The Cisco N9100 switch: Nvidia and WWT’s co-engineering role – News

Cisco Systems Inc. and Nvidia Corp. recently unveiled a co-developed AI infrastructure solution: the Cisco N9100 switch.

The hardware symbolizes a new phase in the race to deliver scalable, high-performance AI systems. While Cisco and Nvidia co-developed the N9100, World Wide Technology LLC plays a pivotal role as Cisco’s largest integration and ecosystem partner, helping enterprises validate, deploy and scale AI solutions in production. The collaboration underscores how closely aligned partnerships and rapid innovation are shaping the next generation of enterprise infrastructure.

“When we look at what we’re doing across AI, and we’re here talking a lot about AI stuff, it’s really across high-performance architectures,” said Mike Trojecki (pictured, left), senior director of the AI practice at WWT. “It’s some of the AI solutions and physical AI, robotics and digital twins. We work very closely with Cisco and with our customers to develop some of the coolest things on the planet right now.”

Trojecki and Will Eatherton (right), senior vice president of data center, internet and cloud infrastructure engineering at Cisco, spoke with theCUBE’s Savannah Peterson at the Nvidia GTC Washington, D.C. event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, News Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how the N9100 switch embodies the power of partnership, flexibility and ecosystem-driven design in driving next-gen AI solutions. (* Disclosure below.)

The Cisco N9100 in detail

As Cisco’s largest global partner, WWT serves as a key bridge between innovation and implementation. Through its AI Validation lab and AI Proving Ground, WWT collaborates with Cisco and Nvidia to integrate hardware, software stacks and customer-specific architectures that accelerate AI adoption. The company works closely with enterprises and neocloud providers to define use cases, pilot deployments and operationalize AI infrastructure built on Cisco-Nvidia technology.

The N9100 switch is a pivotal enabler for next-generation AI workloads. Running both Cisco’s Nexus and SONiC operating systems, it’s built on Nvidia’s Spectrum ASIC, allowing customers to tailor their infrastructure to their unique needs.

“As part of our engagement with Nvidia, this system, along with our unified computing system, is part of their Cloud Partner program,” Eatherton said. “And that is something, especially for neocloud, that some enterprises are interested in. It’s really very neocloud-focused with that GPU as a service model. And with this, they can get going but have Cisco providing the overall solution and then supporting them end to end.”

The N9100 combines Cisco’s software and networking stack with Nvidia’s high-performance silicon, providing flexibility, orchestration and scalability for AI-driven environments. The integration enables customers to deploy GPU-as-a-service models with full-stack support from Cisco, validated through WWT’s ecosystem expertise, according to Eatherton. That validation ensures AI workloads run efficiently across compute, networking and storage layers — a hallmark of Cisco and WWT’s collaborative design philosophy.

The N9100 was developed in under a year, underscoring how rapidly Cisco is moving in the AI era, according to Trojecki. It represents a new Cisco, one focused on agility, collaboration and co-creation with its ecosystem partners.

“It’s the fastest I’ve ever seen Cisco move, and I’ve been working with Cisco for 20-plus years,” Trojecki said. “The speed at which they got the AI and compute side up to speed, and what they’re doing here … it’s a whole different Cisco right now.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of News’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Nvidia GTC Washington, D.C. event:

(* Disclosure: Cisco Systems sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Cisco nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or News.)

Photo: News