In the previous blogs in this series, we covered the unique vision and strategy behind the Cisco and Nutanix partnership and some key results of the co-engineering efforts behind our two companies. In this blog, I'll highlight our latest innovation: the new Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System with Nutanix, the industry's first Nutanix HCI solution to use a modular blade architecture. It's engineered to simplify IT infrastructure and operations to tackle the fast-changing requirements of IT, including the emergence of new apps like generative AI and the growing importance of computing at the edge.

This hyperconverged solution brings together the best of both worlds: the operational simplicity of the Nutanix Cloud Platform and the flexibility and efficiency of the Cisco UCS X-Series Modular System. Now, organizations can deploy, scale, and upgrade their hyperconverged clusters with ease-all while building a more sustainable and future-ready IT infrastructure. We also offer a Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series Direct option that's perfect for remote branches, regional offices, and small-to-medium data center use cases. Cisco UCS X-Series Direct transforms the?Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System?into a self-contained system with a pair of integrated fabric interconnects and up to eight server nodes.

Since its introduction, the UCS X-Series has redefined and established new standards for blade computing architectures. UCS X-Series enables a highly modular, fabric-based approach that separates compute, storage, and input/output resources into modular units, allowing independent scaling and upgrades of each component. This ensures optimal resource utilization and eliminates the need to overprovision for hyperconverged infrastructure.

The UCS X-Series is designed with a focus on investment protection and innovation to accommodate next-gen and next-trend capabilities. The modular architecture simplifies expansion and upgrades, protecting our customers' investment into these platforms for the next decade and beyond-even as their own business and technology needs evolve. The Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System supports GPU acceleration using the UCS X-series Gen4 PCIe module, making it adaptable to diverse workloads such as artificial intelligence, virtual desktop infrastructure, and high-performance computing, as well as a variety of general-purpose computing use cases.

In terms of management, the solution uses both Cisco Intersight and Nutanix Prism Central to deploy and manage a hyperconverged environment. Our engineers have integrated these tools through APIs, establishing a joint cloud-operating model. Deployment is orchestrated by Nutanix Prism Central using Cisco Intersight policies, so you can deploy hyperconverged clusters in any location with cookie-cutter design.

Use cases that redefine hyperconverged infrastructure

Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System customers benefit from capabilities like unified visibility, control, and automation, simplifying deployment and management. This enables key use cases, including:

Zero-touch deployment:In this joint cloud-operating model, Cisco Intersight deploys, manages, and monitors the physical infrastructure while Nutanix Prism Central manages the hyperconverged environment. The entire deployment is orchestrated by Nutanix Prism Central using Cisco Intersight policies to allow the deployment of hyperconverged clusters in any location with cookie-cutter repeatability. This simplifies the overall operations of the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) environment and reduces the need for specialized IT skills. Once the chassis is racked and connected to the network, bare-metal firmware and operating system installation are part of automated processes for fast and accurate deployment.

Effortless scaling and GPU acceleration:Once an X-Series cluster is in place, scaling is as simple as inserting nodes into the chassis. With UCS X-Series Direct, it's like having an eight-node cluster in a box, with east-west network traffic concentrated within the chassis, improving performance and reducing the need for additional network infrastructure. NVIDIA GPU support allows the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System to host traditional enterprise apps such as VDI and SQL, as well as AI workloads, on the same platform.

Designed for more sustainable and efficient operations:We've designed this solution with sustainability in mind. It features energy-efficient components and a modular architecture that can reduce waste. Migrating to the UCS X-Series can result in significant reductions in power and cooling costs and cabling compared to traditional rack servers-especially over multiple generations.

This can help enterprises reduce their carbon footprint and meet their sustainability goals, as recognized by the SEAL Sustainable Product award and the Silverlinings Best Cloud Sustainability Initiative award. These distinctions highlight our commitment to designing and building products that reduce environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable future for data centers.

Uncompromising performance:Perhaps most importantly, we achieve all of this without compromising performance, even for the most demanding workloads. This includes support for the latest 4th and 5th Gen Intel? Xeon? scalable processors and support for double data rate 5 (DDR5) memory, which provides faster data transfer rates and increased bandwidth. Additionally, the high-density local storage capabilities of the UCS X-Series enable customers to fully deploy the Nutanix Cloud Platform-comprising the Acropolis Operating System (AOS) storage stack, Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV), and Nutanix Cloud Manager (NCM) for self-service operations, chargeback, automation, and other services. This innovation offers a simplified, high-performance HCI solution that is tailor-made for the density and compute power of blade environments.

Availability information and more

We are excited to announce the availability of the Nutanix software supporting X-Series with Intersight Managed Mode. For more details, please visit:

• At-a-glance: Cisco Compute Hyperconverged X-Series System with Nutanix
• Solution page: Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with Nutanix
• Data sheet: HCI-X product specification

Learn more about Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with Nutanix