The annual Cisco Live 2024, to be held June 2-6 in Las Vegas, will boast Elton John as the music artist performing at the Wednesday night celebration event, as well as seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri as special guests.

However, while those names create exciting entertainment, the more than 20,000 attendees are there to learn the latest and greatest in Cisco Systems Inc. technology and innovation. Here are five key things to watch for:

Cisco’s AI story

Over the past few years, Cisco has been one of the most active vendors in infusing artificial intelligence into its products. Webex initially led the way by introducing background noise removal, live transcripts, meeting insights and more. Since then, AI has been brought to security in a big way, led by Hypershield, announced around the recent RSA Conference 2024. Cisco has also introduced AI assistants to help administrators manage infrastructure better.

What Cisco hasn’t done yet is tie all the AI things together at a company level. Cisco has a broad and deep AI story to tell that touches every part of its portfolio. Also, it’s arguable that combining its network, observability and security telemetry with Splunk data gives the company a broader set of data to fuel its AI initiatives. I’ve heard Executive Vice President Jeetu Patel says that “If you want to be a world-class AI company, you must be a world-class data company,” and Cisco is undoubtedly that.

Earlier this year, Chief Executive Chuck Robbins (pictured) appointed Mark Patterson as the company’s chief strategy officer, responsible for crafting that AI story. Though it’s unrealistic that Patterson will have all the AI answers, we should get some good insights about where the company is headed.

This is critical for Cisco because it will play an essential role in its customer’s AI journeys, but investors have yet to give Cisco any “AI bump” in its stock price.

Splunk and Cisco

This will be the first Cisco Live for Splunk as a part of Cisco. The company has done a more than adequate job of highlighting how Splunk data can be used to improve Cisco Security. Given the huge “bang for the buck” in security, this is a logical starting point. However, Splunk data can also enhance full-stack observability, networking, sustainability, services and almost every part of Cisco’s business.

I expect to see Splunk featured in a big way across the event so Cisco customers can better understand the impact Splunk can have on information technology operations. Many industry watchers I have talked to about Cisco and Splunk believe Cisco acquired Splunk to do nothing more than add revenue. Although the boost in revenue and margin is certainly a factor, Cisco needs to show the 1+1=3 for Cisco + Splunk.

Security innovations

No business unit inside Cisco has had a bigger about-face than security. Before Patel and General Manager Tom Gillis arrived, the security group was a collection of random best-of-breed products. Solutions such as Duo and Umbrella are great products, but there wasn’t a strong Cisco security story. It announced its Security Cloud and products such as the revamped XDR, ransomware recovery, AI assistant, multicloud defense and Hypershield to deliver on that strategy.

I expect the security train to keep running and for Cisco to launch new products and capabilities built on the Security Cloud. AI should feature prominently in them as security innovation is now being driven by AI.

This is another area important to Cisco’s valuation, since security presents the most enormous needle-moving opportunity. Cyber is a massive market with no de facto standard. With a trend toward consolidation and convergence, Cisco has never had a better opportunity. However, it must move fast as rivals Palo Alto Networks Inc., Fortinet Inc, Zscaler Inc. and CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. are aiming in the same direction.

Networking updates

For all the chatter of AI, security and Splunk, the reality is that the network is still, by far, Cisco’s largest significant revenue stream and the foundation on which everything else is built. When Jonathan Davidson took over as executive vice president of networking, he had to step back before moving forward. I recall one of the first conversations I had with Davidson, and I mentioned Cisco seemed to have a “single pane of glass” for everything, which frustrated customers.

Over the past several years, the company has introduced the Cisco Networking Cloud, which creates a single data source for all networking, tightened the integration between Meraki and Catalyst, integrated Viptela software-defined wide-area network into the cloud, delivered the network AI assistant, and more.

The primary goal has been simplifying network architecture and operations so customers can run a single domain instead of a Wi-Fi, WAN or campus network. Given Cisco’s activity with Nvidia Corp., attendees will likely see data center networking featured prominently. Other networking topics should include more ThousandEyes and more on Meraki-Catalyst integration.

Putting customer sustainability initiatives into operation

Cisco has embraced sustainability as a core tenet across its operations. It has implemented sustainable practices in building, shipping and selling products across its supply chain and has set aggressive goals. Many customers have followed Cisco’s lead and set their sustainability goals.

One of the issues its customers have is measuring progress toward its goals. At the 2023 Climate Week, I talked to Cisco Chief Sustainability Officer Mary de Wysocki about this, and she mentioned most Cisco customers have implemented sustainability goals, but few customers can measure progress toward it.

Cisco has a wealth of customer-facing sustainability data and is in a prime position to help businesses set goals and track their progress toward net zero. Last year, the Expo Hall contained a massive Sustainability Zone; attendees should expect an advancement in this area.

Given the momentum around AI, the acquisition of Splunk, the emerging Nvidia partnership and the revamped executive leadership team, this is the most important Cisco Live in the Chuck Robbins era. AI has created a seminal moment in the technology industry, and Cisco Live 2024 presents Cisco’s best opportunity to put a stake in the AI ground.

Zeus Kerravala is a principal analyst at ZK Research, a division of Kerravala Consulting. He wrote this article for SiliconANGLE.

Photo: Cisco/livestream