Cisco & NVIDIA join forces to boost AI data centres

Cisco and NVIDIA have announced a partnership aiming to accelerate AI adoption within enterprises by creating a unified architecture for AI-ready data centre networks.

The collaboration between the two technology firms will involve creating systems that combine NVIDIA Spectrum silicon with Cisco's operating system. This approach is designed to provide organizations with unmatched flexibility and choice in AI data centre investments.

Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA, remarked, "Advancing at lightspeed, AI will revolutionize every industry. NVIDIA Spectrum-X is Ethernet enhanced and supercharged for AI. Together with Cisco's enterprise platforms and global reach, we can help companies worldwide build state-of-the-art NVIDIA infrastructure as they race to transform with AI."

Cisco plans to incorporate NVIDIA SuperNICs as part of the NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking platform. Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon, expressed his approval of this development: "A robust and scalable AI ecosystem is key to driving the transformative power of AI. This expanded partnership between Cisco and NVIDIA, just like our Verizon AI Connect strategy and solutions, builds towards accelerating and enabling resource-intensive AI workloads at the Edge of the network."

The joint architecture aims to ease the complexity of managing enterprise and cloud provider networks by unifying the architectural model between front-end and back-end networks. This development will allow businesses to standardize their networking technology investments across Cisco and NVIDIA platforms.

Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO of Cisco, stated, "Enterprises are under immense pressure to deploy AI quickly and effectively, and many leaders struggle to justify the investment while balancing the risks. Together, Cisco and NVIDIA are partnering to remove barriers for customers and ensure they can optimize their infrastructure investments to unlock the power of AI."

The new platform is expected to support the highest performance Ethernet solutions available for AI workloads. It will extend NVIDIA's Spectrum-X architecture to include Cisco Silicon One, establishing Cisco as the only partner silicon supported in Spectrum-X Ethernet solutions.

By supporting current and future technology advancements, the partnership seeks to provide features such as adaptive routing, telemetry, congestion control, and low latency. These features will be integrated with Cisco's existing portfolio, including the Splunk data platform, to enhance security and digital resilience for enterprises adopting AI solutions.

Jim Kavanaugh, Co-Founder and CEO of World Wide Technology, commented on the impact of the announcement: "World Wide Technology's long-standing partnerships with Cisco and NVIDIA has already resulted in cutting-edge AI solutions that drive innovation and business transformation. By leveraging the strengths of Cisco's deep expertise in the data center and NVIDIA's advanced AI technologies, we are poised to deliver unparalleled value to our customers and help them navigate the complexities of AI adoption with confidence."

The companies plan further collaboration to tackle significant challenges like congestion management and load balancing, helping customers scale and secure AI deployments. Cisco will develop data centre switches using the NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet platform, offering an open ecosystem providing more choice and flexibility to enterprises.

Details regarding the enhanced capabilities of Cisco Silicon switches with compatibility to Spectrum-X and NVIDIA's reference architectures are expected to be available by mid-2025. However, the timeline for the introduction of new Cisco Spectrum switches will be announced at a later date.