprehensive safety transformation
Moving Forward: Running Together
The momentum is actual, pushed by important will increase in partner-initiated pipeline and deal registrations. As Brian Feeney mentioned whereas closing our govt session, “If you have doubts, come talk with us and let’s run together.”
We’re investing in your success with packages like our white-glove Concierge Desk, aggressive evaluation funding, and new incentives for Security Suites adoption. These assets will allow you to shut FY25 sturdy and dominate in FY26.
What’s Next
Thank you to all our companions who made Cisco Live 2025 an amazing success. Let’s channel this power into attaining even larger milestones.
Together, let’s obtain extra!
For our companions within the APJC area, be a part of us at Cisco Live 2025 in Melbourne, Australia, from November 10–13, for one more thrilling occasion.
We’d love to listen to what you suppose. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with #CiscoPartners on social!
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