Updated: 29 September 2026
Cisco 360 is the partner programme Cisco introduced on 25 January 2026, replacing Gold, Premier and Select. It grants portfolio-specific Preferred designations across five practices: Networking, Security, Collaboration, Cloud & AI, and Services. Proactive Data Systems holds Preferred status in all five, one of a small number of Indian partners with the full designation.
Written for CIOs, CISOs, Heads of Procurement and Chief Digital Officers evaluating Cisco partners for enterprise contracts, RFPs and managed services engagements in India.
The old Cisco tiers, Gold, Premier and Select, were retired in January 2026. In their place sits Cisco 360, a programme that assesses partners by outcome and by specialist competence in specific practice areas. The change is more than a rebadge. Under Gold, a partner could carry the top tier and yet have almost no track record in, say, collaboration or security. Under Cisco 360, competence is declared per portfolio and earned per portfolio.
Cisco 360 issues Preferred status in each of five practices: Networking, Security, Collaboration, Cloud & AI, and Services. The Partner Value Index (PVI) scores partners on delivered outcomes, customer growth, and specialist depth. Preferred is the top designation in each practice.
Penta-Preferred is the shorthand for a partner that holds Preferred status in all five Cisco 360 practices simultaneously, in the same operating entity. It is the highest possible Cisco recognition of breadth and depth combined. Most Indian Cisco partners hold Preferred in one or two practices. A handful hold three. A very small number, Proactive included, hold all five.
The word matters because most Gold Partners in the old world could market themselves as "top-tier Cisco" without specifying which portfolios they had earned. Cisco 360 makes that vagueness impossible.
What Each Portfolio Designation Actually Means for a Customer
Different Preferred designations unlock different customer-side benefits. The table is the buyer's decoder.
| Portfolio | What This Preferred Designation Signals | What It Unlocks for You |
|---|---|---|
| Networking Preferred | Depth in Catalyst, Meraki, SD-WAN, wireless and campus infrastructure | Priority TAC on network incidents; access to networking-specific engineering resources; early sight of roadmap and end-of-life notifications |
| Security Preferred | Depth in Cisco Secure Firewall, ISE, Duo, Umbrella, XDR, Talos | Early Talos advisories; priority TAC on security incidents; access to Cisco security architects for design reviews |
| Collaboration Preferred | Depth in Webex Calling, Webex Contact Center, Webex Suite | Priority TAC on calling and meeting incidents; direct engineering paths for MOS and quality issues; adoption resources |
| Cloud and AI Preferred | Depth in Nexus for AI fabric, Cisco AI Defense, Hypershield, cloud networking | Access to AI-workload reference architectures; priority on GPU-fabric issues; Cisco AI product roadmap access |
| Services Preferred | Delivery capability across the Cisco stack, not just resell | Cisco engagement on managed services engagements; access to Lifecycle Advantage tooling; single accountability for the full estate |
A Penta-Preferred partner brings all five to the table at once. In practice, this matters most when an incident crosses portfolio boundaries, which is where multi-partner arrangements typically break down.
Among Indian Cisco partners, the Services Preferred designation is the least commonly held. Buyers evaluating an RFP see "Cisco partner" or "Cisco Gold (legacy)" or "Cisco Networking Preferred" and read those as equivalent for a managed services engagement. They are not.
Services Preferred is the designation that specifically indicates operational delivery, not resell. It is what tells you the partner has been assessed by Cisco on the ability to run infrastructure at scale, not just to sell it. For any managed services contract, Services Preferred is arguably the single most important designation on the partner's list.
The overlap between Services Preferred and any of the other four is the sweet spot. A partner with Networking Preferred but no Services Preferred can design your network beautifully and then hand it to a subcontractor to run. A partner with Services Preferred but no Networking Preferred can run a network competently without contributing to the design decisions. Penta-Preferred means the same operating entity does both, for the whole Cisco estate.
Cisco does not publish exact partner counts by combined designation. What is public: the five portfolio-Preferred designations are earned separately and the assessment for each is rigorous. Anecdotally, and from public partner directories, holding all five simultaneously is uncommon among Indian partners. It requires sustained delivery volume, technical depth and customer growth in every one of the five practices, judged against Cisco's Partner Value Index.
The practical implication: if a buyer wants a single-partner path to the whole Cisco portfolio, the Penta-Preferred pool in India is a short list.
Four specifics that show up during live customer engagements.
TAC escalation. Preferred-tier partners route P1 tickets into a queue Cisco maintains ahead of the general partner queue. Response times move from the standard partner clock to the priority clock.
Talos and roadmap access. Security Preferred partners receive Talos threat advisories in the early window. Networking and Cloud & AI Preferred partners see end-of-life and roadmap changes before public announcement.
Licensing flexibility. Preferred partners can adjust customer licensing and entitlements mid-contract without waiting for the next renewal window. This matters most for growth-stage customers scaling headcount or site count during a term.
Cross-portfolio incident handling. A Penta-Preferred partner can take one ticket that touches switching, firewall, calling and identity, all at once, without a subcontractor chain. This is where the "single accountable partner" claim earns its keep in practice.
Ask three things.
One. For a written statement of Cisco 360 designations held, per portfolio, dated within the last quarter. Cisco 360 assessments run continuously and status can change; a stale statement is not evidence.
Two. For the partner's Cisco Partner ID and the ability to look it up through Cisco's partner locator, which is publicly accessible.
Three. For a Cisco representative to confirm the partner's Services Preferred status directly, particularly if the contract is a managed services engagement.
An honest partner will supply all three without hesitation.
Three RFP clauses that separate serious from marketed Cisco partners.
Clause 1. Require the bidder to list all Cisco 360 Preferred designations held, per portfolio, with issuance dates and current status.
Clause 2. For managed services scope, require Services Preferred status. Weight it in the evaluation matrix.
Clause 3. Require named-personnel Cisco certifications relevant to each portfolio in scope, not just organisational status.
Any Cisco partner competing seriously on quality will meet all three cleanly. Any partner that avoids Clause 1 or Clause 2 is telling you something worth hearing.
For an RFP-ready statement of Proactive's Cisco 360 designations across all five portfolios, with issuance dates and Cisco Partner ID, write to [email protected]. Statement supplied within one working day.
Disclaimer: Cisco 360 partner designations and Partner Value Index scoring are governed by Cisco Systems, Inc. and are subject to Cisco's published programme rules and assessment cycles.
Tushar Jaiswal AGM, Managed Services, Proactive Data Systems
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