Cisco Bucks AI Cloud Trend: On-Premise Infrastructure Gains Ground

Cisco Systems Inc., the networking giant, is challenging the long-held assumption that artificial intelligence (AI) workloads will increasingly reside inside hyperscale cloud platforms. According to Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO of Cisco, on-premise AI infrastructure will become an important option for enterprise customers as they look to optimize both the business value and cost of AI.

The company believes that enterprises are looking more closely at where AI workloads should run to balance cost, performance, and security. This shift is being driven by economics rather than just technology. As Robbins explained, 'Enterprises need GPU clusters on premise and at the edge with low-latency, high-bandwidth networking and built-in security, observability and automation.'

Cisco sees an opportunity regardless of where AI runs, whether in the public cloud, through neo or sovereign clouds, on-premise, or at the edge. The company believes it will benefit from its unmatched depth and breadth of portfolio and expertise in each scenario.