Pure Storage, Cisco deliver AI factories with NVIDIA

Pure Storage and Cisco have announced a new FlashStack Cisco Validated Design (CVD), adding to the collection of AI PODs, a key module within the Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA. The collaboration brings together compute, storage, networking, and software in one unified, production-grade platform to help enterprises move from AI pilot projects to large-scale deployment with confidence.

“Too often, enterprises focus on GPUs and compute power, but without reliable data, the model never reaches its potential. Our collaboration with Cisco and NVIDIA removes those data barriers, giving customers the performance, simplicity, and efficiency they need to operationalise AI,” said Maciej Kranz, GM, Enterprise, Pure Storage.

According to Pure Storage, organisations have spent months running pilot AI projects and proof-of-concepts, testing large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)-powered assistants, and domain-specific AI applications. But for many enterprises, fragmented data architectures, limited visibility, and operational complexity make moving from AI pilot to production feel like an uphill battle.

“With this new FlashStack CVD, we’re not just validating hardware, we’re orchestrating all the elements of RAG into an AI-ready infrastructure, removing complexity and reducing risk so customers can focus on turning data into insights that drive strategic outcomes,” said Jeremy Foster, SVP & GM, Cisco Compute.

The Cisco and Pure Storage validated solution allows AI teams to focus on innovation instead of infrastructure management. Built on Pure Storage’s Enterprise Data Cloud architecture, the solution provides high-performance data access, concurrency, and energy efficiency through Pure Storage’s FlashBlade//S, while Portworx by Pure Storage enables persistent, portable, and protected data across Kubernetes-based AI environments. It also ensures that both structured and unstructured data are readily available to AI workflows.

The building blocks of AI workloads demand seamless integration across compute, storage, and networking. The FlashStack CVD delivers exactly that - integrating with Cisco’s Nexus 9000 series networking to deliver a low-latency, congestion-aware fabric required for high-performance AI. The CVD combines GPU-accelerated compute from Cisco, Nexus switching, NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, and Pure Storage’s high-performance unified data platform.

- Pure Storage FlashBlade//S – enterprise-level data management at scale solution

- Cisco UCS C845a servers – GPU-accelerated compute powered by NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 GPUs

- NVIDIA AI Enterprise software – a production-ready software stack for building and deploying AI at scale

Together, these technologies create the blueprint for the enterprise AI factory, an end-to-end platform that turns data into insights across use cases like RAG, agentic AI, semantic search, video analytics, and code generation.

Telemetry, adaptive routing, and per-packet load balancing ensure efficient data flow between GPUs, storage, and compute. Through the Cisco NX-OS network operating system for data centres and Nexus Dashboard, IT teams gain unified visibility and control—maintaining enterprise-grade security while supporting the demands of AI-native workloads.

Enterprises gain a production-ready path from pilot to full-scale deployment, without the complexity of stitching together separate systems. The result is performance, reliability, and governance built for data-intensive, regulated industries.

Details

The new Cisco and Pure Storage FlashStack CVD will be generally available in Q126 through channel partners including AHEAD, which has a presence in India; ePlus, which also has offices in India; SHI International, which has offices in the Asia-Pacific region, and World Wide Technology, which has a presence in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East. Customers can engage immediately through early access and solution briefings via Pure Storage, Cisco, or NVIDIA field teams.