Infrastructure strategies are being pushed to the breaking point. Data is growing exponentially. The workload is increasingly distributed. And organizations expect consistent performance regardless of where the application runs. Yet many still rely on fragmented storage architectures that were never designed for this reality.
This is not a new challenge at Cisco. We’ve long focused on increasing IT efficiency by breaking down silos through innovations like unified structures and unified communications, helping organizations simplify infrastructure and freeing IT teams to focus on strategic innovation rather than managing infrastructure sprawl.
The same approach now extends to data. Customers are moving toward unified platforms that can support diverse workloads across files and objects while seamlessly scaling and simplifying operations.
This is exactly where the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS®) combined with Qumulo delivers value.
Better Together: Cisco UCS and Qumulo
Cisco UCS rack servers provide the foundation for modern, data-intensive environments, bringing together compute, storage and networking into a cohesive, high-performance platform.
With the latest Cisco UCS M8 rack servers, organizations benefit from:
- High performance computing at scalepowered by next-generation AMD and Intel processors to run demanding workloads with consistent performance, even in peak conditions
- Flexible, high-speed storage optionsincluding NVMe, to support low-latency, high-throughput data access
- Integrated cloud management with Cisco Intersightenabling policy-driven automation, consistent configuration, and simplified lifecycle management across environments
This creates a robust and scalable infrastructure layer that is purpose-built for modern workloads.
Qumulo builds on this foundation by adding a modern data platform that unifies and optimizes the way data is stored, accessed and managed. Allows:
- multiprotocol access, such as NFS, SMB and S3, supporting everything from AI pipelines, enterprise applications and user data to backup, archiving and cloud-native workloads
- A single, scalable data solutionwhere data can grow seamlessly without the need for migration or re-architecture, even during outages or using cloud analytics
- Real-time overview of data usage and performanceproviding IT teams with the insight needed to optimize capacity and proactively manage their environment
- Geographically distributed teams to collaborate no lag, replication or version conflicts across data centers, edge locations and even the cloud with Qumulo Cloud Data Fabric with intelligent AI-driven caching
- Lightning-like performance using high-capacity hard disk-based configurations within Cisco UCS that allow organizations to avoid the rising costs of flash while still delivering massive performance at a significantly lower cost than all-flash systems
Together, Cisco UCS and Qumulo enable organizations to overcome traditional storage limitations. They can consolidate file and object data onto a single platform, independently scale compute and storage, and run their infrastructure with much greater efficiency while maintaining the performance and reliability expected from Cisco UCS.
From architecture to reality: What we verified
Cisco and Qumulo tested this solution in production-relevant deployments to move beyond architecture and into real-world verification.
The paper focuses on deploying the Qumulo data platform on Cisco UCS M8 rack servers to provide scalable, high-performance storage for modern workloads.
Here’s what was verified:
- End-to-end deployment on Cisco UCS
Qumulo was deployed on UCS C240mo. - Scalable, high-performance architecture on Cisco infrastructure
The cluster design was deployed using Cisco UCS and Nexus networks with 200Gb connectivity, providing low latency, high-bandwidth performance and built-in redundancy while enabling linear scalability as demand increases.
- Multi-protocol data services for enterprise workloads
The platform has been tested to provide file services over NFS and SMB and provides a flexible foundation for a wide range of applications and data access requirements.
- Centralized policy-driven operations with Cisco Intersight
Infrastructure lifecycle management, provisioning and configuration were managed through Cisco Intersight, demonstrating simplified, consistent and scalable operations across the environment.
Key Takeaways:
This is a proven, deployable architecture.
Why it matters to customers
When customers adopt this solution, the impact goes beyond performance.
They can:
- Reduce total cost of ownership by consolidating file and object storage powers
- Improve utilization and collaboration with a scalable, unified, shared data platform across data centers, edge and cloud
- Accelerate deployment with a standardized architecture based on UCS
- Simplify operations through centralized management and real-time visibility with Cisco Intersight
Most importantly, they get a platform that can support multiple workloads without rebuilding the infrastructure every time requirements change. This in turn enables their IT teams refocus on innovation and business outcomes rather than managing the day-to-day complexity of infrastructure.
Bottom line
The future of infrastructure is not about adding more systems, but about building the right platform.
Cisco UCS provides this platform.
Qumulo extends it to any data, any workload, anywhere in the file and object.
Together, they enable organizations to move from fragmented environments to a unified, scalable and efficient data architectureready for whatever comes next.
Explore the full solution
If you want to see how this architecture comes together in practice, check out the full whitepaper:
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