Branch offices are where retail, hospitality, banking,andother industries interactwithconsumers. Branches demanduninterrupted operations, future-ready robust security for the post-quantum era, with amazing customer experience-all while IT teams are being asked to do more with less.

Operational complexity remains the top challenge in branch networking, with 60% of outages stemming from aging and complex branch infrastructure [1]. This complexity is compounded as workers are required to return to work, resulting in pressure on IT teams to get ready for needs of tomorrow including growth of AI use cases.

As the secure networking leader for Wi-Fi, switching, and SD-WAN-trusted by hundreds of thousands of customers globally-Cisco continues to set the standard for secure and reliable connectivity.  

Building on this foundation, at Cisco Live San Diego, we are introducing a new full-stack Unified Branch solution to make your branch deployments faster, simpler, and easier to maintain. Additionally, we're announcing the new Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers-our newest routers with security fused in, ready for new AI use cases, and offering significant generational improvements in throughput.  

Delivering operational simplicity: branches deployed in moments not months with Cisco Unified Branch  

Managing branch networks doesn't have to be complicated, even when you don't have dedicated IT teams on site in branch locations. We are introducing exciting new capabilities to make life easier for IT teams, especially when resources are tight.  

Built on 40 years of delivering customer success, Cisco is delivering a new full-stack solution designed to simplify and streamline branch network deployments, Cisco Unified Branch. Unified Branch delivers a curated set of products, tested and verified together, that unites routing with next-generation firewall (NGFW) capabilities, Wi-Fi, and switching-all managed by a common platform, the Cisco Meraki Dashboard. With Cisco ThousandEyes integrated, Cisco Unified Branch delivers full visibility, smarter troubleshooting, and the ability to quickly pinpoint issues to keep businesses running smoothly. 

With Unified Branch Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs), customers have a tested and proven design to jump-start their complete branch architecture. Customers also have the option to use the included Branch as Code automation toolkit. This kit leverages Cisco's expertise in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and DevOps, which has helped customers maximize change success and accelerate change execution while also reducing human errors and configuration drift. With prebuilt data modules and declarative automation, organizations can deploy CVDs at scale, ensuring enhanced resilience, faster time to value, more agility, and simplified management of branch infrastructure. 

Modernizing branch deployments is easier than ever with zero-touch deployment and simplified change management, all backed by our modern AI-powered support.  

Security fused into the network: introducing the new Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers 

Today, IT and security teams face a challenging threat landscape, shaped by the surge of devices, users working from everywhere, internet-connected branch offices, growing complexity introduced by AI, and emerging requirements with post-quantum cryptography (PQC). 

Recognizing the critical importance of security, Cisco is bringing together industry-leading security services with best-in-class networking capabilities in the Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers. Cisco secure routers now have a new secure networking processor-which accelerates IPsec by 3x-and integrated NGFW capabilities, including deep packet inspection, threat protection, and identity-based security policies.  

With a proven 98.8% security efficacy, Cisco secure routers have high-performance SD-WAN and enterprise-grade security, combining threat defense with consistent, reliable connectivity. Additionally, these routers are PQC ready and future proofed for Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA 2.0) mandates.  

Cisco secure routers bring forward decades of reliable performance from the Integrated Service Routers (ISRs) and offer seamless use case support for WAN architectures, including SD-WAN, Cisco Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and third-party SSE integration. Air-gapped, hybrid, and cloud-managed environments are supported with CLI, API, third-party management, or Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager for large global deployments. 

"As we enter the era of agentic AI, I believe that complexity will only grow, demanding even smarter, faster, and more resilient networks. Anchored by Cisco's next-generation Secure WAN solutions, including the new Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers and a unified SD-WAN fabric at a global cloud backbone, we can dynamically route traffic across multiple clouds and providers with security and policy management baked into the fabric itself."-Ralf Huebenthal, Global Head of IT Platforms, Nestle 

To further simplify operations, SecOps can now set the security policy via Security Cloud Control, which is seamlessly integrated into Catalyst SD-WAN Manager. This means that NetOps can easily operationalize the policy, which fosters collaboration between security and IT teams.  

Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers can tackle the challenges of modern networks, especially those driven by AI workloads. Powered by the new secure networking processor, the series offers five scalable models designed for diverse environments, from small branches to large data centers. 

IT teams can streamline operations and reduce complexity with simplified licensing, consistent management, and features across all models. These routers deliver up to 95 Gbps for IPsec and up to 61 Gbps for SD-WAN throughput [2], ensuring robust security and performance as the demand grows for higher WAN throughput, with improved latency and resiliency. 

The Cisco 8400 Series Secure Routers are optimized for the campus edge future-proofing 10 Gbps to 25 Gbps WAN transition with 3x more throughput with 40% less power consumption. The Cisco 8500 Series Secure Router is purpose-built for the data center to address high-scale WAN IPsec tunnel aggregation. Powering the Cisco 8500 Series is an ASIC third-generation Quantum Flow Processor (QFP), bringing forward decades of ASR 1000 reliable operations customers have depended on. We designed the Cisco 8400 Series and 8500 Series with sustainability in mind. Both are ENERGY STAR certified-an industry first for enterprise routers. 

The Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers integrate seamlessly with multicloud networks and address the growing demand for diverse WAN connectivity options by integrating with leading low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations and providing robust 5G connectivity through partnerships with operators like AT&T. These capabilities ensure businesses can maintain reliable, resilient, and high-speed connections, even in remote or underserved areas. 

"Our collaboration with Cisco helps bring secure, high-performance connectivity to life for businesses. By combining AT&T's nationwide fiber and 5G with Cisco's Secure Routing platform, we're delivering a seamless, secure, and converged network experience-built for real-world complexity."-Joe Petrocelli,VP, Communication Services, AT&T Business

Next-generation networking for a new branch architecture 

As we launch our newUnified Branch solution and Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers, we are excited to empower businesses with seamless, secure, and AI-ready networking capabilities. This marks a pivotal step in transforming branch operations. 

[1] Source: Omdia, The Human Cost of Branch Network Complexity, April 2025 

[2] Source: Based on RFC2544 with no drop rate (NDR) of zero
 

Getseamless, secure, and AI-ready networking capabilities with our new

Unified Branch solution and Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers.