Nvidia and Cisco collaborate to assist companies in developing internal AI computing capabilities.
In an effort to expand the reach of AI technology beyond major data-center providers, Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. have joined forces to simplify the process of constructing AI computing infrastructure for corporations.
Under the arrangement announced Tuesday, Cisco will provide Nvidia-based hardware, which is popular for developing artificial intelligence models, along with networking equipment.
For Nvidia, the partnership opens a new channel for its technology. Meanwhile, Cisco stands to benefit from the AI consumer boom that has helped make Nvidia the world’s most valuable chipmaker.
“We’re working closely with Cisco to make it even easier for businesses to acquire the infrastructure they need to take advantage of artificial intelligence, the most powerful technological force in our lives,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement.
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Cisco offers M7 server PCs powered by Nvidia’s latest processors, along with the chipmaker’s software, AI models, and development tools. It also offers its own cloud-based software and services to monitor and manage such systems.
“Consolidating our strong partnership with Nvidia equips enterprises with the technology and expertise they need to build, deploy, manage and secure AI solutions at scale,” said Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins.
The two companies made the announcement at the Cisco Live event in Amsterdam early Tuesday. It’s part of an effort to spread deployment of artificial intelligence hardware beyond its current concentration in data centers owned by Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc.
This group of so-called hyperscalers represents a potentially risky concentration of revenue for Nvidia. While demand for the company’s chips remains insatiable, these customers could eventually use more of their own technology. All of them are either working on their own chips or have already started adopting them in some way.
Cisco’s largest sales team will sell Nvidia-based servers along with its Ethernet networking equipment. Nvidia offers an option called InfiniBand in its own products. A closer relationship with Cisco gives Nvidia better access to customers who want to stick to a more widely used standard for transferring data between computers.
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