Your network is a security layer. It’s time to treat it like one.

In nearly every conversation I have with networking teams at large enterprises, security comes up as a top priority, right alongside keeping the network running. The AI shift is raising the stakes on both.

Every AI agent and AI-powered experience depends on the network. At the same time, attackers are using AI to find and exploit vulnerabilities faster, distributed workloads create more paths that must be protected, and quantum-era risks are changing how organizations think about long-lived data. Compromised identities and workloads can open paths for lateral movement and amplify breach impact. Networking teams are being asked to assess risk and respond at machine speed without sacrificing availability.

The network has always been part of the attack surface. What’s changed is how much it matters. It’s the one layer that connects every identity and carries every flow across users, devices, workloads, applications, IoT and OT systems, and AI agents. Because it sees connections as…