Cisco Embraces Intel Innovation, Updates Server Portfolio

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Cisco has announced new server solutions supported by 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors to bring new performance and security capabilities to customers’ hybrid cloud infrastructure. Cisco and Intel, building on more than twelve years of technology innovations, continue to provide industry-leading solutions to help customers solve new challenges posed by major technology shifts, including 5G and Wi-Fi 6, artificial intelligence and machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud-first architectures.

Organizations are increasingly relying on applications to deliver outstanding digital experiences for their customers, partners and employees. In doing so, IT operations teams face increasing complexity as they expand to cover core, edge and cloud environments. Automation and observability have become essential to manage this complexity. Organizations require modern infrastructure and new operational tools to bring simplicity and scale to today’s hybrid, diverse computing environments. 

To help technology teams address increasingly complex hybrid cloud environments, Cisco today is introducing Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®) server models with the latest 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors. The new Cisco UCS B200 M6, C220 M6 and C240 M6 servers deliver the increased performance, enhanced security, and improved efficiency necessary to manage modern workloads.

The new UCS servers feature native integration with the Cisco Intersight hybrid cloud operations platform, enabling simpler management at global scale. The Cisco Intersight platform makes it easy for customers to deploy and take advantage of the latest features on 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors like Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX), Intel Total Memory Encryption (TME), Intel Speed Select Technology (SST), and the latest version of Intel Optane™ persistent memory modules (PMem). Through the Intersight platform’s policy-based management feature, customers can simply invoke their PMem memory policy upfront and can avoid the monotonous task of enabling new Intel innovations individually, drastically speeding the time to value.

"For over twelve years, Cisco and Intel have been committed to pushing the boundaries in the server market, together delivering many industry-leading innovations,” said DD Dasgupta, Vice President of Product Management for Cisco Cloud and Compute business unit.  “Today’s announcement continues this tradition, and it could not come at a more crucial time. As customers’ hybrid cloud journeys accelerate, the need for simple yet powerful solutions increases. Cisco and Intel are proud to deliver solutions that not only meet the demands of today’s workloads but provide the foundations necessary to embrace new and emerging technologies.” 

Cisco’s new UCS innovations also represent advancements for Cisco HyperFlex™ solutions and Cisco industry-leading Converged Infrastructure portfolio. With the new capabilities built into the Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Cisco solutions can now provide flexible performance for a wide range of workloads, including VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), databases, AI and machine learning, Big Data, and more. Using a wide range of cores, frequencies, features, and power consumption levels, Cisco customers can ensure they are providing the right level of performance to continuously deliver great end user experiences. 

“The collaboration between Intel and Cisco has been critical for our customers, allowing them to unlock the benefits of our processer and server innovations together,” said Lisa Spelman, Corporate VP & GM Xeon and Memory Group. “As workload demands continue to grow and evolve, flexible infrastructure that is optimized for multi-cloud, AI and serves a large variety of workloads is imperative for customers. That is why we have created a platform that delivers flexibility, bringing AI everywhere from Edge to Cloud, and we are thrilled to bring the latest 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors to market with Cisco’s new UCS servers, enabling customers to confidently take their next steps towards modernizing their infrastructures.”