Packages from Cisco and Nvidia target enterprise customers, neoclouds and sovereign cloud buildouts. Credit: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock Cisco and Nvidia are ramping up their partnership, and the latest deliverables include the new Cisco N9100 series data center switch built on Nvidia’s Spectrum-X Ethernet switch silicon. The two vendors also unveiled reference architectures to guide customer AI implementations of Cisco and Spectrum-X networks. In addition, Cisco and Nvidia continue to bolster their Secure AI Factory infrastructure to offer increased AI application protection and an AI-native wireless stack for 6G for the companies’ telecom industry partners. The switch and other enhancements are just the latest in a string of AI-centric technologies co-developed and offered by the two influential vendors. Nvidia and Cisco flex their AI and networking muscles “This partnership is a show of strength, combining Nvidia’s lead in AI compute and Cisco’s dominance in enterprise networking,” wrote R. Scott Raynovich, founder and chief technology analyst with Futuriom, in a report about the news. “The idea of combining Cisco’s enterprise networking acumen with Nvidia’s AI compute and software expertise provides an ‘easy button’ for AI adoption.” The new 51.2T Cisco N9100 series combines Cisco’s Silicon One ASICs technology and Nvidia’s Spectrum-X Ethernet silicon with the Cisco Nexus Dashboard for management. Depending on their needs, customers can choose between different network operating systems, including Cisco NX-OS or the open-source SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud). The intention is to serve a variety of customers, from the enterprise to neocloud and sovereign cloud customers, Cisco stated. Technically, the 2RU N9100 is a 64-port OSFP 800Gb Ethernet switch that offers a variety of port speeds and densities, including 400, 200, and 100Gbps Ethernet. It is powered by the Nvidia Spectrum-4 ASIC, which is designed for designed for AI, high-performance computing and cloud data center networks, where ultra-low latency, congestion control, and predictable performance are key, according to Nvidia. [ Related: More Cisco news and insights ] The new box extends Cisco Nexus 9000 Series portfolio of high-density 800G aggregation switches for the data center fabric, Cisco stated. The Nexus 9000 data center switches are a core component of the vendor’s enterprise AI offerings. They support congestion-management and flow-control algorithms and deliver the right latency and telemetry to meet the design requirements of AI/ML fabrics, Cisco stated. With the Cisco N9100 Series, Cisco now supports Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP)-compliant reference architecture. “This development is particularly significant for neocloud and sovereign cloud customers building data centers with capacities ranging from thousands to potentially hundreds of thousands of GPUs, as it allows them to diversify their supply chains effectively,” wrote Will Eatherton, senior vice president of Cisco networking engineering, in a blog post about the news. An add-on license lets customers extend the NCP reference architecture to define how customers can mix and mingle Nvidia Spectrum-X adaptive routing capability with Cisco Nexus 9300 Series switches and Nvidia Spectrum-X Ethernet SuperNICs. “The combination of low latency and congestion-aware, per-packet load balancing on Cisco 9300 switches, along with out-of-order packet handling and end-to-end congestion management on Nvidia SuperNICs, significantly enhances network performance. These improvements are essential for AI networks, optimizing critical metrics such as job completion time,” Eatherton wrote. In addition to neoclouds and sovereign buildouts, enterprise customers are a target, according to Futuriom’s Raynovich. “Cisco and Nvidia are also targeting private enterprise deployments, for businesses that want to build their own AI infrastructure instead of relying on the cloud. It’s all part of an explosion of interest in many new areas of AI networking, with the proof being recent successes by other networking companies, including Arista and Nokia,” Raynovich wrote. Cisco expands its Secure AI Factory Though exact new details are slim, Cisco also said it is expanding its Secure AI Factory platform, further integrating Nvidia’s software to enhance network observability, monitoring and cybersecurity for AI applications. Announced in March, the Cisco Secure AI Factory with Nvidia brings together Cisco security and networking technology, Nvidia DPUs, and storage options from Pure Storage, Hitachi, Vantara, NetApp, and VAST Data. The integrated reference architecture is designed help customers more easily deploy, secure and manage AI model training and inference apps, according to the vendors. “The Secure AI Factory checks the boxes for the enterprise market, with an emphasis on security. It includes integration with Nvidia AI Enterprise software to deliver robust cybersecurity for AI applications using Nvidia NeMo Guardrails,” wrote Raynovich. “The product can also be combined with Cisco AI Defense for on-premises deployment enabling security and AI teams to protect AI models and applications.” More Nvidia news: Nvidia looks to power AI factory networks Should enterprise evelopers care about Nvidia? Nvidia, Infineon partner for AI data center power overhaul Nvidia’s DGX Spark desktop supercomputer is on sale now, but hard to find Inside Nvidia’s ‘grid-to-chip’ vision: How Vera Rubin and Spectrum-XGS advanceAI giga-factories Nvidia and Fujitsu team for vertical industry AI projects Nvidia and OpenAI open $100B, 10 GW data center alliance Who wins/loses with the Intel-Nvidia union? SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe