Podcast: What does an AI-ready network look like?

From Samuel Pasquier of Cisco Systems’ Industrial IoT Connectivity Portfolio, learn about the implications of increased digitization of OT, the emerging manufacturing use cases enabled by AI, and how to build a future-proof network infrastructure that supports next-generation industrial automation.

Scott Achelpohl

Sept. 4, 2025

Software-defined industrial automation and AI have unleashed a new era of productivity and efficiency in manufacturing.

But as OT teams are starting to accelerate their digitization efforts and use more software and IT technologies to run their OT infrastructure, what should they prioritize? And what does a good network infrastructure in the AI era actually look like?

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In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast sponsored by Cisco Systems, host Scott Achelpohl asks Samuel Pasquier, who is head of product management for Cisco's Industrial IoT Connectivity Portfolio, to weigh in on the evolution of network infrastructure.

In this episode, Pasquier discusses next-generation manufacturing use cases, implications around increased OT digitization, and the networking capabilities required to future-proof operations.

In this episode, he also chats about:

Machine vision
Autonomous vehicles and tele-remote operations
Software defined automation
AI robotics and cobots
Edge to cloud
IE switching portfolio
AVGs/AMRs on the plant floor
Recently launched: Wi-Fi + CURWB
Planet Farms (watch Cisco Live session)

About the Author

Scott Achelpohl

I've come to Smart Industry after stints in business-to-business journalism covering U.S. trucking and transportation for FleetOwner, a sister website and magazine of SI’s at Endeavor Business Media, and branches of the U.S. military for Navy League of the United States. I'm a graduate of the University of Kansas and the William Allen White School of Journalism with many years of media experience inside and outside B2B journalism. I'm a wordsmith by nature, and I edit Smart Industry and report and write all kinds of news and interactive media on the digital transformation of manufacturing.