Cisco: accelerating service provider growth in the age of AI

Arab News

05-03-2025

Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking and security, announced networking innovations that empower service providers to introduce differentiated services and deliver assured, AI-connected experiences at scale.
Cisco's Agile Services Networking fundamentally evolves how service providers build and operate their networks—opening new ways to monetize the services needed to compete in the AI marketplace.
A blueprint for growth, the architecture combines high-speed, feature-rich Silicon One routing, a unified software experience, and converged IP and optics within a single, seamless network.
Early adopters of Cisco Agile Services Networking, including Arelion, Lumen, and Reliance Jio, have already vastly improved the performance of their network to cut costs, generate new business, and improve the customer experience.
'The pace of innovation in AI is astounding. Technical breakthroughs are just beginning to translate into new experiences for consumers and applications for businesses that will reshape how the world works and connects,' said Jeetu Patel, executive vice president and chief product officer, Cisco. 'This shift presents massive opportunities for service providers to grow their businesses and reduce costs by modernizing their infrastructure for AI. Cisco is perfectly positioned to help service providers monetize these new revenue streams, and our Agile Services Networking delivers the silicon, systems, and software innovation they need to thrive.'
Cisco expands Agile Services Networking with two new innovations that deliver real-time visibility into both on-network and off-network connectivity for true end-to-end assurance. Combined, these solutions enable visibility from home- and mobile-connected users through to service provider core networks and off-net cloud-delivered services.
• ThousandEyes Connected Devices: Extends the power of the Cisco ThousandEyes platform to service providers with enhanced visibility across subscriber experiences, from home to off-network services. Now, with insight into last-mile network performance, service providers can mitigate issues before users are impacted and compete on experience, not just speed.
• Provider Connectivity Assurance: New AI-powered 'User Experience' capability enhances mobile service provider network performance. With real-time traffic insights and predictive demand intelligence, service providers can enhance user experience, reduce congestion, maximize speed, and dynamically adjust spectrum usage.
With enhanced visibility and AI-powered insight, service providers like Virgin Media O2 and Odido are leveraging assurance for increased customer satisfaction and net promoter scores, uncovering new opportunities for differentiated services and reducing churn.
'In an industry that's fast consolidating around the same network type and service, we take pride in accelerating all the ways in which we deliver better service and more value to the millions of customers that rely on us,' said Gareth Lister, director of customer products, Virgin Media O2. 'Virgin Media O2 has long been recognized for ultrafast speeds and now, with ThousandEyes Connected Devices powering our Smart Support service, we're uniquely able to see and proactively measure our customers' connection and experience in their home in real time.'