Unveiling the Future of Hyperconverged Infrastructure: Cisco HCI with Nutanix

The power duo of Cisco and Nutanix for HCI and AI

In the rapidly evolving landscape of data-center and edge infrastructure, the Cisco–Nutanix partnership stands out as a future-proof foundation for modern workloads. Cisco Compute Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) — combining UCS servers and Fabric Interconnects with Nutanix's software stack — delivers a turnkey platform that scales from core data centers to remote edge sites. Full-stack lifecycle control now lives in Cisco Intersight, either Intersight Managed Mode (IMM) with FIs or Intersight Stand-alone Mode (ISM) for smaller clusters, eliminating UCS Manager for new builds and unifying policy, telemetry and SaaS-delivered upgrades.

Cisco + Nutanix: Partnership differentiators

Some of the partnership differentiators between Cisco and Nutanix go far beyond surface-level integration. Cisco engineered native, first-party connections between Intersight and Nutanix Life-Cycle Manager (LCM), enabling true Day 0 support for one-click upgrades — unlike legacy HyperFlex deployments that often faced 60-day qualification delays. On the commercial side, every Nutanix software tier is quotable directly in Cisco CCW as a single SKU, bundled with Cisco Capital financing options and enterprise agreements. This unified model simplifies procurement, speeds up deal cycles, and reduces operational complexity for customers and partners alike.

That same level of integration extends to support and deployment. Cisco and Nutanix offer e-bonded global support, where TAC teams on both sides share case notes, logs and diagnostics in real time. Cases are instantly routed to the appropriate team — hardware to Cisco, software to Nutanix — eliminating hand-offs, repeated troubleshooting or finger-pointing. Deployment is just as streamlined: Thanks to deep Intersight integration, clusters can be brought online remotely without relying on Nutanix Foundation Central's complex DHCP setup. Aside from physical racking and cabling, the entire process can be executed remotely — ideal for multi-site, global-scale rollouts.

Blade-first innovation: UCSX as the only blade-based Nutanix HCI

A major game-changer in HCI architecture, Cisco's UCS X-Series (UCSX) Modular Blade System is the only blade server that supports Nutanix HCI today. Featuring a mid-plane-free design and embedded fabric, UCSX combines high-density compute and storage with Intersight-managed automation. Unlike conventional blade chassis, UCSX delivers true hyperconvergence directly inside the blade enclosure — no other vendor matches this level of integration. By integrating x210c blades with all-NVMe storage, customers benefit from simplified cabling, sustainable design and blade-grade performance in a converged form factor ideal for dense, energy-conscious deployments.

A full apectrum of GPU-enabled C‑Series for AI

AI drives the next generation of enterprise infrastructure, and Cisco's UCSX-Series modular blade platform is engineered to deliver on that promise, especially in hyperconverged environments with Nutanix. Unlike traditional rack-mount deployments, UCSX enables high-density compute and storage within a single chassis, supporting mixed workloads —general-purpose, GPU-accelerated AI, and even bare-metal — side by side. Each X210c blade in the M8 generation supports up to nine NVMe E3.S drives (up to 130 TB raw per node) and optional GPU acceleration, allowing customers to deploy inferencing or model training workloads alongside VMs, VDI, or Kubernetes nodes within the same Nutanix cluster.

For organizations requiring rack-mount flexibility, Cisco's UCS C225 M8 and C245 M8 deliver AMD-powered AI inferencing and analytics in 1U and 2U form factors, while the C220 and C240 M7 remain viable for storage-rich or general-purpose compute. However, the UCSX-Series stands apart for customers looking to consolidate and simplify operations under a converged, Intersight-managed stack.

All supported configurations integrate seamlessly into Prism Central and Intersight for unified management, policy-driven automation, and Day-N lifecycle operations across edge, core, and AI domains.

To simplify enterprise deployment of generative AI, Cisco and Nutanix jointly developed the GPT-in-a-Box Cisco Validated Design (CVD). The reference architecture combines Cisco C240 M7 all-NVMe servers equipped with dual NVIDIA L40S GPUs, Nutanix AOS and Prism Central, and Nutanix GPT-in-a-Box software running on AHV. Managed via Intersight—either IMM or ISM—the solution delivers prescriptive Day‑0 workflows, unified storage services, Kubernetes orchestration (via NKE), and secure inference endpoints (via Nutanix Enterprise AI). It targets retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and LLM workloads using popular model frameworks, while preserving on-premises data sovereignty, enterprise-grade resilience and scale. 

Updated for 2025, GPT-in-a-Box 2.0 adds NVIDIA NIM microservices, integration with Hugging Face, dark-site support, and a graphical LLMOps interface for model API lifecycle management. Whether deployed in the data center or edge, GPT-in-a-Box offers a predictable, secure pathway to operationalize generative AI.

Unified lifecycle management (LCM) with Intersight

Cisco has streamlined operations by eliminating UCS Manager (UCSM) from future adoption, IMM or ISM only. In IMM mode, Intersight manages fabric policy, lifecycle, monitoring and telemetry; ISC provides full-stack clustering, node visibility and proactive TAC-triggers for hardware issues. ISM handles edge or HCI that connects directly via CIMC and ToR switches, supporting clusters as small as one node and scaling to production-ready environments with full functionality. Both integrate Prism Central metrics into Intersight for a unified dashboard and smooth firmware/patch orchestration. The result: consistent, reliable operations across heterogeneous infrastructure and geography, with no legacy interfaces obstructing modernization.

Validation, incentives, and commercial simplicity

What sets Cisco + Nutanix apart is field-proven deployment readiness. Systems are available today in WWT's Advanced Technology Center (ATC), where customers can test performance, thermal profiles and cluster configurations for AI, VDI or general-purpose workloads before committing to scale. In addition to GPT-in-a-Box, Cisco offers validated solution bundles and discounted pricing paths through programs like Go‑In (bundle savings up to 70 percent off list price) and Refuse-to-Lose incentives (e.g., "Buy 2, Get 2 Free" on UCS X-Series bundles). These programs include Nutanix software, chassis, fabric interconnects and optional GPU nodes — all under a single build and support contract.

On the service side, Cisco TAC acts as a single point of support for both hardware and software issues. Cases are escalated and handed off behind the scenes to Nutanix engineering without burdening the customer. For AI deployments, this simplifies operations and lowers risk.

One platform from edge to AI core

What began as an OEM offering has evolved into a tightly integrated, cloud-operable infrastructure platform. With Cisco's UCSX blade innovation, comprehensive GPU-enabled server portfolio, GPT-in-a-Box automation and Intersight-first management model, the partnership with Nutanix delivers a locked-in future path for HCI and AI. 

Whether running inference at the edge, deploying GPU-dense AI racks or building generative AI pipelines on campus, this unified stack offers simplicity, scale and operational consistency — exactly what modern enterprises demand in a converged and AI-accelerated world.