Cybersecurity and Networking just changed!

The Future of Networking and Security

In this section, the speakers discuss the challenges faced by networking and security in today's complex technological landscape.

The Challenges of Networking

• AI is changing the game for networking.

• Networking has become more complex due to virtualization, containerization, and remote work.

• Cisco is introducing a new vision for networking called the Cisco Networking Cloud that aims to simplify connectivity and troubleshooting across on-premise and cloud-based management.

The Challenges of Security

• There are over 15,000 vendors in the security market with no dominant market share.

• Defenses for security have become isolated while attacks have become coordinated.

• Cisco has introduced a Security Cloud that uses AI to improve efficacy and economics while providing a consistent user experience.

Overall, the speakers emphasize the need for a platform approach to both networking and security in order to address these challenges.

Cloud Networking and Security

In this section, the speaker discusses the need for a unified experience in networking and security. They also talk about how Cisco is working towards simplifying the management of policies and rules.

Unified Experiences

• Customers have different preferences when it comes to cloud or on-premise solutions.

• A hybrid approach is becoming more popular.

• Telemetry or a tether back to the cloud is necessary for a unified experience.

• Cisco's vision for bringing everything together is called the Cisco Networking Cloud.

Simplifying Management

• The goal is to make management easier by having a single device or cloud to manage everything.

• Troubleshooting can still be done through the Meraki dashboard.

• Automation tools like Python and Ansible are being used to simplify management.

• Consistency coming Northbound off of devices is important.

Simplifying Security

• Complexity in security can lead to insecurity if it's too difficult for users to use.

• Building an easy-to-use system is crucial for security.

• Managing policies and rules can become overly complicated with hundreds of products in an environment.

• Simplifying experiences requires careful consideration of every pixel on a screen.

Future Possibilities

• Generative AI has the potential to completely alter user experiences.

AI Augmentation for Jobs

In this section, the speaker discusses how AI can be used to augment jobs rather than automate them away. They highlight some of the announcements made at the event, including a policy assistant and a sock assistant.

AI as an Assistant

• AI can provide assistance by conversing with users in natural language.

• The goal is to augment jobs with an assistant rather than automate them away.

• Announcements were made about a policy assistant and a sock assistant that can converse with users and provide options.

Benefits of Incorporating AI

• Incorporating AI into tasks can make jobs simpler and more effective.

• To have a great experience, there needs to be a platform that is not fragmented and Telemetry that correlates with each other.

• Machine scale security events need to be handled creatively using Telemetry.

Simplifying Networking and Security

In this section, the speaker talks about simplifying networking and security through integration. They discuss two platforms: one for networking and one for security.

Loosely Coupled Tightly Integrated Platforms

• There are two platforms: one for networking and one for security.

• The platforms are highly interoperated so that policies set in Meraki can also be set in Umbrella.

• The platforms are loosely coupled but tightly integrated to simplify things for practitioners.

Integration with AWS

• Integration with AWS allows users to see what's happening across the global internet with bgp.

• Thousand Eyes has been integrated into the networking portfolio to make it easy to deploy agents.

• Agents can be deployed in WebEx and Meraki devices to understand what's happening intimately in your own business.

Predicting Issues

• Wan insights tool uses AI engines to predict issues and suggest changes to topology.

• Solutions are shipped for use cases by delivering an integrated platform rather than shipping org charts.

The Power of Cisco's Portfolio

In this section, the speaker talks about the value of Cisco's portfolio and how it can help solve problems related to ISP providers and security.

Cisco's Portfolio

• Cisco's portfolio is valuable when fully integrated together.

• It simplifies networking, security, and other things by combining all pieces together.

• The telemetry is correlated across all control points for a typical attack chain.

• This allows for higher resolution detection and quicker response time to breaches.

Getting into Networking and Security

In this section, the speakers discuss why it is a great time to get into networking and security. They also provide some statistics on the growth of connected devices.

Growth in Connected Devices

• Over 200 million mobile connected things are connected to Cisco's Communications management platform.

• Less than 10% of all cars are currently connected but by 2030, 100% of all cars will be connected.

• By 2023, there will be north of a billion things that need to be connected including smart intersections, smart meters, scooters etc.

• Healthcare and every single industry needs to be digitalized which means more opportunities for people who are coming in and learning about these things.

Advice for Younger Generations

In this section, the speakers give advice to younger generations on how they can succeed in their careers.

Advice for Younger Generations

• Knowledge is no longer as coveted as it used to be. Asking the right questions is now more important than having knowledge at your fingertips.

• The new generation coming in will have to be more curious and thoughtful about the kind of questions they ask not just each other but also of machines.

• Machines and humans will start to fuse over time which will require a different set of skills.

• Jobs will change over time, but there will always be new opportunities for those who are willing to learn and adapt.

The Quest for Relevance

In this section, the speaker talks about how the half-life of jobs is shortening and advises on what to study to stay relevant.

Tips for Staying Relevant

• AI and security are good areas to study.

• Focus on core foundational assumptions that don't change rather than things that keep changing.

Infrastructure: Always in Demand

In this section, the speaker emphasizes the importance of infrastructure and its demand in the future.

Infrastructure as a Key Area

• Infrastructure is always going to be needed.

• Connectivity is a human right and good for business too.

• Connecting all people would add 37 trillion dollars to global GDP.

AI's Impact on Language Processing

In this section, the speaker discusses how AI can process language and generate new insights.

AI's Impact on Language Processing

• Generative AI has profound implications for language processing.

• Audio intelligence, video intelligence, analytics, and summarization are important use cases for AI.

• AI can come up with brand new insights that did not exist in human knowledge.

Cisco's AI Infrastructure

In this section, the speaker talks about how Cisco provides infrastructure for large language models and enables smaller enterprises to build their own AI infrastructure. They also discuss how they improve their product experience and increase velocity.

Providing Infrastructure for Large Language Models

• Cisco provides infrastructure for extremely large language models that hyperscalers are building out.

• They offer ways to enable smaller enterprises to build out their own AI infrastructure.

Improving Product Experience and Increasing Velocity

• Cisco aims to enable its documentation people to be more effective and clear.

• They announced Network Insights, which allows users to predict what will happen in the network and make changes before those things actually happen.

• For software developers, it is a force multiplier where 70% of code can be generated through augmentation.

• The combination of machine judgment and human judgment will create a much more potent judgment than what either could have come up with by themselves.

Responsible AI

In this section, the speaker discusses responsible AI, attention to bias, transparency, fairness, policy setting, public-private partnerships, and potential downstream effects.

Responsible AI

• Machines will provide judgment as well as humans in the future.

• Public-private partnerships are important for policy setting because there could be catastrophic downstream effects if not done responsibly.

• Responsible AI requires attention to bias, transparency, fairness, and having the right policies in place.