Cisco's Galaxy Mode shows AI assistant for IT teams

Cisco has outlined how agentic artificial intelligence could reshape IT operations by enabling engineers to interact with AI assistants through natural language while automating complex tasks across networking, security and observability environments.

The company said conversational AI interfaces are intended to make AI systems easier to use while supporting IT teams facing increasing operational complexity, expanding infrastructure and rising cybersecurity threats.

Conversational AI

Cisco highlighted Galaxy Mode, a conversational interface developed for its Cisco AI Assistant, as an example of how IT professionals could engage with AI agents using natural language.

The interface introduced an alternative personality for the assistant while demonstrating reasoning, orchestration and action capabilities behind the underlying platform.

"Galaxy Mode definitely had a fun personality," said Akshay Bhargava, Vice President of Product Management, AI Software and Platform, Cisco, "and it made AI much more approachable and engaging for customers. But the innovation is the real breakthrough, especially the innovation around reasoning and orchestration, and taking actions. It's about using a natural language interface to help solve complex IT problems; that's where the real magic happens."

Cisco said the feature attracted strong customer interest and intends to introduce additional conversational experiences for its AI Assistant.

"Galaxy Mode helped turn AI Assistant from something customers have heard about into something they wanted to experience," said Aruna Ravichandran, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, AI, Networking, and Collaboration, Cisco. "But while they came for the fun, they stayed for the powerful, real-life AI capabilities."

IT support

Cisco said agentic AI is becoming increasingly relevant as IT departments manage larger and more distributed environments spanning cloud infrastructure, software-as-a-service applications, data centres, remote users, APIs and AI agents.

The company said its Cisco IQ, Cisco Cloud Control, Cisco AgenticOps and Cisco AI Assistant are designed to help administrators interact with these environments more efficiently.

"The complexity of what we are dealing with today has increased substantially," said Bhargava. "Part of it is because attackers can also use AI. But there's a number of other dimensions. The infrastructure is now much more distributed. You have cloud, you have applications and SaaS, you have a variety of data centers, remote users, APIs, and agents. That environment is not only bigger, but also spans different domains - whether networking, security, identity, applications, observability, they're all interconnected."

Industry analysts said conversational interfaces could lower the barrier to using advanced IT tools while allowing engineers to access technical expertise more efficiently.

"AI is great at removing the tedium from the network engineer," said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research. "And I think for those engineers that look at AI as a big threat to the job, you're thinking about it wrong. AI is now your best friend."

"The internet," said Kerravala, "democratizes access to information. AI democratizes access to expertise. And agentic interfaces like what Cisco is offering make it that much easier to access that expertise. Now, you still need domain knowledge. If I don't know a router from a switch, I'm probably not going to be too effective querying it. But for those that do have the domain knowledge, this kind of agentic interface becomes an invaluable teammate."

Bob Laliberte, Principal Analyst, theCUBE Research, said natural language interfaces are becoming increasingly familiar as consumers adopt voice-based technologies.

"Having that natural language interface is easier than thinking for a lot of people," said Bob Laliberte, Principal Analyst, theCUBE Research. "And we're getting close to that Star Trek moment where you're just talking to the computer, and it's talking back. I always look for how the consumerization of technology helps drive it into the enterprise. People are used to talking to Alexa, talking to Siri. And it's moving into IT. There's going to be a curve, but the more teams start using it, they're going to really appreciate it."

Trust framework

Cisco said trust remains a key factor influencing enterprise AI adoption.

Its 2026 AI Readiness Index identified trust as one of the main barriers to deploying AI systems across organisations.

"In the age of agentic AI," said Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer, Cisco, "trust cannot be treated as a feature layered on at the end. It has to be built into the foundation."

Cisco said governance remains essential even as AI agents become more capable of acting autonomously.

"AI agents have tremendous memory, they have tremendous access, and have agency and autonomy," said Bhargava. "But at the end of the day, the human has to build trust in the agent, has to guide the agent, has to train the agent, has to oversee what the agent does, and stop it if it goes off the rails. So, this is where building that trusted partnership is key."

"The future isn't humans versus AI," said Bhargava, "it's about humans working alongside trusted AI agents to solve problems together that neither one could solve as effectively on their own. It really is a better together story."