By Ryan Stevens
Publication Date: 2026-10-02 11:02:00
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…