Cisco this week introduced an artificial-intelligence powered hologram sales agent, designed to transform in-store customer engagement for major retailers. The company demonstrated a prototype at its annual partner summit, showcasing a life-size 3D avatar capable of greeting shoppers, answering product questions in multiple languages and processing loyalty-program transactions via voice and gesture recognition. Cisco says early trials with two national fashion chains will roll out next quarter, with pilot stores in New York and Los Angeles equipped with integrated Meraki cameras, Webex AI compute modules and smart-shelf sensors. The solution leverages Cisco’s edge-computing routers to process data locally, reducing latency to under 50 milliseconds and enabling real-time personalization based on customer demographics and purchase history. Cisco forecasts that deploying this system across 500 pilot stores could save retailers up to 30% in staffing costs while boosting average transaction values by 12%.

In the latest SEC filing, CFC Planning Co LLC reported a 7.8% stake increase in Cisco during the third quarter, acquiring an additional 6,705 shares to total 92,640 holdings. At quarter end, Cisco represented 5.2% of CFC’s portfolio, making it the firm’s second-largest equity position valued at approximately $6.34 million. Other institutional investors also raised exposure: Brighton Jones LLC added 24,562 shares (a 49.5% rise), while Revolve Wealth Partners LLC upped its stake by 37% through 2,474 additional shares. Sivia Capital Partners and Signal Advisors Wealth each increased their holdings by 7.5% and 6.1%, respectively. These moves underscore growing confidence among fiduciaries in Cisco’s enterprise networking and edge-computing growth prospects as the company targets 7% revenue expansion for its next fiscal year.