NetApp and Cisco are collaborating on new FlexPod solutions that support organizations with fast, secure, and simplified AI deployments. The solutions combine validated architectures, centralized management, and built-in security for diverse AI workloads, from enterprise to edge.
NetApp and Cisco are expanding their existing FlexPod partnership with new solutions focused on the challenges of AI workloads. The companies are combining their expertise in data infrastructure, networking, and storage to help organizations adopt AI faster while mitigating operational risks. Through this approach, companies can manage their infrastructure more efficiently and benefit from up to twenty percent time savings on management and maintenance, according to NetApp.
The new FlexPod architectures are pre-tested and validated, making them suitable for organizations of various sizes and maturity levels. They provide enterprise-level data management and support enterprise AI deployments, AI inferencing, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows, and edge computing.
Validated architectures for enterprise AI
With the new FlexPod architecture, companies can quickly deploy high-performance infrastructure for AI applications such as RAG and semantic search solutions. The solution includes decoupled storage via NetApp AFX, allowing performance and capacity to scale independently. The integration of the NetApp AI Data Engine (AIDE) provides data discovery, preparation, and governance, and aligns with the Nvidia AI Data Platform reference design.
Through Cisco Secure AI Factory with Nvidia, the solution offers distributed security and zero-trust controls across the entire AI pipeline. The Cisco Nexus One network infrastructure forms a high-performance fabric, ensuring computing power is optimized and predictable AI results are possible. FlexPod solutions based on Nvidia Enterprise Reference Architectures aim to provide a full-stack approach for large-scale AI factories.