Cisco UCS X-Fabric Delivers Extreme Flexibility for Cisco UCS X-Series

An Optimized Fabric Is Essential to Next-Generation Infrastructure Functionality
Modern infrastructure is not defined simply by the components it comprises; the ability to connect those components to each other is just as important when it comes to supporting what a digital business needs. An older style midplane that ties the system together can limit agility, lifespan and effectiveness of the hybrid cloud infrastructure. But a modern fabric can enhance these attributes. IT teams that make the right choice can substantially reduce the number of forklift upgrades and discontinuities they must deal with in future years. That also reduces costs. Perhaps most importantly, a future-ready fabric will support new generations of standards and technologies such as PCIe and CXL. The right fabric makes the system more cloud-like and enhances IT’s ability to quickly meet new or emerging business demands.

New best-in-class fabrics are also unified, meaning they can support the interconnection of disparate resources and improved resource pooling. The ability to support connections between CPUs, GPUs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), storage and memory nodes enables the composability of resources to the needs of the applications. This improves in-box agility and adaptability as workloads change. It also makes it possible to easily add new technology components as they are introduced, such as next-generation Intel Xeon processors and Optane Persistent memory (PMem), as they are delivered. This enhances the ability of IT to support new workload types (AI, predictive, etc.) emerge. A modern fabric enables the use of software to create or define new resource pools as needed.

Cisco UCS X-Fabric Technology Meets Current and Future Challenges
Cisco has long taken a leadership position in designing physical infrastructure with advanced fabric capabilities. The UCS X-Series is a true modular system that is built with a “midplane-less” design that makes it possible to easily add or change modules or nodes without any modifications to the chassis. This provides more options for IT and improves the ability to respond to both expected and unforeseen changes in the future.

The UCS X-Fabric enables the connection of compute nodes to accelerator nodes, drive nodes, etc. IT operators can then create policies in software to shape a pool of resources to meet the needs of applications. Operations are simplified, and consistency or the ability to support unique workload needs is substantially improved. This is true for any type of component, not just CPUs or memory. Resource pools can be built from any node in the chassis. And the X-Fabric is high performing for all types of system components.

One of the most important capabilities of this fabric is the ability to easily evolve and support future interface standards within the same chassis. For example, UCS X-Series can support fourth-, fifth- and sixth-generation PCIe as it is delivered. There will also be support for Compute Express Link (CXL) when it arrives. The Intelligent Fabric Module also provides enhanced “uplink” connectivity for the X-Series with higher speeds and bandwidth.

X-Fabric also provides many more options for adding new or heterogenous compute nodes. For example, it is now possible to add up to four GPUs to support demanding workloads. The UCS X-Series X440p nodes currently support NVIDIA Tensor and A Series GPUs. There are eight total node slots, four of which can be X440p’s, to provide not only excellent flexibility, but very high levels of performance as well.

This makes the Cisco solution much more future-proof than other options. All this flexibility and support for future technologies extends the useful life of the chassis. The UCS X-Series will likely have an 8-to-10-year lifespan or support a minimum of three to five CPU generations, for most IT organizations.

Put simply, UCS X-Series eliminates or greatly reduces many of the common and perplexing digital infrastructure issues that IT operations face. The design is focused on solving known problems and providing the agility to adapt to future technologies. UCS X-Series Fabric technology is at the heart of these benefits, delivering superior flexibility, reduced complexity, and leading-edge future-proofing. This makes the Cisco UCS X-Series the best choice for next-generation hybrid cloud infrastructure for many businesses. Get more details on the Cisco UCS X-Series Modular System.