Pure Storage and Cisco have announced a new FlashStack Cisco Validated Design (CVD), expanding the Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA. The collaboration combines compute, storage, networking, and software into a single platform designed to help enterprises move from artificial intelligence (AI) pilots to full-scale deployment with greater confidence.
Maciej Kranz, General Manager for Enterprise at Pure Storage, said: “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.”
Addressing the data challenge in AI deployment
As enterprises progress beyond pilot projects and proof-of-concepts, many are discovering that AI success depends not only on model design but also on data readiness. Fragmented architectures, limited visibility, and operational complexity often delay deployment and reduce scalability.
The new Cisco and Pure Storage validated solution aims to address these bottlenecks by ensuring that both structured and unstructured data are accessible and optimised for AI workflows. Built on Pure Storage’s Enterprise Data Cloud architecture, it leverages FlashBlade//S for high-performance data access, concurrency, and energy efficiency. Portworx by Pure Storage supports persistent and portable data management across Kubernetes-based AI environments.
This approach enables AI teams to prioritise innovation and insights instead of managing infrastructure, helping enterprises accelerate the shift from experimentation to production.
A unified blueprint for enterprise AI
At the heart of the collaboration lies a shared objective: to simplify the transition from experimental AI projects to large-scale, reliable deployments. The integrated platform combines Pure Storage’s FlashBlade//S for scalable data management, Cisco UCS C845a servers with NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 GPUs for accelerated compute, and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software for production-grade model development.
Together, these technologies form the blueprint for what the companies describe as an “enterprise AI factory”. This end-to-end infrastructure supports a wide range of use cases, from retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and semantic search to video analytics, code generation, and agentic AI applications.
Jeremy Foster, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Compute, said: “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.”
Enabling scalable, data-driven transformation
The FlashStack CVD builds on an established base of more than 5,000 FlashStack customers, combining GPU-accelerated compute, Cisco Nexus switching, NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, and Pure Storage’s unified data platform. The result is a production-ready solution designed for performance, reliability, and governance in data-intensive industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Cisco’s Nexus 9000 series networking plays a key role in enabling high-speed, low-latency connectivity for AI workloads. Features like telemetry, adaptive routing, and per-packet load balancing ensure efficient communication between GPUs, storage, and compute layers. With Cisco NX-OS and Nexus Dashboard, IT teams can maintain unified visibility and control while ensuring enterprise-grade security across AI-native environments.
The new Cisco and Pure Storage FlashStack CVD is expected to become generally available in the first quarter of 2026 through channel partners such as AHEAD, ePlus, SHI International, and World Wide Technology.
