Cisco launches the new Cisco UCS X-Series

With the new launch, Cisco has joined the race to dominate the hybrid cloud space.

This week Cisco launched what it calls the Cisco UCS X-Series. This new HCI platform represents an overhaul of its hyperconverged system designed for hybrid cloud deployments. Cisco announced the UCS X-Series along with several other innovations at Cisco’s Future Cloud.

The reformulation of the UCS puts Cisco in a very competitive field trying to dominate the hybrid cloud space. Dell, HPE and IBM are all competing to deliver solutions that bridge data centers, clouds and edge compute.

Kaustubh Das, is VP and General Manager for Cisco’s Cloud and Compute business, explained UCS in a blog post. He starts by explaining that building the same platform experience on-prem that exists in the public cloud is difficult. “Simply put, very few organizations have the tens of thousands of engineering resources it takes to make it happen,” he says. “All those engineers convert the acres of sheet metal, miles of wiring, and pallets of processors, memory, storage, and other componentry into consumable services.”

UCS X-Series is forward looking and future-proof, claims Cisco

“The UCS X-Series is the first x86 system exclusively designed for the age of hybrid cloud,” Das says. Moreover, he says the UCS X-Series is also ready for “the coming decade of industry innovation in computing.” The X-Series can handle operations from the cloud and across the clouds. This helps businesses improve operational efficiency, agility and scale with workload balance and versatility, he adds.  

UCS X-Series can be assembled from the cloud. It can be shaped to workloads, continuously optimized, and integrated with the public cloud, Das claims. The platform offers over 600 cores today and also “headroom” for the high-powered components customers will need over the coming decade. It also boasts “easy future proof upgrades” to emerging fabrics like CXL, optical interconnects and whatever else is coming. 

Das ends the post on a forward-looking note about the UCS X-Series. “We’ve built the world’s first cloud-smart system that’s ready for all disruption we see coming on the horizon.”