Secure and Resilient AI Architectures

Cisco is the backbone of the AI Factory’s high-speed, multi-network architecture:

• Cisco Secure AI Factory delivers pre-designed AI infrastructure with integrated compute, storage, networking, and NVIDIA GPUs, validated for use cases like RAG, edge inferencing, and scale-out inference—simplifying deployment while reducing TCO.
• Cisco AI Defense gives enterprises end‑to‑end visibility, validation, and runtime protection for AI applications. AHEAD augments AI Defense by designing the reference architecture, integrating it with your broader network, security, and AI platforms, and operationalizing policies and guardrails to deliver measurable risk reduction in your environment.
• AHEAD’s security architects look at the key components like GRC, secure architectures, threat detection and AI response. AHEAD looks at both Security for AI and AI for Security methodologies.

Together, Cisco and AHEAD give your AI Factory a validated, high‑throughput, low‑latency foundation that can span data centers, colos, and edge locations.

NVIDIA powers the compute heart of the AI Factory:

• NVIDIA HGX™ Architectures and NVIDIA DGX™ systems form the core of rack-scale AI and HPC environments, with AHEAD specializing in design, integration, and validation of these platforms in Foundry facilities. 
• NVIDIA AI Enterprise, NIM microservices, and complementary tools provide a standardized software layer for training, fine-tuning, and inference workloads across on‑premises and cloud environments.
• AHEAD’s AI practice includes dozens of NVIDIA AI advisors, data engineers, and data scientists who design AI hubs and platforms that integrate the NVIDIA stack with data platforms and MLOps tooling already in your environment.

With NVIDIA and AHEAD, your AI Factory is built for accelerated experimentation and production-grade AI, from code assistants and RAG to advanced modeling and simulation.

Pure Storage provides high-performance, efficient data platforms for AI training and inference:

• FlashStack® integrated solutions, delivered via AHEAD Foundry, combine Cisco compute/GPU nodes with Pure Storage arrays in fully built, fully cabled racks that arrive “ready to run,” compressing deployment timelines from months to days.
• Pure’s high-throughput, low-latency storage tiers are validated for AI and data-heavy workloads, giving your AI Factory the bandwidth and IOPS needed for large datasets and model artifacts without sacrificing efficiency.
• AHEAD integrates Pure1 APIs with Hatch to provide lifecycle visibility, while the AHEAD Lab offers hands-on testing of Pure FlashArray and FlashBlade systems connected to NVIDIA AI stacks and Pure Cloud Block Store in Azure before you commit to full-scale deployments.

Pure and AHEAD help your AI Factory keep pace with data growth without overprovisioning or sacrificing sustainability.

As AI platforms centralize critical data and identity services, Rubrik anchors the AI Factory’s cyber resilience:

• Rubrik Secure Vault and related solutions deliver immutable backups, air-gapped storage, strong access controls, and intelligent retention locks, forming the basis of modern cyber vaults for AI data and core business systems.
• AHEAD is a Top 3 Global Rubrik Partner with multiple Partner of the Year awards and hundreds of joint customers, bringing proven patterns for cyber vaults, IREs, and AI data pipeline protection.
• Within the AI Factory, Rubrik underpins data protection and recovery for AI datasets, pipelines, and model artifacts, ensuring the training and inference platforms you depend on can be restored quickly and confidently after an attack.

Rubrik and AHEAD ensure your AI Factory is not just powerful, but recoverable and compliant.

AHEAD architecture, integration and lifecycle services serve as the unifying force that turns Cisco, NVIDIA, Pure Storage, and Rubrik into one coherent AI Factory: 

• We design and validate architectures for AI use cases like RAG, edge inferencing, and scale-out inference, simplifying deployment while reducing TCO. 
• We designs secure-by-default architectures and guardrails, integrating all with your existing network, security, and data platforms. 
• We operate and evolves your platform through Foundry, Hatch, and managed services, so your AI Factory stays aligned with business needs and risk posture. 

AHEAD is the missing element to AI at scale across your enterprise.