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Cisco has expanded its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA to include Supermicro rack-scale systems, integrating liquid-cooled and air-cooled infrastructure with Cisco networking, validation, and unified management. The move targets enterprise AI clusters ranging from 1,000 to over 100,000 GPUs, aligning with NVIDIA Cloud Partner Reference Architecture compliance and Cisco Validated Infrastructure Services (CVIS). Cisco will begin offering the Supermicro systems in October through its enterprise sales and channel ecosystem, with full support and lifecycle services. The reference design splits the network: frontend fabric uses Cisco N9300 Series switches with Cisco Silicon One, while backend fabric uses Cisco N9100 Series switches with NVIDIA Spectrum-X silicon. This pairing supports NVL72 builds for Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell, HGX NVL8 systems for Rubin and B300, and MGX PCIe GPU platforms. Cisco splits validated designs by scale—Enterprise Reference Architecture for clusters under 1,000 GPUs, and Cloud Reference Architecture for 1,000 to 100,000+ GPUs. Management converges on Cisco Cloud Control, planned for calendar Q4 2026, offering unified login, inventory, topology, server, power, cooling, and network management under a single Day 0-2 operating model. The platform provides an AI Canvas for troubleshooting and continuous visibility across the entire cluster. The Supermicro lineup spans MGX systems, HGX B300 NVL8 (air-cooled and liquid-cooled), HGX Rubin NVL8, Vera Rubin NVL72, and GB300 NVL72 rack-scale systems, alongside Cisco UCS X-Series modular servers. Physical hardware servicing (e.g., SSD or GPU replacement) will be handled by Supermicro. Cisco wraps its Ethernet silicon, optics, security, and observability portfolio around the hardware, offering enterprises a single-vendor accountable solution for AI cluster deployment.

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