Let’s be trustworthy—we’ve all been speaking about AI prefer it’s one thing off within the distance. A factor we’ll put together for “sometime.” However that second? It’s already handed.
AI isn’t coming. It’s right here. Proper now.
Not tucked away in a lab. Not restricted to information scientists. However embedded into how persons are really getting work accomplished throughout each perform, each division, each business.
And right here’s the kicker: the community most enterprises are operating right this moment? It wasn’t constructed for this. Not even shut.
The shift that already occurred
In all places I look, I see AI going mainstream. Not in some flashy, sci-fi form of means, however in sensible, on a regular basis workflows. Gross sales groups utilizing copilots to write down proposals. Entrepreneurs producing whole campaigns with a immediate. Safety groups leaning on fashions to detect threats quicker than any human may.
It’s not hype. It’s not sometime. It’s right here.
AI is basically altering how networks function, driving new site visitors patterns, latency calls for, and workload behaviors.
Let me stroll you thru just a few examples that basically convey this to life.
LLMs within the cloud and SLMs on the edge to get work accomplished
Proper now, individuals throughout your organization are utilizing AI-powered instruments to summarize emails, analyze information, write reviews, and even construct code. Most of these instruments depend on giant language fashions (LLMs) within the cloud, which implies their units are continually speaking forwards and backwards with AI software programming interfaces (APIs).
However there’s a shift underway. As GPU prices drop and infrastructure on the edge improves, we’re beginning to see a transfer towards small language fashions (SLMs) operating proper within the department or campus—nearer to the consumer, the place the information is.
Why does this matter for the community? As a result of instantly there are two fully completely different site visitors patterns to take care of:
- Heavy north-south site visitors from the consumer to the cloud
- New east-west site visitors flows from native AI workloads spinning up on the sting
Each varieties of site visitors want low latency and excessive efficiency to really feel seamless to customers.
Actual-time video analytics
Cameras are now not simply recording video. They’re analyzing it in actual time. Whether or not it’s detecting intruders, analyzing foot site visitors, or monitoring security compliance, the AI-based evaluation is occurring reside, usually on the edge.
That technique of recording and analyzing generates a ton of high-bandwidth site visitors, and it could’t all be shipped to the cloud. To keep away from safety dangers and permit for fast response, information must be processed domestically with velocity and precision. Conventional networks simply weren’t designed for that form of load on the entry layer.
Reside transcription and translation throughout conferences
Now, let’s say you’re on a Webex name and the assembly is being transcribed and translated in actual time. Appears easy, proper? However behind the scenes, your system is sending and receiving a relentless stream of audio and information to an AI engine. Only one lagging translation engine can throw a gathering off track: misinterpreting key phrases, dropping sentences, and leaving members confused. Responses decelerate, readability fades, and the dialog rapidly loses momentum.
All of which implies high-performance networking instantly turns into the distinction between a clean consumer expertise and a tough one.
AI brokers spawning AI brokers
This one blows my thoughts just a little. We’ve entered the period of “agentic AI,” the place a single AI agent doesn’t simply do one thing for you by itself—it could recruit different brokers to assist.
Ask your AI assistant to “launch a advertising marketing campaign.” It spins up one agent to drag CRM information to create a technique, one other to write down copy, one other to generate visuals, and one more to launch and observe the content material throughout channels.
Every of those brokers is speaking with programs, information sources, and one another at excessive velocity and sometimes with out human involvement. And the associated community site visitors patterns? They’re fully completely different from something a standard community was constructed to deal with. We’re now not optimizing for individuals clicking round. We’re optimizing for AI speaking to AI.
AI-augmented entry management
Authentication is now not nearly passwords. Many organizations are turning to AI-powered facial recognition, voice biometrics, and behavioral evaluation. These applied sciences can provide quicker, safer entry, however provided that your community can assist them.
Say an worker is working remotely and making an attempt to log in to a safe dashboard utilizing voice biometrics. They converse the passphrase, however the system hesitates—simply lengthy sufficient to trip. They fight once more. Nonetheless no luck. Now they’re locked out, the clock’s ticking on a deadline, they usually’re caught ready for IT to type it out.
All of this as a result of the community couldn’t prioritize the site visitors quick sufficient for real-time authentication. It’s a small delay with a big effect—and a transparent signal that the infrastructure may not be prepared for AI-driven safety.
What this implies for the community
In the event you’re considering, “Wow, none of this appears like what we constructed our community for,” you’re not mistaken.
AI is rewriting the foundations and bringing with it:
- Unpredictable site visitors patterns
- Big spikes in east-west and north-south flows
- Tight latency necessities
- An explosion of short-lived, dynamic workloads
- Agent-to-agent site visitors that the majority IT instruments aren’t even monitoring but
The underside line? The outdated mannequin—the place networks have been designed for individuals utilizing apps—doesn’t minimize it anymore.
Now, your community has to assist machines speaking to machines—at machine velocity.
If AI has already modified your community, what are you doing to maintain up?
This isn’t about getting ready for AI. That window’s closed.
That is about realizing that AI is already altering the conduct of your infrastructure. Whether or not your structure evolves to assist that actuality will decide should you maintain tempo or fall behind.
As a result of AI isn’t coming.
It’s already right here.
To maintain up, your operations want greater than old-school strategies. You want sensible, autonomous brokers that make all the things run smoother and quicker. It’s not simply an improve—it’s the way you keep forward.
Curious how Cisco is main the shift to AgenticOps?
Share:
