The Internet

of Agents
Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D March 2025
The Internet of Agents

Contents

1. A new computing paradigm: Beyond deterministic systems 4

2. How will this all come together? 5
3. The Internet of Agents 8
4. How do we build the Internet of Agents 10
5. The path forward: Building our AI-enabled future 12
6. The end of the beginning: A call to action 13

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

The Internet of Agents: an open, interoperable internet for

agent-agent and agent-human quantum-safe communication
Forty years ago, Cisco helped create the biggest platform shift in computing history. This
platform was The Internet but what it really enabled was distributed computing and e-
commerce at global scale. It completely transformed the way all humans did business and
the way we interacted socially.

Cisco built it by being a software vendor first—developing software that discovered, authen-
ticated, connected and secured individuals, machines and software. We built it in an open
and interoperable manner1 and established industry standards, quickly releasing reference
implementations that became the benchmark for Internet infrastructure.

The cloud-first and mobile-first platform paradigm shift emerged next, about two decades
ago, built as a platform layer above the Internet. Hyperscalers (cloud players, social giants
and app giants) built walled gardens, and a Cloud Internet formed above the Internet with
cloud native discovery, authentication, connectivity and security built as net new over-the-
top software services.

Today, we stand at yet another inflection point—the move to distributed agentic computing.
One that will accelarate all of human work, from cognitive to services to physical. This
distributed agentic computation platform needs a new secure connectivity layer that sits
above the current cloud native connectivity layer: the Internet of Agents.

Figure 1: A new Internet is forming to enable distributed AgentiQ2 computation

Cisco and partners need to pioneer the Internet of Agents which is an open,
interoperable internet for quantum-safe, agent-agent collaboration.

1 It didn’t start out by being open. Remember AOL?

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 3

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

To jump directly to the requirements, and how we need to build in this space, you can
start reading from section 3, or section 5.

1. A new computing paradigm: Beyond deterministic systems

Largely, computing has been deterministic in nature for all these decades3 with probabilistic
(stochastic) computing being relegated to special use cases (ML models) or quantum com-
puting use cases. Generalized probabilistic computing only took shape after the democrati-
zation of language foundation models (LLM) such as ChatGPT in November 2022.

It quickly became evident that foundation model (FM) based AI-native applications, especial-
ly in the form of agents, are going to disrupt all human work. This disruption will start with
software and IT work, before transforming all knowledge, services, physical work, and all
social interactions.

Right now, we are scratching the surface of FM-based assistants and agents, as they help
us with multi-modal content-based outcomes such as audio, video, images and text (includ-
ing writing code).

FMs are capable of a lot more as they inherently build semantic relationships between the
components of any language. That language is a communication language for now—how
nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc. combine to form sentences.

But we are already seeing AI models and FMs building semantic relationships for other
languages such as:

• Health and medical sciences: the language of how proteins combine and fold. For ex-
ample, the design of new protein molecules through an FM such as EvolutionaryScale4,
Isomorphic Labs, Noetik5, or AlphaFold6, where the latter has been used to predict the
structure of more than 200 million protein structures, allowing its founders to win a
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Material science: the language with which molecules combine to create materials. For
example, GNoME that predicted structures for 2.2 million new materials, 700 of which
are now being created and tested in labs7.
• Embodied AI / Agents: the language of how physical actuators combine to create

3 We won’t go into the history of neural networks here, as they evolved from vanilla neural networks in the 1960s to con-
text-based transformers like GPT or Gemini in 2017.
4 EvolutionaryScale Launches with ESM3: A Milestone AI Model for Biology, Business Wire
5 AI-native precision immunotherapies for cancer, Noetik
6 AlphaFold 3 predicts the structure and interactions of all of life’s molecules, Google Blog
7 Google DeepMind’s new AI tool helped create more than 700 new materials, MIT Technology Review

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 4

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

movement. These combined with other embodied AI models such as vision transformer
models (ViT) are creating a new paradigm in robotics where robots can learn new
physical skills on the fly through learning, making them deployable in any physical work
use case8, eliminating purpose-built designs. Even Waymo, Nuro and Wayve are using
FM-based agents to add new skills to their existing self-driving models and fleets9.

These foundation models of all kinds are just now beginning to reason, plan, have memory
and think about ambiguous objectives. These are hard problems yet to be solved for, but
progress is being made quarterly.

Additionally, with consumer, social and enterprise companies’ push towards creating per-
sonalized virtual agents (including avatars for social networks) for every facet of how we in-
teract for B2B and B2C use cases, it’s easy to comprehend how AI-native agents will disrupt
all human work. This market is slated to be larger than $4T in size over the next 5 years10.

2. How will this all come together?

Today, most AI-native assistants (AI-native agents are still in their infancy) are being built as
simple agents and leveraging singular foundation models.

However, simple agents, like single humans, cannot answer all questions of all kinds (asking
an ace software engineer why you are having chest pain is literally bound to end in disaster!)

What has been explored, though, is just like humans, many subject matter expert (SME) AI-
native agents can collaborate to solve for larger, harder, more ambiguous problems11. These
SME agents have the advantage of being more accurate and more efficient, and via
collaboration, have shown to perform much better than the current state of the art
foundation models.

As Erik Brynjolfsson and team have shown12, it is far more pragmatic to think of jobs and
complex problems as a collection of tasks, and it is these tasks which can be automated
more easily by agentic AI.

We have seen similar scaling challenges before. Software and infrastructure get built as a
single entity, then scale up, then scale out—first within an enterprise’s boundary, and then
beyond.

8 Inside the Billion-Dollar Startup Bringing AI Into the Physical World, Wired, and Mentee Robotics where Cisco is an investor
9 A Powerful AI Breakthrough Is About to Transform the World, Wall Street Journal
10 The AI Opportunity, Sequoia Capital AI Ascent and State of the Open Cloud, Battery Ventures
11 The Rise of Agentic Workflows in AI, Andrew Ng and Networks of Networks: Complexity Class Principles Applied to
Compound AI Systems Design, Ion Stoica et.al., UC Berkeley
12 What can machines learn and what does it mean for occupations and the economy? MIT Sloan, Erik Brynjolfsson

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 5

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

Figure 3: Evolution of agentic applications

Some vendors (including Cisco) have started building these Multi-Agent Applications
(MAAs), where multiple foundation and ML models are combined with traditional
determinis-tic software to solve for a bigger problem (scale-out in the figure above) such as
the univer-sal Cisco AI Assistant, or Salesforce Agentforce. Tools for this paradigm are in
early-stage advancements and have much potential ahead13.

The next logical step in the evolution will be to create an ensemble or workflows of MAAs
(internet-scale, in the figure above). This Ensemble of MAAs would collaborate across ven-
dor boundaries and across the Internet to solve for larger business (or personal or social or
physical) workflows14.

13 LangGraph and Crew.ai are examples of two currently popular tools

14 Satya Nadella on the BG2 Podcast with Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 6

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

Lets take two simple examples of Ensemble of Multi-Agent Apps (internet-scale) that both
require Cisco to provide secure connectivity.

Workflow example A / Deploying and managing SaaS footprint: Think about an agentic
workflow to deploy an enterprise IT SaaS software (say, for sales forecasting, new logos and
expansions outcome measurements). The human IT operator would iterate with a planner agent
to define business goals and size the application and its SLOs. That planner agent would then
decompose the task into many build and deploy tasks, potentially working with a ticketing work-
flow agent (e.g., ServiceNow). The ServiceNow agents would work with various other agents
from Salesforce, Hubspot and other providers to size and deploy those apps. In parallel, agents
from Cisco and Microsoft would ensure that the deployed apps are safe, secure, within budget,
and within their SLO boundaries.

Figure 4: The Internet of Agents will securely connect agentic applications of all types

Workflow Example B / Drug discovery: A human would first iterate with an AI agent to plan the
whole discovery process—the intent for discovering the drug, break that down into executable
steps, the safety and compliance guardrails that they would need to align with, and so on. That
plan would then invoke an AI agent analyzing protein structures to propose the set of potentially
viable drugs (a step known as in-silico discovery). This agent would then collaborate with an
embedded robotic agent performing wet lab experiments. Additional agents would perform drug
safety checks, compliance checks, drug stability checks. And all of these AI agents would iterate
till the intent of the drug discovery is achieved and we go for animal or human trials.  

Figure 5: Evolution from Simple to Multi-Agent to Ensemble of Agent Apps and the need for a new communication layer

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 7

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

And for the foreseeable future, there will always be humans in the loop for critical tasks or
decisions, even with increasing agency provided to these multi-agent apps. This also aligns
with Cisco’s commitment to responsible AI development15, which emphasizes transparency,
fairness, and human oversight in all AI software. By building human-in-the-loop mechanisms
directly into the Internet of Agents architecture, we ensure that AI agents remain accountable
to human judgment while augmenting (rather than replacing) human decision-making in
critical domains16.

3. The Internet of Agents

This new AI-native world needs a collaboration layer—the Internet of Agents—to enable
collaboration across the ecosystem of agentic applications of various kinds, from different
vendors, sometimes across different industries (see the drug discovery example above).

• Just like the Internet, and the Cloud Internet that was built above it, this communication
layer should allow for the discovery, reputation and authentication, connectivity and
security of multi-agent apps of all types.
• It should allow for communication between agentic apps and existing software and
systems and allow for human-in-the-loop interactions.
• In addition to deterministic communication (via current remote API mechanisms), this
layer needs to support non-deterministic intent (“find the best price”), probabilistic
outcomes and local optima (“this is the best price with 90% confidence in the time
allotted”), goal-loop prevention (“I need to talk to a different agentic app”), large state
exchanges (multi-modal state between agentic cores), ultra-low latency dense clus-
ters for inference-heavy chain-of-thought use cases, assurance for agent-agent and
agent-human communication, and so on.
• A next-generation communication layer needs to have next-generation security: this
Internet needs to have quantum-safe security built in to prevent current store-and-
harvest attacks as well as to future-proof it when, not if, quantum nodes appear on this
network.
• This Internet needs to be open and interoperable. Any agent provider must be able to
announce an agent or discover any 3rd party agent through this Internet. Why? Because
open systems drive maximal value for every entity in the ecosystem: infrastructure
vendors, operators, app developers and consumers/customers.

15 Cisco Responsible AI Framework

16 Responsible Scaling Policy, Anthropic

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 8

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

Figure 6: Net-new products need to be built for the purple (Internet of Agents) layer, and existing products need to be
extended for the blue (Internet) layer, driving a refresh across our portfolio

The urgency behind the speed of this transition is also palpable. We initially started intro-
ducing this topic internally back in April 2024. Since then, there have been many academic
and industry papers in this space, including one from Outshift by Cisco AI/ML researchers
(DAWN: Distributed Agents in a Worldwide Network), and some startups taking shape as
well18.

17 The new Open is open source, though there is a need for a communication protocol that we may need to drive in the
standards bodies, preferably IETF, as well.
18 Work by Ion Stoica and UC Berkeley, Tsinghua University and Tencent, DAWN by Cisco, talks by Amazon and IBM at Tech-
Crunch Disrupt ’24, startups like Lyzr, and also LangGraph trying to extend into this space but currently very far from it.

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 9

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

4. How do we build the Internet of Agents

Like the two other internets before (Internet and Cloud Internet), the Internet of Agents will
be built on three interconnected layers, each serving a distinct but essential purpose, with
a proverbial “waist”19—

1. AI-native Agentic Applications: This layer encompasses the full spectrum of agentic appli-
cations—from business workflow automation to scientific discovery to social interaction. Think of
it like a movie production, where specialized teams (writers, actors, cinematographers, editors)
collaborate to create something greater than any individual could achieve. Similarly, AI agents
will specialize and collaborate across domains, from software development to drug discovery to
embodied agentic robotic workflows, etc.
2. Agent Communication Platform: This is the proverbial waist of this new internet. This layer
provides the fundamental protocols and standards for how AI agents discover, authenticate, and
interact with each other. Like TCP/IP for the original internet, these open standards must enable
any agent to seamlessly participate in the network, regardless of its creator or purpose for both
Hardware and SaaS products.
3. AI and Quantum-Safe Infrastructure: This foundational layer delivers the secure, scalable
infrastructure that enables all AI agent interactions. It combines high-performance computing
and networking with quantum-resistant security built in from the ground up. Through quantum
networking capabilities and advanced security protocols, this layer ensures that agent com-
munications remain protected against both current and future quantum threats. This proactive
approach to quantum safety creates a trusted foundation for the entire agent ecosystem to
build upon.

Figure 6: Net-new products need to be built for the purple (Internet of Agents) layer, and existing products need to be
extended for the blue (Internet) layer, driving a refresh across our portfolio

Figure 7: The three planes of the Internet of Agents with the proverbial “waist”

19 The waist is a layer of abstraction to simplify K x M x N x .. interactions through a common layer, also known as the Perl-
is-Thomson principle. It used to be “IP” in the Internet, moved up to “HTTPS/gRPC/Open API” in the Cloud Internet.

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 10

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

A deeper look into the of Agents platform

For the Internet of Agents platform, we propose defining a set of specifications, SDKs, and
open source/free services to drive reputation, authen-tication, and discoverability of agentic
apps. Other components and specifications will help these agents communicate,
semantically transform between incompatible frameworks, and provide evaluation and
security services. This OAP needs to be built with partners and communities in mind,
comprising of vendors, developers, operators and customers, for it to be truly open. We are
starting to build those communities20.

20 We are calling it Internet of Agents till we are ready to announce the architecture.
21 Startups such as Cerebras can drive high-bandwidth low-latency inferencing that is 7,000X faster than NVIDIA DGX
clusters which becomes critical as chain-of-thought and composition of MAAs start appearing in all B2C or B2B software.

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 11

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

Figure 8: Agent communication components

5. The path forward: Building our AI-enabled future

To make the Internet of Agents a reality, the technology industry must take decisive action in
five critical areas:

1. Establish open standards: The industry must come together to create and ratify open
standards for agent communication. This includes protocols for discovery, authentication, and
collaboration that any organization can implement. These standards should define how agents
identify themselves, establish trust, and share information securely.
2. Create reference implementations: We need working implementations of these standards
that developers can build upon. These reference implementations should demonstrate best
practices for security, scalability, and interoperability while serving as practical starting points
for enterprise adoption.
3. Build common infrastructure: Development of shared infrastructure components must be
community-driven. This includes tools for agent deployment, monitoring, and management.
These components should be open source, allowing for broad contribution and adaptation
while ensuring no single entity controls the ecosystem.
4. Define security framework: The industry must establish comprehensive security require-
ments that address both current and quantum threats. This framework should include guide-
lines for implementing quantum-safe encryption, managing agent permissions, and maintaining
security across organizational boundaries.
5. Enable seamless migration: Organizations need clear paths to migrate from current AI
implementations to this new infrastructure. This includes tools for transitioning existing
AI-native software to agent-based architectures and guidelines for maintaining compatibility
during the transition.

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 12

The Internet of Agents Vijoy Pandey, Ph.D January 22, 2025

6. The end of the beginning: A call to action

The proliferation of AI agents marks a pivotal moment in technological history. The need for
open, secure, and scalable infrastructure to support these agents grows more urgent by the
day. Success demands unprecedented collaboration across the technology industry—from
startups to enterprises, from researchers to practitioners.

Building the Internet of Agents isn’t just about creating new technology; it’s about laying the
foundation for humanity’s AI-enabled future. Just as the original internet transformed how
humans communicate and work, this new infrastructure will revolutionize how agentic soft-
ware collaborates and solves problems. The opportunities it creates will reshape industries,
advance scientific discovery, and enable innovations we can’t yet imagine.

The time to act is now. We stand at the threshold of a new era in computing, where AI
agents will become fundamental to how we work, innovate, and solve problems. By working
together to build this infrastructure thoughtfully and securely, we can create a future where
AI agents augment human capabilities in ways that benefit all of humanity.

The Internet of Agents isn’t just another platform—it’s the backbone of

our collective future. Let’s build it right. Join us to make it a reality.

Shape the future of AI with us at:

outshift.cisco.com/the-internet-of-agents

Want to stay updated on next steps? Sign up for our newsletter.

There will be more opportunities to get involved coming soon.

©2025 Outshift by Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 13