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SASE rollouts: single vendor or best of breed?
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Networking
Evaluating Networking this quarter? This page brings together what changed, which companies are most active, what practitioners are asking and how to build a shortlist.
Enterprise networks, SASE and SD-WAN, campus and data-centre networking, and the AI-driven operations reshaping them.
What changed recently
Start with the news. These are the Networking stories getting the most attention right now, so you know what has shifted before you talk to anyone.
Networking
Why Cisco Continues to invest in AI Native RunOn: Bringing Context, Visibility, and AI to Multi-Cloud
Cisco’s RunOn eliminates multi-cloud fragmentation by unifying data with organizational context. Using AI and persona-based views, it turns siloed info into actionable intelligence for cost, security, and lifecycle management.
Networking
Automating Post-Quantum IPsec on Cisco Routers: IPsec Series, Part 12
No more CLI typing. This is where years of DevNet programmability skills land on a real world scenario: Ansible over NETCONF, one file for the posture, and proof the IPsec tunnels actually negotiated ML-KEM and ML-DSA.
Networking
Standardizing for Scale: Cisco and Oak View Group’s New Strategic Partnership
Cisco’s strategic partnership with Oak View Group (OVG) is transforming live entertainment. As OVG's Official Technology Partner, we are building scalable, AI-ready infrastructure to elevate fan experiences worldwide.
Networking
Chasing AMMYY at Splunk .conf
Discover how Cisco's Encrypted Visibility Engine (EVE) and Endace PCAP uncovered Flawed AMMYY RAT traffic at Splunk .conf without breaking TLS encryption.
Networking
Admin in the Loop: Firewalls and the Agentic SOC
Discover how Cisco Secure Firewall and Cloud Control stream structured Snort 3 and EVE telemetry into Splunk ES to power the .conf26 Agentic SOC pipeline.
Networking
The Zero-Day Blind Spot: Why Your Agentic SOC needs Retrospective Packet Replay
Learn how the .conf26 Agentic SOC paired Endace full PCAP with Cisco Secure Firewall and Talos rules to retrospectively replay wire data against zero-days.
Networking
Splunk .conf26: Tracking the Triage Agent in the Agentic SOC
How Cisco used Splunk as the SOC data platform at .conf26 to unify security telemetry and track the Splunk AI Triage Agent with human-validated workflows.
Networking
One Cisco in Action: Inside the Agentic SOC at .conf26
Read how Cisco Cloud Control and Splunk Enterprise Security powered the live Agentic SOC at .conf26 to deliver unified TDIR across live event traffic.
Companies to know in Networking
Those stories keep returning to the same names. These are the companies we track in this category; each profile has its news, solutions and published reviews.
Cisco
San Jose, California, USA
Cisco is a US networking and security company founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, California. It sells enterprise, data centre and service provider networking (Catalyst, Nexus, Meraki, Silicon One), security products including firewalls and Cisco Security Cloud, Splunk observability and security analytics, and Webex collaboration. It completed its acquisition of Splunk in 2024.
HPE
Spring (Houston), Texas, USA
HPE, the primary brand of Hewlett Packard Enterprise since June 2025, is a US enterprise technology company that sells servers, storage, networking and hybrid cloud services, including the HPE GreenLake cloud platform. Formed in 2015 when Hewlett-Packard split in two, HPE focuses on edge-to-cloud infrastructure and AI, and it expanded its networking business by acquiring Juniper Networks in July 2025.
Arista Networks
Santa Clara, California, USA
Arista Networks is a US networking company founded in 2004 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It sells high-speed Ethernet switches and routers running its EOS operating system, CloudVision management software, campus and Wi-Fi products, and network observability and security tools, serving cloud providers, AI data centres, enterprises and service providers.
Nokia
Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland
Nokia is a Finnish telecommunications equipment and technology company that supplies mobile, IP, optical and fixed network infrastructure to communications service providers and enterprises. Its portfolio includes 5G radio and core networks, IP routers, data centre networking, optical transport and private wireless, plus a patent licensing business. Founded in 1865 and headquartered in Espoo, Nokia acquired Infinera in 2025.
Ericsson
Stockholm, Sweden
Ericsson is a Swedish telecommunications equipment and services company founded in 1876 by Lars Magnus Ericsson and headquartered in Stockholm. It supplies mobile network infrastructure, including 5G radio access networks, core networks and transport, along with network management software and services to communications service providers and enterprises. Ericsson also owns Vonage. It is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and Nasdaq New York (ERIC).
Huawei
Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Huawei is a Chinese technology company that makes telecommunications and enterprise networking equipment, consumer devices, cloud services, data storage and AI processors. Its portfolio includes 5G and optical network infrastructure, CloudEngine switches, OceanStor storage, Huawei Cloud and Ascend AI chips. Founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei and headquartered in Shenzhen, Huawei is privately held and employee-owned through a trade union structure.
Extreme Networks
Morrisville, North Carolina, USA
Extreme Networks is an American networking company founded in 1996 and headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina. It provides enterprise wired and wireless networking, including switches, Wi-Fi access points, SD-WAN and network access control, managed through its ExtremeCloud IQ cloud platform and Extreme Platform ONE, which adds AI-driven networking and security operations. Extreme Networks is listed on Nasdaq (EXTR).
Ciena
Hanover, Maryland, USA
Ciena is a US networking systems and software company founded in 1992 and headquartered in Hanover, Maryland. It sells optical networking equipment including WaveLogic coherent optics and packet-optical platforms, routing and switching, and Blue Planet automation software to telecommunications service providers, cloud and data centre operators, governments and enterprises. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
F5
Seattle, Washington, USA
F5 is an American application delivery and security company founded in 1996 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It provides load balancing, web application and API protection, bot defence and multicloud networking through BIG-IP, NGINX and F5 Distributed Cloud Services, unified in its Application Delivery and Security Platform. Formerly F5 Networks, the company renamed itself F5, Inc. in 2021 and is listed on Nasdaq (FFIV).
Fortinet
Sunnyvale, California, USA
Fortinet is a US cybersecurity company known for its FortiGate next-generation firewalls, built on its FortiOS operating system and custom security processors. Its Fortinet Security Fabric spans secure networking, SD-WAN, SASE, switching, wireless, endpoint and security operations. Founded in 2000 by Ken Xie and Michael Xie and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Fortinet is listed on Nasdaq.
Cloudflare
San Francisco, California, USA
Cloudflare is a US connectivity cloud company founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco. It operates a global network providing CDN, DNS, DDoS protection, web application firewall, Zero Trust access and SASE services, and a developer platform including Workers serverless compute, R2 storage and Workers AI. Cloudflare has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2019.
Akamai
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Akamai Technologies is a US content delivery, cybersecurity and cloud computing company founded in 1998 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It operates one of the largest distributed edge networks, selling CDN and media delivery, web application and API protection, DDoS mitigation and Zero Trust security, and Akamai Cloud compute built on its 2022 acquisition of Linode.
Cato Networks
Tel Aviv, Israel
Cato Networks is an Israeli networking and security company founded in 2015 by Shlomo Kramer and Gur Shatz and headquartered in Tel Aviv. It sells the Cato SASE Cloud platform, which converges SD-WAN, a global private backbone, secure web gateway, firewall-as-a-service, CASB, ZTNA and data loss prevention into a single cloud-delivered service for enterprises.
Ubiquiti
New York City, New York, USA
Ubiquiti is a US networking technology company founded in 2003 by Robert Pera and headquartered in New York City. It designs networking hardware and software under the UniFi brand for businesses and homes, covering Wi-Fi access points, switches, gateways, cameras and access control, and UISP products for internet service providers. Ubiquiti is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Infoblox
Santa Clara, California, USA
Infoblox is a US networking and security company specialising in DDI, the combination of DNS, DHCP and IP address management, and DNS-based security. Its products include NIOS appliances, Universal DDI for hybrid and multicloud networks, and Threat Defense for protective DNS. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Infoblox is privately held.
Aviatrix
Santa Clara, California, USA
Aviatrix is a US cloud networking and network security company founded in 2014. Its platform provides multicloud networking, cloud firewalling and egress security, and network visibility across AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud, using a common control plane and gateways deployed in customers' cloud accounts. It serves enterprises operating complex cloud estates.
Megaport
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Megaport is a Network as a Service (NaaS) provider that offers on-demand, software-defined connectivity between data centres, public clouds and enterprise locations. Its portfolio includes Ports, Virtual Cross Connects, Megaport Cloud Router, Megaport Virtual Edge and Megaport Internet, with direct links to AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle. Founded in 2013 by Bevan Slattery, Megaport is listed on the ASX and headquartered in Brisbane.
NVIDIA
Santa Clara, California, USA
NVIDIA is a semiconductor and computing platform company that designs GPUs, CPUs, networking and software for AI, data centres, gaming, professional visualisation and automotive. Its data centre portfolio includes Hopper and Blackwell GPUs, Grace CPUs, DGX systems, InfiniBand and Spectrum-X Ethernet networking, and the CUDA and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software stacks. Founded in 1993, NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and listed on Nasdaq.
Broadcom
Palo Alto, California, USA
Broadcom is a US semiconductor and infrastructure software company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, formed when Avago Technologies acquired Broadcom Corporation in 2016. It sells networking, broadband, storage and custom AI accelerator chips, and infrastructure software including VMware Cloud Foundation, Tanzu and CA and Symantec enterprise products. It completed its acquisition of VMware in 2023.
Versa Networks
San Jose, California, USA
Versa Networks is a US networking and security company founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Jose, California. It sells VersaONE, a universal SASE platform that combines SD-WAN, secure service edge (SSE), zero trust network access and next-generation firewall capabilities on a single operating system. Versa sells to enterprises and to service providers that deliver managed SD-WAN and SASE services.
What practitioners are asking
Vendor news only tells you half of it. This is what people working in Networking are discussing and asking each other.
New
How are you preparing the network for AI workloads?
East-west bandwidth, GPU cluster fabrics, data movement between sites: what has changed in your network plans?
Build a shortlist
With the news, the companies and the open questions in view, pick three to five companies whose products match your problem, read their recent stories and put your remaining questions to the community before you speak to sales.
More Networking stories
If you want more background, here is more of the recent coverage.
Networking
Cato Networks Appoints Former Palo Alto & Netskope Executive Chad Gardner as Chief Revenue Officer
Gardner brings more than two decades of global sales leadership across cybersecurity, cloud, networking, and enterprise technology TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct 7, 2026, Cato Networks, the converged network and security cloud for the AI era, today announced the appointment of Chad Gardner as chief revenue officer (CRO). Gardner will lead Cato’s global sales... The post Cato Networks Appoints Former…
Networking
A Spark That Ignited Cisco FIRE
Can work and life coexist? Collaboration Regional Manager Doug H. shows how he builds financial freedom and finds fulfillment, all powered by Cisco's culture.
NetworkingComparison
Air-Gapped vs Private Network Backup: Which Is More Secure?
Compare air-gapped and private network backup approaches for ransomware defense, data protection, and secure recovery.
Networking
Attackers Target AI Development Platform Langflow
Sensor Intel Series: October 2026 CVE Trends
Networking
Foundation AI in September: VLoc Bench and Cyber-Capability Safety
September was a benchmark month, focused on where cyber-capable AI should be strong, where it should fail, and how to measure the difference. Here’s what we shipped. VLoc Bench: Can Agents Find Vulnerable Code at Repository Scale? (blog, Sep 4)..
Networking
Quantum Networking Gets a Control Plane
Cisco introduces the Quantum Network Controller, a research prototype bringing entanglement as a service to heterogeneous, distributed quantum networks today.
Networking
Scaling open networking through Cisco-validated SONiC on N9000
Open networking delivers strategic value, but DIY disaggregation adds risk and hidden cost. Cisco-validated SONiC on the N9000 combines open-source agility with proven Cisco reliability and global support.
Networking
Cato Networks Achieves AWS Security Competency in AI Security
Designation validates Cato’s expertise in helping organizations secure agentic AI and defend against AI-driven threats TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 6, 2026, Cato Networks, the converged network and security cloud for the AI era, today announced that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Competency in AI Security status in the Agentic AI... The post Cato Networks Achieves AWS Security…
Networking
Deliver Preemptive Security at Scale: Protective DNS for MSSPs
Stop threats before compromise for every customer you serve. Enhanced multi-tenancy for Infoblox Threat Defense™ helps MSSPs deliver stronger, more scalable protection across every customer environment. Count the tenants your security operations center (SOC) carried this time last year. Then count them today. For most managed security service providers (MSSPs), the second number is meaningfully…
Networking
Jev: Decision Models on Trial
How does a question-answering architecture stack up against traditional classification on content safety tasks? Jev’s been making the rounds lately, and for good reason, instead of generating prose, it answers named questions directly with a......
Networking
Powering AI-ready data centers with N9000 support for ORv3
See how Cisco N9000 support for ORv3 helps data centers standardize and prepare for high-density AI with flexible power, cooling, and network integration.
Networking
A One-Cisco Approach to Hypervisor Migration for Digital Resilience
Facing VMware ESXi challenges? Learn how Cisco’s NFVIS on UCS provides a unified, secure platform for edge workloads, simplifying migration, lowering operational risks, and ensuring digital resilience for your infrastructure.
Networking
How Agentic AI Could Change Global Network Deployment
From the Alibaba Cloud Apsara Conference stage, here's a look at how Agentic AI, APIs, and NaaS could simplify network deployment and automate routing decisions.
Networking
The Talent Gap Is a Business Risk: Not Just an HR Problem
The talent gap is a critical business risk, not just an HR issue. To maintain growth and service quality, organizations must prioritize talent readiness. Cisco Talent Bridge connects you with skilled, certified professionals to drive results.
Networking
Building Production-ready AI Infrastructure? Start With the Network
AI workloads depend on fast, secure, and scalable access to data across on-premises systems, colocation, cloud platforms, and GPU environments. Here’s how private connectivity can help enterprises move from AI proof of concept to production-ready infrastructure.
Networking
Cybersecurity Awareness Month: What’s Happening
Learn with Cisco is marking Cybersecurity Awareness Month with a whole array of valuable offers. Whether you’re brand-new to IT, have some experience, or are a current security analyst, we’ve got training you can use.