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Cisco witness: AI is changing network traffic; fiber, spectrum and edge will be needed
Summary
Cisco's Bob Everson told the committee AI is shifting traffic upstream and increasing persistence of connections—Cisco saw a fourfold increase in inference traffic and tests showing agents generating 450% more traffic—prompting calls for balanced design across fiber, spectrum, and edge compute.
Bob Everson, Cisco’s chief architect for provider mobility, told senators that AI is not only increasing the volume of network traffic but is changing its behavior: more upstream traffic, longer‑lived connections, and agentic interactions that operate at software speed. "Cisco measured a 4 fold increase in AI inference traffic over 8 months," he said, and described tests where "an agent generated 450% more traffic than a person performing the same task." (Bob Everson)
Everson explained that meeting these demands requires "more balanced network designs, greater upstream capacity, resilient paths with end to end visibility, stronger security, and quality of service that can be tailored to AI traffic." He urged maintaining a mix of technologies—fiber, cellular, Wi‑Fi, and satellite—so users receive consistent service regardless of access method, and highlighted opportunities for carriers to offer AI‑enabled services from within their networks.
Senators asked whether spectrum allocations (including the recently made available 800 megahertz and the FCC's 6 GHz unlicensed authorization) and tax policy measures represent a sufficient pipeline; Everson called current spectrum actions "a great start" but recommended further evaluation as network designs evolve.
