As enterprises push AI out of pilots and into production, FlexPod, the converged infrastructure franchise built by NetApp Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc., is being recast as a pretested answer to AI’s complexity. Customers want a trusted platform, not a pile of parts to integrate themselves.

That pitch lands as NetApp works to tie its data infrastructure to production AI. Over 16 years, the joint franchise has served 10,000 enterprise customers and generated $21 billion in ecosystem value, according to Alvaro Celis (pictured, left), chief partner and ecosystem officer at NetApp.

“We have created an incredible alignment at the engineering level,” Celis said. “It’s not only Cisco and NetApp; it’s our shared channel that is actually making it real for customers so we can execute at scale.”

Celis and James Cole (right), vice president of data center networking, business development, partnerships and go-to-market at Cisco, spoke with theCUBE’s Rebecca Knight and Christophe Bertrand at NetApp INSIGHT, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. (* Disclosure below.)

FlexPod and the case for validated AI infrastructure

AI workloads behave differently from the traditional applications that shaped data center design for decades. They draw on storage, networking, compute and security at once, and that complexity can delay deployments, Cole explained.

“20 years ago, 10 years ago, you would’ve been designing your data structures and your applications around the infrastructure. Now we’ve turned that on its head,” Cole said. “You’re really designing the infrastructure around the movement of data. Who better to do that together than the person you trust with your data and the person you trust with your network?”

Validated designs are the partners’ answer to that complexity. In June, the companies expanded FlexPod for AI deployments. The goal is to give customers a choice of best-in-class products without handing them the integration burden, Celis noted.

“The power that it really brings is it allows us to look at alignment at the product level, service, support, the ecosystem integration that you need in order for the customer to have the flexibility that they want, but also with the certainty that it will work and it can work at scale,” Celis said.

More joint work on FlexPod AI is coming, and new companies are expected to join the partnership, according to Celis. But it’s the franchise’s long track record is what qualifies it for the next phase, Cole added.

“In almost two decades, we’ve learned, we’ve adjusted, we’ve grown, we’ve made it better,” Cole said. “Now we’re taking that two decades of experience and bringing it to bear in AI, which is the most transformative infrastructure event we’ve had in many, many decades.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of NetApp INSIGHT:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the NetApp INSIGHT 2026 event. Neither NetApp Inc., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE