Episode Details

Cisco Partners Move Into the AI Era with Cloud Control and AI Security, Podcast

Cisco Live conversation with Alex Pujols highlights the partner opportunity around AI, security, and infrastructure operations

By Doug Green

“Tons of excitement. Having the entire portfolio anchored on Cloud Control is something that has everybody really excited.”

In this Technology Reseller News podcast recorded at Cisco Live, I spoke with Alex Pujols, Vice President, Global Partner Engineering at Cisco, about what Cisco’s latest announcements mean for Cisco Partners and their customers.

Pujols said partners are responding with strong enthusiasm, especially around Cisco’s move to bring more of its portfolio together around Cloud Control. He also pointed to the growing importance of security in the AI era, noting, “Security in the AI era is an area that we’ve invested heavily in. The entire market is moving that direction.”

For partners, the opportunity is practical. Customers are hearing about AI everywhere, but many are still working through where to begin, what to secure, and how to move from experimentation to real deployments. Pujols framed the partner role around helping customers simplify the conversation, identify real use cases, and connect AI to infrastructure, security and business outcomes.

That message is especially important for Cisco Partners serving customers who did not attend Cisco Live or who are only beginning to absorb the announcements. The AI opportunity is not simply about adding another product to the portfolio. It is about helping customers understand how AI changes the way networks are operated, how infrastructure is protected, and how organizations prepare for a more automated, agentic future.

Pujols also emphasized that Cisco Partners have an important advantage: they already understand the customer environment. They know the installed base, the pain points, the security gaps and the operational realities. That gives partners a meaningful role as trusted guides in the transition to AI-enabled infrastructure and operations.

As AI becomes more central to business operations, customers will need help making decisions about readiness, governance, security and deployment. For Cisco Partners, that creates a path to deeper advisory conversations and new services opportunities.

In the podcast, Pujols makes the case that the next wave for partners will be about simplicity, trust and execution. The customers who win with AI will need more than technology. They will need partners who can help them put it to work securely, intelligently and at scale.

Learn more at Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/