Infrastructure strategies are being pushed to a breaking point. Data is growing exponentially. Workloads are becoming more distributed. And organizations expect consistent performance regardless of where applications run. Yet many are still relying on fragmented storage architectures that were never designed for this reality.
At Cisco, this isn’t a new challenge. We’ve long focused on driving IT efficiency by breaking down silos through innovations like unified fabrics and unified communications, helping organizations simplify infrastructure and free IT teams to focus on strategic innovation rather than managing infrastructure sprawl.
That same approach now extends to data. Customers are moving toward unified platforms that can support diverse workloads across file and object, while scaling seamlessly and simplifying operations.
That’s exactly where 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 compute at scale, powered by next-generation AMD and Intel processors, enabling demanding workloads to run with consistent performance, even under peak conditions
- Flexible, high-speed storage options, including NVMe, to support low-latency, high-throughput data access
- Integrated, cloud-based management with Cisco Intersight, enabling 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 top of this foundation by adding a modern data platform that unifies and optimizes how data is stored, accessed, and managed. It enables:
- Multi-protocol access, such as NFS, SMB, and S3, supporting everything from AI pipelines, enterprise applications, and user data to backup, archival, and cloud-native workloads
- A single, scalable data solution, where data can grow seamlessly without requiring migrations or re-architecture, even when bursting to, or leveraging analytics in, the cloud
- Real-time visibility into data usage and performance, giving IT teams the insight needed to optimize capacity and proactively manage environments
- Geographically distributed teams to collaborate without delays, replication, or version conflicts across data centers, edge locations, and even the cloud, using Qumulo’s Cloud Data Fabric with intelligent AI-driven caching
- All flash-like performance using high-capacity HDD based configurations within Cisco UCS, enabling organizations to avoid rising flash costs while still delivering massive performance at a significantly lower cost than all flash systems
Together, Cisco UCS and Qumulo allow organizations to move beyond traditional storage constraints. They can consolidate file and object data onto a single platform, scale compute and storage independently, and operate their infrastructure with far greater efficiency, while maintaining the performance and reliability expected from Cisco UCS.
From Architecture to Reality: What We Validated
To move beyond architecture and into real-world validation, Cisco and Qumulo tested this solution in a production-relevant deployment.
The whitepaper focuses on deploying the Qumulo Data Platform on Cisco UCS M8 rack servers to deliver scalable, high-performance storage for modern workloads.
Here’s what was validated:
- End-to-end deployment on Cisco UCS
Qumulo was deployed on UCS C240 M8 servers, leveraging high-density compute, memory, and NVMe storage to support data-intensive environments - Scalable, high-performance architecture on Cisco infrastructure
A clustered design was deployed using Cisco UCS and Nexus networking with 200Gb connectivity, delivering low-latency, high-bandwidth performance and built-in redundancy while enabling linear scalability as demand grows
- Multi-protocol data services for enterprise workloads
The platform was tested to deliver file services over NFS and SMB, providing a flexible foundation for a wide range of application 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
The key takeaway:
This is a proven, deployable architecture.
Why This Matters for Customers
When customers adopt this solution, the impact goes beyond performance.
They can:
- Reduce total cost of ownership by consolidating file and object storage silos
- Improve utilization and collaboration with a scalable, unified, shared data platform across datacenters, edge, and cloud
- Accelerate deployments with a standardized UCS-based architecture
- Simplify operations through centralized management and real-time visibility with Cisco Intersight
Most importantly, they gain a platform that can support multiple workloads without redesigning infrastructure every time requirements change. This, in turn, enables their IT teams to refocus on innovation and business outcomes, rather than managing day-to-day infrastructure complexity.
The Bottom Line
The future of infrastructure isn’t about adding more systems, it’s about building the right platform.
Cisco UCS provides that platform.
Qumulo extends it to any data, any workload, anywhere across file and object.
Together, they enable organizations to move from fragmented environments to a unified, scalable, and efficient data architecture, ready for whatever comes next.
Explore the Full Solution
If you’re looking to see how this architecture comes together in practice, check out the full whitepaper:
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