Cisco Announces Sovereign Critical Infrastructure Portfolio

News Summary:

• Cisco Sovereign Critical Infrastructure is a configurable, air-gapped portfolio for customers in Europe who have specific requirements to build their own on-premises, sovereign infrastructure.
• Empowering Europe with more control and autonomy over their digital infrastructure and data.
• This breadth of hardware and software, aligned with key EU and country certifications, is available from Cisco and key partners now.

SAN JOSE, Calif., September 24, 2025 - Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking and security, today announced its Sovereign Critical Infrastructure portfolio to address European customers' needs for more control and autonomy over their digital infrastructure and data.

The new portfolio is configurable, and customers can operate it in their own air-gapped, 'on-prem' physical environments. It spans Cisco's core product lines, from routing, switching, and wireless, to collaboration, and select endpoint devices, enhanced by Cisco and Splunk security and observability solutions.

For governments, this helps ensure mission-critical systems are firmly under their control. Banks, healthcare providers, and other regulated industries have more choice in how they achieve sovereignty and compliance. And AI factories and innovators can now build the data centers across Europe that can form the bedrock of Europe's Sovereign AI infrastructure.

"Technological breakthroughs offer a unique and exciting opportunity for every organization across Europe," Gordon Thomson, President, Cisco EMEA, said. "Our customers want control over their digital infrastructure and data, while enjoying the freedom to choose the right deployment models for their operations, security postures, and strategic goals. Today's announcement provides that, ensuring customers have the technology and flexibility to build secure, resilient digital systems."

Introducing Cisco Sovereign Critical Infrastructure for Europe

• Comprehensive, customizable offering: Configurable to meet bespoke security and compliance needs (e.g., customer-managed encryption). This can also be deployed in hybrid environments enabling high-levels of on-prem control, alongside cloud-based services.
• On-premises deployment: Cisco Sovereign Critical Infrastructure can be operated by customers, on their premises, according to their needs, and under their management.
• Air-gap licensing: The Cisco Sovereign Critical Infrastructure portfolio is configured to function in an air-gapped environment. Cisco will not be capable of remotely disabling products. This puts control in the hands of customers.
• Certifications: Cisco enables customers to meet compliance requirements by delivering solutions aligned with key foundational, EU and country certifications and standards. The majority of our on-premises solutions are certified IPv6-ready and Common Criteria, and we have a clear roadmap towards achieving the new European Union Cybersecurity Certification (EUCC).

Cisco Sovereign Critical Infrastructure is available in Europe from September 2025.

Supporting quotes

"Cisco's Sovereign Critical Infrastructure marks a significant advancement in digital sovereignty for Europe. As a strategic partner, NTT DATA recognizes the importance of this launch and the unique value it brings to our clients, combining secure, air-gapped infrastructure with deep configurability and compliance. This portfolio directly addresses the growing demand for control and autonomy over digital environments."

Albi van Zyl, Head of Technology Solutions, Europe & LATAM at NTT DATA, Inc.

"On-premise is the IT environment that the majority of organizations across Europe are now spending most of their IT budgets on. Although that bucks the trend of hybrid and multicloud usage that we have been observing for several years, it does not obviate the need for digital sovereignty - far from it. On-prem IT still requires connectivity. Here the importance of network sovereignty cannot be underestimated, especially for organizations responsible for critical national infrastructure. Operational resilience is key for these organizations, who seek the extra controls, protections, and autonomy that genuine digital sovereignty solutions can bring. This is especially true when it comes to network sovereignty-a challenge that few network infrastructure providers thus far have been able to address."

Rahiel Nasir, Research Director for European Cloud & Lead Analyst for Worldwide Digital Sovereignty, IDC.