Cisco Expands Partnership with NVIDIA to Accelerate AI Adoption in the Enterprise

Bringing together two of the most utilized networking portfolios, Cisco Silicon One and NVIDIA Spectrum-X, will offer enterprises unmatched flexibility and choice in AI data center investments

News Summary:

• Today, Cisco and NVIDIA announced the intent to create a cross-portfolio unified architecture to simplify building AI-ready data center networks.
• NVIDIA will enable Cisco Silicon One coupled with NVIDIA SuperNICs to become part of the NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking platform. Cisco would be the only partner silicon included in NVIDIA Spectrum-X.
• Cisco will build systems combining NVIDIA Spectrum silicon with Cisco operating system software, allowing customers to simultaneously standardize Cisco networking and NVIDIA technology in the data center.
• This proposed collaboration will open new market opportunities for Cisco by unifying the architectural model between front-end and back-end networks, making it easier to manage various enterprise and cloud provider networks.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced plans for an expanded partnership with NVIDIA to provide AI technology solutions to enterprises. Enterprises recognize that AI is essential to growth but remain early in their adoption as they navigate the unique technical complexity and security demands of operating AI-ready data centers. The expanded partnership aims to give organizations flexibility and choice as they look to meet the demand of AI workloads for high-performance, low-latency, highly power-efficient connectivity within – and between – data centers, clouds, and users.

"A robust and scalable AI ecosystem is key to driving the transformative power of AI," said Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon. "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 NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking platform based on Cisco and NVIDIA silicon will form the foundation for many enterprise AI workloads. By enabling interoperability between both companies' networking architectures, the two companies are prioritizing customers' needs for simplified, full-stack solutions. The goal of the expanded partnership is to allow customers to optimize their AI infrastructure investments with a common architecture, using their existing management tools and processes, spanning front and back-end networks.

"Enterprises are under immense pressure to deploy AI quickly and effectively, and many leaders struggle to justify the investment while balancing the risks," said Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO, Cisco. "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."

"Advancing at lightspeed, AI will revolutionize every industry," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, NVIDIA. "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."

By making it easier to integrate and standardize on both Cisco and NVIDIA technology, customers will benefit from current and future technology advancements in the NVIDIA Spectrum-X platform such as adaptive routing, telemetry, congestion control and low latency, as well as Cisco's broader networking, security, and digital resilience portfolio, including the Splunk data platform. As businesses develop AI capabilities and train models on their own data, having a comprehensive security strategy becomes crucial.

"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," said Jim Kavanaugh, Co-Founder and CEO, World Wide Technology. "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."

Cisco and NVIDIA: Accelerating AI workload adoption in the enterprise
Together, the two companies are committed to bringing new levels of innovation to accelerate the adoption of AI within enterprises. Focusing on simplifying deployment and operations, while improving workload performance and visibility, the objective of this deeper partnership is to deliver the highest performance Ethernet solutions available for AI workloads and extend NVIDIA's Spectrum-X architecture to include Cisco Silicon One, making Cisco the only partner silicon supported in Spectrum-X Ethernet solutions. In addition, the expanded partnership will help move enterprise data center Ethernet AI projects from prototype to full deployment, which would otherwise be limited to public cloud or SaaS services.  

Today, Cisco and NVIDIA are planning to develop joint solutions for customers.  

• Cisco will develop data center switches with the NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet platform. The open ecosystem approach will provide customers with more choices and flexibility. Organizations can standardize on the NVIDIA Spectrum-X networking platform with both Cisco and NVIDIA switch silicon-based architectures, bringing the industry-leading technologies from both companies under a single management fabric.
• Cisco will collaborate with NVIDIA to create and validate NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) and Enterprise Reference Architectures based on NVIDIA Spectrum-X with Cisco Silicon One, Hyperfabric, Nexus, UCS Compute, Optics, and other Cisco technologies.
• Cisco and NVIDIA are committed to collaboration and joint development, aiming to deliver the highest-performing Ethernet solutions for customers. The companies plan for continued collaboration to address significant challenges like congestion management and load balancing so that customers can scale and secure AI deployments.

For more information, read Cisco EVP and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel's perspective on the agreement.

AVAILABILITY
Cisco plans to enhance its Silicon switches to be compatible with Spectrum-X and NVIDIA's reference architectures. These updates will be available in the middle of calendar year 2025, including existing and upcoming Cisco Nexus, Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric, and Cisco UCS products. The timeline for new Cisco Spectrum switches will be announced at a later date.

ABOUT CISCO
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity and strengthen digital resilience.  With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on X at @Cisco.

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Products and features described in this release that are not currently available remain in varying stages of development and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The delivery timeline of any future products and features is subject to change at the discretion of Cisco and its partners.

CONTACT: Will Stickney, [email protected]

SOURCE Cisco Systems, Inc.