Updated: Jan 29, 2026
Modern data centres are no longer static facilities designed only for predictable enterprise workloads. They are evolving into dynamic platforms that must support cloud integration, data-intensive applications, and increasingly, AI-driven workloads.
Cisco’s Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure Partner designation exists to identify partners who can design and operate data centre environments that remain stable as these demands converge.
This matters especially in India, where modern data centres must support AI growth across regulated industries, GCCs, and distributed enterprise locations.
A Cisco Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure Partner is a Cisco-recognised partner evaluated for its ability to design and operate data centre and hybrid infrastructure that supports AI workloads without destabilising existing environments.
AI workloads place fundamentally different stresses on data centres compared to traditional enterprise applications.
They introduce:
As a result, the data centre can no longer be treated as a passive backend. It becomes an active performance layer that directly shapes application outcomes.
Cisco’s Preferred evaluation focuses on whether a partner can sustain data centre performance as workloads evolve.
Key evaluation themes include:
The emphasis is on operational readiness, not architectural novelty.
1. Designing For East–West Traffic
AI and analytics workloads significantly increase east–west traffic within the data centre.
Partners evaluated under Cisco’s Preferred Cloud & AI model must demonstrate the ability to design fabrics that can absorb this internal traffic growth without congestion, blind spots, or brittle segmentation.
2. Treating The Data Centre As Part Of A Hybrid System
Modern data centres do not operate in isolation. They are tightly linked to public cloud environments and enterprise networks.
Cisco looks for partners who design data centres as part of a broader hybrid system, ensuring consistent connectivity, security controls, and performance expectations across environments.
3. Avoiding AI-Driven Over-Engineering
One of the most common risks in modern data centres is over-engineering in the name of AI readiness.
Cisco’s Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure designation rewards partners who apply restraint, building data centres that can support current AI workloads while remaining operable and adaptable as requirements change.
4. Visibility That Explains Performance
As data centres become more complex, visibility becomes critical.
Cisco evaluates whether partners design environments where teams can understand why performance shifts, not just where alerts fire. This includes visibility into traffic patterns, workload placement, and cross-domain dependencies.
Indian data centres often support diverse workloads across regulated industries, GCCs, and fast-growing enterprises.
They must operate across:
In this context, data centre fragility can quickly undermine broader digital initiatives. Cisco’s Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure Partner designation helps enterprises identify partners who can deliver stability alongside innovation.
A Cisco Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure Partner:
It signals disciplined infrastructure design and operation.
Consider an enterprise modernising its on-prem data centre while integrating cloud services and preparing for AI workloads.
A Cisco Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure Partner focuses first on fabric stability, workload placement, and visibility. AI capabilities are introduced without disrupting existing applications, and the data centre evolves incrementally rather than through disruptive redesigns.
In practice, Cisco’s Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure designation signals that a partner can design data centre foundations that absorb AI-driven stress, integrate cleanly with cloud and enterprise networks, and remain operable as workloads evolve. It reflects infrastructure discipline under real-world conditions, not experimental capability.
For modern data centres, readiness is measured by how well the infrastructure absorbs change. A Cisco Preferred Cloud & AI Infrastructure Partner is evaluated on the ability to deliver that stability as cloud and AI demands increase.
