Earlier in this blog series, we explored the unique benefits arising from the Cisco and Nutanix partnership, as well as some of the collaborative engineering efforts between our two companies.
Introducing our latest innovation: the groundbreaking Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System, in collaboration with Nutanix – the industry’s first Nutanix HCI solution to leverage a modular blade architecture. Designed to streamline IT infrastructure and operations, this solution addresses the rapidly evolving demands of the industry, including the proliferation of innovative applications like generative AI and the growing importance of edge computing.
By integrating the Nutanix Cloud Platform’s ease of use with the Cisco UCS X-Series’ adaptability and efficiency, this hyperconverged solution seamlessly combines the benefits of both worlds. Organizations can now effortlessly deploy, scale, and optimize their hyperconverged clusters, enabling them to build a more sustainable and future-proof IT infrastructure that meets evolving demands.
Our solution also includes a Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series option, which is ideal for remote branches, regional offices, and small to medium-sized data center use cases. The Cisco UCS X-Series Direct converts the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System into a self-contained unit, featuring two integrated fabric interconnects and up to eight server nodes.
As a pioneering innovation, the UCS X-Collection has not only redefined but also set new benchmarks for the development of blade computing architectures since its inception. The UCS X-Collection enables a highly modular, fabric-based approach that decouples compute, storage, and input/output resources into discrete modules, thereby allowing for independent scaling and upgradeability of each component. By leveraging this solution, organizations can achieve optimal resource allocation and avoid the need to overspend on hyperconverged infrastructure, thereby ensuring a more efficient use of their resources.
The UCS X-Collections are engineered with a focus on securing investments and driving innovation to support emerging technologies and trends. By adopting a modular approach, we simplify future expansions and upgrades, ensuring that our prospects’ investments in these platforms remain secure and viable over the next decade and beyond, as their business and technological needs continue to evolve. The Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System leverages GPU acceleration via the UCS X-Series Gen4 PCIe module, enabling versatility across various workloads such as artificial intelligence, virtual desktop infrastructure, and high-performance computing, as well as a broad spectrum of general-purpose computing applications.
To streamline administration, a combined approach utilizing Cisco Intersight and Nutanix Prism Central enables seamless deployment and management of a hyperconverged environment. Engineers have successfully integrated these instruments into our system through APIs, creating a unified cloud-based infrastructure. Deployments are seamlessly orchestrated by Nutanix Prism Central, leveraging Cisco Intersight’s policy-based framework to streamline the setup of hyperconverged clusters in any location, thereby enabling a consistent and cookie-cutter design approach.
The proliferation of digital transformation initiatives, coupled with the exponential growth of data-driven applications, has created a perfect storm for redefining hyperconvergence infrastructure. As organizations endeavor to harness the power of AI and machine learning, their IT architectures must evolve to accommodate the demands of these sophisticated workloads.
Cisco’s Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System enables seamless scalability, streamlining operations with unified visibility, management, and automation, thus reducing complexity and administrative burdens for end-users. This provision allows for specific usage scenarios, including:
On this joint cloud-operating framework, Cisco Intersight orchestrates, governs, and visualizes the physical infrastructure, while Nutanix Prism Central oversees the hyperconverged environment. All deployments are orchestrated by Nutanix Prism Central, leveraging Cisco Intersight’s policy-based framework to ensure the reliable and repeatable setup of hyperconverged clusters at any location. Simplifying the fundamental operations within the hyperconverged infrastructure environment, this eliminates the need for in-depth IT knowledge. As soon as the chassis is racking and cabled, automated processes streamline bare-metal firmware and system setup for rapid, accurate deployment.
Once an X-Collection cluster is established, scaling becomes straightforward, involving a simple process of adding nodes to the existing infrastructure. By deploying UCS X-Collection Direct, you can essentially create an eight-node cluster in a single chassis, allowing for centralized processing and improved efficiency while minimizing the need for additional network infrastructure and reducing costs. The NVIDIA GPU acceleration capability enables the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series system to seamlessly host a wide range of applications, from traditional enterprise solutions such as VDI and SQL, to advanced AI workloads, all on a single, unified platform.
We’ve deliberately crafted this response with sustainability at its core. The innovative design incorporates energy-efficient components and a modular framework, potentially reducing waste through intelligent construction. By transitioning to the UCS X-Series portfolio, organizations can achieve substantial decreases in energy and cooling expenditures, as well as reduced cabling complexity, compared to traditional rack servers – benefits that become increasingly pronounced across multiple hardware refresh cycles.
This may also contribute to helping enterprises reduce their carbon footprint and achieve their sustainability goals, as recognized by both the and the. We proudly highlight our commitment to crafting innovative solutions that minimize the environmental footprint of our products and services, ultimately supporting a more sustainable future for data centers.
Most notably, our technology allows us to achieve outstanding performance without sacrificing efficiency, effectively handling even the most challenging workloads seamlessly. This solution supports the latest 4th and 5th generation Intel Xeon scalable processors, as well as advanced features for dual in-line memory module (DIMM) DDR5 memory, enabling faster data transfer rates and increased bandwidth. The UCS X-Collection’s high-density native storage capabilities enable seamless deployment of the Nutanix Cloud Platform, encompassing AOS storage stack, AHV hypervisor, and NCM supervisor for streamlined self-service, granular chargeback, automated operations, and enhanced services. This innovation delivers a streamlined, high-performance human-computer interface solution specifically designed to meet the unique demands of dense, power-efficient blade environments.
We are thrilled to introduce the availability of Nutanix software, optimized for X-Series with Intersight’s managed mode capabilities. Visit our website for further details.
Share:
