The predictive software engine will gather data from various sources within a company's network, learn the patterns and help engineers find hardware issues, bandwidth spikes and app configuration changes before they cause difficulties.

Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins said that 30 people have been working on the tech for two years and it will be applied to a broad range of products and services over the next few years.

Cisco has tested the technology with about 15 customers, including Phillips 66 and Schneider Electric.

Traditional technologies can detect issues and react only when they happen, but if networks can predict issues and make changes proactively, the user will have a vastly better experience, Robbins said.