- Cisco introduced the Unified Edge platform, a remotely managed edge chassis that consolidates compute, networking, storage and security
- It's designed to simplify edge AI deployments and streamline lifecycle management
- The product positions telcos and service providers to scale AI-as-a-Service offerings and monetize edge workloads more efficiently.
CISCO PARTNER SUMMIT, SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Cisco is angling to provide the bricks to help telcos build their AI-as-a-Service business with the introduction of its Unified Edge platform this week.
OpenAI burst onto the world stage almost exactly three years ago, noted Kevin Wollenweber, Cisco SVP/GM of Data Center and Internet Infrastructure, in an interview with Fierce Network. (ChatGPT went public Nov. 30, 2022). Since then, the AI market has evolved, with companies like OpenAI building large models, and users tuning the models with specific data and deploying inference at the edge.
"Today, we think of AI as something that lives inside the data center. But we see this pushing outside the walls of data centers and into customer networks, as we see more agentic workflows, and as we move more and more toward physical AI and smaller, more efficient models that are used for particular purposes, " Wollenweber said.
"That's the edge. The new center of gravity for AI," said Jeremy Foster, Cisco Compute senior vice president and general manager, in a blog.
Cisco's new Unified Edge platform, announced Monday, is designed to make it easier for enterprises and communication service providers to deploy compute at edge locations, such as branch sites, hospitals, manufacturing floors and similar places. The unit, which can be ordered now and will ship next month, comprises consolidated compute, networking and security, including Cisco SASE and firewall, with GPUs and other technology to come, in a single chassis.
Compute, storage and networking at the edge are currently deployed as separate entities. "They're connected by a mess of cables and different operations and management tools," Wollenweber said. "We're bringing them to a composable device, where we can add heavy GPU if we want that."
Importantly, Unified Edge uses Cisco's Intersight cloud-based remote management-as-a-service to allow service providers to centrally manage units over wide geographic areas.
For onboarding, the user scans a QR code on the Unified Edge chassis, using their phone. Components are deployed on "sleds" — Cisco-speak for cards or blades — that are onboarded when they're plugged into the chassis. "The goal is to create simple, easy-to-use IT infrastructure that you can deploy anywhere in the world," Wollenweber said.
He added, "If you think about the example of a large coffee shop chain, the baristas working in the front are not going to be the ones managing the IT stack that sits in the back. And so the opportunity to have SaaS-based remote management of networking, compute and everything else makes it much simpler to deploy this at scale with the same tools and technology that they would deploy their data center fleet."
What's the telco opportunity?
For telcos such as Verizon - an early field trial customer for the Unified Edge platform - the opportunity is to grow their business as managed service providers, deploying the devices for enterprise customers and managing them using SaaS-based tools. "It gives them the opportunity to deploy faster, deploy easier, and have better visibility and telemetry across their entire network ecosystem," Wollenweber said.
Unified Edge can be deployed either on customer premises or at the edge of the telco network.
HyperFrame Research analyst Ron Westfall said, "Unified Edge can better position Cisco as the trusted advisor that can meet the full stack requirements that many organizations will be looking to implement."
By combining security, networking and storage, Unified Edge reduces the risk of disruption and fragmentation. Integrated security is particularly important to Cisco's appeal. Unified Edge sharpens Cisco's portfolio against the likes of Hewlett Packard Enterprise/Juniper Networks and Arista, Westfall said.