Cisco has announced a major expansion of its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA, delivering a unified framework for deploying AI across full infrastructure—from central data centers to edge locations where data originates and real-time decisions occur. Enterprises, neoclouds, sovereign clouds, and service providers can now transition AI from pilots to production-scale operations with built-in security, simplified integration, and dramatically reduced deployment timelines.
Quick Intel
Organizations increasingly recognize AI's transformative potential but struggle with safe, scalable deployment across distributed environments. Cisco and NVIDIA address this by providing an architecture that unifies performance, operations, and security from silicon to software, supporting both massive-scale AI factories and real-time edge inferencing.
"Most organizations understand the potential for AI to transform their businesses, but they're navigating how to deploy the technology safely and at scale," said Chuck Robbins, Chair and CEO, Cisco. "In partnership with NVIDIA, we're solving that challenge with an architecture that sets a new standard for performance – making it simpler to deploy, operate, and secure AI infrastructure."
"AI factories are transforming every industry, and security must be built into every layer—from silicon to software—to protect data, applications, and infrastructure," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Together, NVIDIA and Cisco are building the secure foundation for AI infrastructure—core to edge—so companies can scale intelligence with confidence."
For edge use cases—such as real-time video analysis in factories or clinical decision support on hospital floors—the solution enables localized inference without relying solely on centralized data centers. Enterprises gain edge AI capabilities through UCS and Unified Edge enhancements, while service providers can deliver managed edge AI with carrier-grade reliability and sovereignty via the AI Grid reference design.
Performance gains come from next-generation Cisco switches powered by NVIDIA Spectrum silicon, delivering up to 102.4Tbps capacity for demanding AI workloads. Nexus Hyperfabric streamlines deployment across multi-vendor environments, transforming complex integrations into validated, full-stack solutions. Customers can select NVIDIA Cloud Partner-compliant architectures or Cisco Silicon One-based designs, both aligned for consistency.
Security remains central, with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall enforcing policies at switches, workload agents, and now NVIDIA BlueField DPUs in GPU servers—blocking threats at the server level with no performance penalty. Cisco AI Defense extends protection to AI agents through NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails and OpenShell runtimes, providing automated vulnerability testing, model security, and continuous monitoring of agent actions and tool usage to prevent rogue behavior in distributed, agentic workflows.
Industry partners and analysts have welcomed the advancements, highlighting improved scalability, operational simplicity, and the ability to overcome integration challenges while maintaining robust security for the agentic era.
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader 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. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on X at @Cisco.
TechIntelPro empowers B2B technology decision-makers with the latest industry trends, deep insights, leadership perspectives and actionable intelligence to drive both organizational and professional milestones—and thrive on the tech pulse.