Most networks are treading water as AI workloads place new demands on enterprise infrastructure. Here are the latest smart switches, routers and Wi-Fi devices that Cisco says will help enterprises meet the AI challenge.
The advent of AI marks one of the most consequential and profound technology shifts in human history, according to Jeetu Patel, Cisco Systems’ president and chief product officer.
It’s a massive shift in which enterprises and Cisco partners must ready themselves for as increasing AI workloads incite new, unprecedented demands on network infrastructure. What started with chatbots three years ago is transforming into autonomous agents, and enterprise networks will need to be robust and secure enough to keep up. With that in mind, Cisco is unveiling new, purpose-built hardware that offers low latency, high capacity and built-in security for businesses grappling with AI.
The San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant took to Cisco Live 2025 to introduce a handful of new, next-gen network devices that have been designed to scale to meet the needs of AI workloads. Here are the latest switches, routers and Wi-Fi products revealed at the show that Cisco partners should know about.
Cisco C9350 And C9610 Smart Switches
Cisco is introducing the C9350 and C9610 Smart Switches to power campus networks. The new generation of Cisco Smart Switches, powered by Silicon One, delivers up to 51.2 Tbps of throughput, below 5-microsecond latency and quantum-resistant secure networking to power high-stakes AI applications, the company said.
The offerings build on Cisco’s February introduction of the Nexus 9300 series of smart switches with embedded data processing units for the data center. Both the new switches and the previously introduced Nexus smart switches include Hypershield, the company’s AI-powered security architecture for data center protection, as a service.
Cisco 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400 And 8500 Secure Routers
A family of five new Cisco Secure Routers—the 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400 and 8500—were introduced at Cisco Live 2025 as AI transforms branch operations, the company said.
The new Cisco Secure Routers offer native SD-WAN and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) integration, next-generation firewall (NGFW), and post-quantum security in a single-box WAN solution—with up to three times the throughput of previous generations, Cisco said.
Cisco Wireless 9179F Series Access Points
Cisco continues to expand its wireless portfolio, this time with the completion of its Wi-Fi 7 product line with the Cisco Wireless 9179F series access points for stadiums and large venues.
The Cisco Wireless 9179F offers seamless cloud managed roaming across the entire, large campus with the new Cisco campus gateway. New critical wireless use cases are now connected with the integration of Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul (URWB) together with Wi-Fi technology in a single access point, Cisco said.
Like the previously unveiled Wi-Fi 7 technology, users won’t have to choose between two different platforms—the cloud-based Meraki and the premises-based Catalyst platforms for management. Via Cisco’s Networking Subscription, customers have more flexibility and a seamless wireless experience across cloud, on-premises and hybrid networks, the company said.
Cisco Ruggedized Switches
Cisco is also growing its industrial portfolio to keep up with the rigorous performance and reliability needs that are being brought about by industrial AI use cases. With that in mind, Cisco is unveiling 19 new ruggedized switches that come in a variety of form factors to support applications such as visual quality inspection and autonomous mobile robots, the company said.
Via the integration of URWB and Wi-Fi and a single access point, high-density wireless can be achieved across IT and industrial environments in one unified wireless infrastructure, Cisco said.
