Cisco says it already offers “the broadest XDR functionality available” via its SecureX platform, with the ability to tie together data from its wide array of first-party security tools spanning network, endpoint, cloud, applications and email. That puts Cisco on the short list of vendors that is capable of delivering a true “native” XDR platform — which experts say can have advantages, since an XDR vendor using native tools deeply understands all of the environments and telemetry that’s being utilized. SecureX also can leverage feeds from numerous third-party tools and analyze that data alongside feeds from its own products, according to the company.

There’s more to come on Cisco’s approach to XDR, too, as the company begins rolling out its unified platform for modern cybersecurity, the Cisco Security Cloud. Tom Gillis (pictured), senior vice president and general manager of the Cisco Security Business Group, said that XDR will be a focus for the company at the RSA Conference in April. Cisco’s approach to XDR brings “the ability to span all these domains and tie it together,” Gillis noted — something that is especially powerful for a vendor that covers so many different areas in security. “I think there are few if any companies in the world that have the breadth of offering in security” that Cisco has, he said.