CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cisco vs Island

Cisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data. Island sells an enterprise browser that provides a managed environment for secure application access. CISO Tribune files both under SASE and SSE. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Cisco
  • Island
Cisco vs Island: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CiscoCisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data.cisco.comIslandIsland sells an enterprise browser that provides a managed environment for secure application access.island.io
What it sells
  • Cisco HypershieldA security architecture for data centers that segments workloads and closes exploit gaps at scale.
  • Cisco Secure AccessA secure access service edge (SASE) product that unifies networking and security policy for a distributed workforce.
  • Cisco Duo[1]An identity security product that gives visibility into an organization's identity ecosystem and enforces access policy.
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)A network access control product that uses data from across Cisco's stack to enforce policy, manage endpoints and grant trusted access.
  • Splunk Enterprise Security[1]A security information and event management product that detects and responds to threats using collected logs and events.
  • Cisco Talos[1]A threat intelligence and research organization that supplies threat data used across Cisco's security products.
  • Enterprise Browser[2][4][5][6]A browser that provides a managed environment for secure application access.
  • Island Private Access[5]A ZTNA solution for web and desktop apps.
  • Island DEX[6]Collects analytics on application usage, performance, network and device health.
Categories
Headquarters
San Jose, United States[3][13]Not stated on its pages
Founded
1984[4]Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Public (NASDAQ: CSCO)[1][2][10][12][13]Privately held[5][6][16]
Named customers
  • Marriott[5]
  • United States Golf Association[6]
  • Rosen Hotels & Resorts[7]
  • Elon University[8]
Not stated on its pages
Recent news
  • August 12, 2026Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $17.3 billion for the period ended July 25, 2026.[2]
  • May 13, 2026Cisco reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 revenue of $15.8 billion for the period ended April 25, 2026.[9]
  • May 4, 2026Cisco announced its intent to acquire Astrix Security, a non-human identity security company, and completed the acquisition on June 29, 2026.[10]
  • April 9, 2026Cisco announced its intent to acquire Galileo Technologies, Inc.[11]
  • November 25, 2025Cisco completed its acquisition of EzDubs, a privately held AI software company based in San Francisco.[13]
  • September 24, 2026Island announced a $400 million Series F round led by Evolution Equity Partners, bringing its valuation to $6.4 billion.[14]
  • June 8, 2026Island and Pax8 introduced Island for SMBs on the Pax8 Marketplace, making it available to managed service provider partners and their SMB customers.[15]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 5, 2026[12]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[16]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Cisco sells mainly to enterprises that need to secure hybrid environments spanning data center, cloud, campus, and IoT. Cisco addresses organizations with a global workforce that need secure access for humans, things, and agents under one consistent policy model. Cisco addresses enterprises that want to govern an agentic AI workforce. Security teams are addressed with unified intelligence and operations for visibility across users, systems, and AI agents.Island addresses users who need to securely access their data and applications on any device, anywhere. Island is sold to organizations whose contractors need access to apps and resources from any device. Island is used by M&A teams for onboarding. Island sells to organizations that want employees to use approved AI tools while keeping PII, IP and financial records out of prompts and outputs.
Last verified
October 10, 2026November 4, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Cisco and Island are both filed under SASE and SSE.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cisco's primary category is Firewalls and NGFW; Island's is Enterprise browsers.
  • Cisco is also filed under Network access control and SIEM. Island is also filed under Zero trust network access and Data loss prevention.
  • Cisco lists Cisco Hypershield, Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Duo, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Splunk Enterprise Security and 1 more. Island lists Enterprise Browser, Island Private Access and Island DEX.
  • Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, United States.
  • Cisco was founded in 1984.
  • Cisco is a public company listed on NASDAQ as CSCO. Island is privately held.
  • Cisco publicly names Marriott, United States Golf Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Elon University.

What it sells: Island

What Enterprise Browser does[2][4][5][6]
The Enterprise Browser installs locally on any device and is managed centrally through the cloud-based Island Management Console. Island automatically assesses device posture to ensure devices meet policy requirements. The Enterprise Browser defends against web-based threats, including malware, phishing attacks and session hijacking.
What Island Private Access does[5]
Island Private Access is a ZTNA solution for both web and desktop apps. Island Private Access offers a second deployment option for the Island Enterprise Browser to support access to private web applications and semi-private SaaS applications.

Questions about Cisco and Island

What do Cisco and Island sell?
Cisco sells Cisco Hypershield, Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Duo, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Splunk Enterprise Security and 1 more. Island sells Enterprise Browser, Island Private Access and Island DEX.
Are Cisco and Island in the same category?
They share SASE and SSE. Cisco's primary category is Firewalls and NGFW and Island's is Enterprise browsers.
Where are Cisco and Island headquartered?
Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, United States.
When were Cisco and Island founded?
Cisco was founded in 1984.
Who owns Cisco and Island?
Cisco is a public company listed on NASDAQ as CSCO. Island is privately held.
Which customers do Cisco and Island name?
Cisco publicly names Marriott, United States Golf Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Elon University.
Who are Cisco and Island sold to?
From its own pages, Cisco sells mainly to enterprises that need to secure hybrid environments spanning data center, cloud, campus, and IoT. Island addresses users who need to securely access their data and applications on any device, anywhere.
What have Cisco and Island announced recently?
August 12, 2026: Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $17.3 billion for the period ended July 25, 2026. September 24, 2026: Island announced a $400 million Series F round led by Evolution Equity Partners, bringing its valuation to $6.4 billion.

About Cisco

Cisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data. Cisco describes the offering as an open, network-native platform built to handle today's threats and enable the agentic enterprise at scale.

Cisco says its security applies policy, inspection, and enforcement at every connection. Cisco also describes unified data for earlier detection and faster response, powered by AI-driven context.

For cloud protection, Cisco describes securing modern cloud and AI apps at runtime with segmentation that keeps up with change, vulnerability shielding to close the patching gap, and protection for AI workloads. Cisco Encrypted Visibility Engine (EVE) is used to find malicious flows in encrypted traffic and to decrypt without sacrificing performance. Cisco says it stops zero days using Snort ML and Talos Threat Intelligence. Cisco offers distributed, optimized enforcement with unified management across a hybrid enterprise, and the same enforcement is described for data center, cloud, campus, and IoT environments.

Cisco describes a security architecture designed to defend modern, AI-scale data centers. Cisco says the architecture closes exploit gaps, segments everywhere, and self-qualifies updates and changes.

For workforce protection, Cisco describes secure access for humans, things, and agents with one consistent policy model. Cisco offers a cloud-native security service edge (SSE) that includes digital experience monitoring. Cisco offers a single-vendor SASE that unifies networking and security for a global workforce. Cisco offers identity security for the workforce that helps see across the entire identity ecosystem. Cisco offers multicloud NAC with zero trust, which uses intel from across the stack to enforce policy, manage endpoints, and deliver trusted access.

For threat intelligence and response, Cisco describes detecting, investigating, and responding faster with unified intelligence and operations. Cisco says this gives a team continuous visibility across users, systems, and AI agents in a single platform. Cisco describes unifying the data fabric, analytics, tooling and AI to automate the mundane, clarify the complex, and proactively mitigate risk.

Cisco also addresses agentic AI. Cisco describes safeguarding the agentic workforce against malicious attacks and data leakage. Cisco says it integrates identity, access, and behavioral controls to govern an agentic AI workforce and reduce risk. At RSAC 2026, Jeetu Patel, Cisco's President and Chief Product Officer, challenged the industry to fundamentally reimagine security.

Cisco Services provide expert guidance to plan, design, implement, operate, and optimize an IT environment. Cisco says support for Cisco Security products is available through the Cisco support hub, which provides product-specific resources, documentation, downloads, and expert assistance.

Cisco on the record

Sources

Cisco full record

  1. [1]Security Products and Solutions for Cloud and Workforce Protection - CiscoCisco · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cisco reports fourth quarter earningsCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published August 12, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]IndexCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cisco systems reaches agreement with state city on major land purchaseCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published April 17, 1996 · Tier A
  5. [5]MarriottCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]cisco.comCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Rosen hotels and resortsCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Elon universityCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cisco reports third quarter earningsCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published May 13, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Cisco announces intent to acquire astrix securityCisco · blogs.cisco.com · published May 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Making AI Trustworthy and Observable in Real-Time: Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire GalileoCisco Blogs · published April 9, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Cisco Security Services Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  13. [13]Cisco completes EzDubs acquisition - CiscoCisco · published November 25, 2025 · Tier A

Island full record

  1. [1]island.ioIsland · island.io · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]island.ioIsland · island.io · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]PressIsland · island.io · undated page, accessed November 4, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]VDI Alternative | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Zero Trust | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Enterprise Browser | Data Protection and DLP | IslandIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]M&A Onboarding | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Island Platform | The Frontier Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]BYOD Workforce | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Third-Party Contractors | Island - The Enterprise BrowserIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Privileged Access Management | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]AI Agent Governance, AI Protection, and AI Browser | IslandIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]SaaS and Web Apps | Island Control PlaneIsland · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Island Announces $400 Million Series F, Bringing Valuation to $6.4 BillionIsland · published September 24, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Island Brings the First Purpose-Built Workspace for SMBs to the Pax8 MarketplaceIsland · published June 8, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Island Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & FeaturesG2 · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier C

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