In our top story of the week, reporter Emma Chervek talked with Cisco VP Thomas Scheibe, who leads data center networking product management, about artificial intelligence and how it's helping enterprises finally unlock the value of their data.

Our second-most-popular story takes readers behind the scenes (or, behind the firewalls) at Palo Alto's security operations center, where just 10 analysts run the show.

This week was also full of news from space, the White House, and the cloud. Here's this week's top 5 stories as chosen by our readers.

1. Cisco explains why AI networking and Ethernet fabric are a perfect match

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) were unsurprising topics of popularity at Cisco's annual sales kickoff, in terms of how those technologies will impact both the industry at large and Cisco’s networking business. While AI has existed in some form since the 1960s, its current iterations are finally able to change the definition of what is possible in terms of unlocking the value of data, Cisco VP Thomas Scheibe, who leads data center networking product management, told SDxCentral.

2. Behind the firewalls: A day in the life of a Palo Alto Networks SOC analyst

Palo Alto Networks’ internal security operations center (SOC) ingests more than 36 billion events and 75 terabytes of data per day, yet it’s run by only 10 analysts. The company’s SOC Operations Specialist Devin Johnstone explained their “30/30/30” working model and how they leverage new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cybersecurity technologies to handle the workloads of about 16 analysts for them.

3. Amazon, SpaceX extend reach with Vodafone, KDDI satellite deals

Amazon and Starlink’s SpaceX extended the reach of their satellite systems with U.K.-based operator Vodafone signing a deal to link with the former and Japan-based operator KDDI linking with the latter. The moves bolster attempts by operators to extend the physical reach of their 4G LTE and 5G networks.

4. New SEC cybersecurity disclosure rules: How enterprises can prepare

Effective September 5, public companies are beholden to new cybersecurity disclosure rules that will fundamentally alter the way they manage, remediate and disclose incidents.

Notably, these fresh requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) require enterprises to disclose “material” incidents within four business days.

Not surprisingly, organizations of all sizes have many questions — from whether they have the right protocols and reporting channels in place, to whether they have the basics of cybersecurity down — while they also point to the vagary of the term “material” and express trepidation about the four-day turnaround.

5. IBM boosts data protection across hybrid cloud, multicloud environments

IBM is rolling out new capabilities for its Cloud Security and Compliance Center platform in an effort to help enterprises secure and protect sensitive data across hybrid multicloud environments.

The enhanced offering provides advanced security and compliance capabilities to address the challenges organizations face as they increasingly adopt hybrid cloud approaches. New capabilities include the IBM Cloud Security and Compliance Center Data Security Broker, developed in partnership with Baffle, that provides layers of encryption and anonymization technology to protect sensitive data used in business applications and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.