Netflash

In many ways, 2025 was the year Cisco got its product strategy right under the leadership of its chief product officer, Jeetu Patel . Splunk assimilation took hold, and we saw integrations with security, observability, networking and more. In addition, the core of Cisco’s product line—campus networking—underwent a major refresh with new Catalyst Smart Switches and Wi-Fi 7 access points. And after…

Quantum-safe encryption is needed now, even though large-scale quantum computers are still at least a few years away. According to the Government Accountability Office , large quantum computers that will be able to break today’s encryption standards are 10 to 20 years away. But the threat is there already, since adversaries can vacuum up encrypted data in hopes of reading when quantum decryption …

Emerging technologies from AI and XR to digital twins and more are driving big changes in the manufacturing world. This issue explores the technologies that are taking the factory floor to a new level of efficiency, security, and innovation.

If there’s one thing guaranteed to grab attention in the computer security world, it’s announcing yourself without fully explaining what it is you plan to do. This week, the Linux world got a taste of this enigmatic marketing ploy with the launch out of stealth of Berlin-based Linux security outfit Amutable. While its purpose is only vaguely defined in the launch announcement , nobody could accus…

Network operations teams face a flood of AI-powered tools promising simplified management through natural language interfaces. Many amount to conversational wrappers around existing capabilities, offering convenience but not fundamental changes to how networks are managed and verified. That’s what Forward Networks’ first AI tool, called AI Assist , provided when it launched in 2024. Now in 2026, …

Oracle is considering cutting 20,000 to 30,000 jobs and selling some of its activities as US banks pull back from financing the company’s AI data-center expansion, according to investment bank TD Cowen. The job cuts would free up $8 billion to $10 billion in cash flow, TD Cowen said in a research report seen by CIO. Oracle is also weighing a sale of its health-care software unit, Cerner, which it…

Cisco ( Nasdaq:CSCO ) is the dominant vendor in enterprise networking , and under CEO Chuck Robbins, it continues to shake things up. Cisco is focusing on strategic AI initiatives and partnerships across various regions to build and power AI data centers and ecosystems. This includes collaborations with major players like BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, Microsoft and Nvidia to drive in…

System outages plagued organizations of all sizes in 2025, with major incidents exposing vulnerabilities across network infrastructure and the IT dependencies that define today’s distributed environments, according to the latest Internet outage report from Cisco ThousandEyes. The network intelligence vendor’s recap of the most impactful outages highlights key trends, including the frequency of ba…

Cisco next month will deliver a core piece of its security management framework that is aimed at helping customers more effectively create and manage protection policies. Specifically, Cisco is adding the Mesh Policy Engine — which it first talked about the Cisco Live event last June — to its Security Cloud Control platform. Together the products will let customers define security intent once and…

As network automation evolves beyond scripts to a more sophisticated approach to network operations, a new skill set and role are emerging across enterprise environments: NetDevOps . NetDevOps can mean different things across organizations, but generally, it is about automating networks in ways that align with DevOps principles. Those principles include continuous improvement (CI), continuous dep…

Network visibility gaps are expanding as enterprises deploy more distributed infrastructure, while at the same time, certificate lifespans are shrinking. Remote sites running on wireless connectivity often lack the same level of observability available in core data centers. Meanwhile, certificate authorities are moving toward 200-day validity periods, creating more frequent expiration events that…

China has begun cautiously reopening access to Nvidia’s advanced AI processors, granting approvals to a small group of its largest technology companies. The companies include ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent, which are expected to collectively purchase more than 400,000 of Nvidia’s H200 accelerators, according to Reuters . Other technology firms may line up for approvals in subsequent rounds. The …

The US Department of Energy (DoE) program that would see three new experimental commercial nuclear reactors launched by July 4 is the driver behind the secret rewriting of nuclear safety and security standards, says a report released Wednesday by NPR. It said, “sweeping changes [which have not been made public] were made to accelerate development of a new generation of nuclear reactor designs” kn…

For years, CSOs have worried about their IT infrastructure being used for unauthorized cryptomining. Now, say researchers, they’d better start worrying about crooks hijacking and reselling access to exposed corporate AI infrastructure. In a report released Wednesday , researchers at Pillar Security say they have discovered campaigns at scale going after exposed large language model (LLM) and MCP …

The Carrier Ethernet market is undergoing a significant shift as AI workloads demand new performance validation from network infrastructure. Mplify, the alliance formerly known as MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum), is responding with a dual certification strategy that preserves decades of carrier investment while creating a pathway for AI-ready transport validation. This week, the organization announced…