Cisco Research: A Major Infrastructure Shift Is Underway. AI Could Double The Strain Or Solve It
Cisco, Wednesday, June 4th, 2025
Most outages stem from congestion, cyberattacks, and misconfiguration - but IT Leaders believe the right infrastructure can protect performance and unlock future value
Architectural shift already underway: Cisco research shows 97% of IT leaders see modernized networks as critical to deploying AI, IoT, and cloud, with 91% increasing network investment.
AI Drives Demand for Resilience: One severe outage per business per year adds up to $160B globally* - driven by congestion, cyberattacks, and software misconfigurations - prompting an evolution in network architecture.
Modern networks unlock business value: 89% say improved infrastructure will drive revenue, while 93% expect meaningful cost savings from smarter, more secure, and adaptive networks.
CEO priorities align with IT action: In line with Cisco's previous CEO research, 97% are expanding AI and 78% rely on CIOs/CTOs for investment - backing IT leaders to lead from the network.