Corscale Data Centers Partners with Affinius to Elevate Cisco-Driven Data Center Services

In the rapidly evolving landscape of data center infrastructure, strategic partnerships are pivotal to delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance solutions. Corscale Data Centers, a leader in hyperscale and enterprise-grade colocation services, has recently partnered with Affinius, a premier Cisco solutions integrator, to enhance their service portfolio leveraging Cisco’s advanced networking and data center technologies. This collaboration aims to provide customers with optimized infrastructure, seamless integration, and future-proof scalability, underpinned by Cisco’s industry-leading hardware and software platforms.

1. Product Overview

The Corscale-Affinius partnership centers around deploying and managing Cisco’s comprehensive suite of data center products, including Cisco Nexus switches, Cisco UCS (Unified Computing System), Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure), and Cisco Intersight cloud operations platform. This integration enables Corscale to offer enhanced colocation and hybrid cloud services with improved automation, security, and operational efficiency.

Corscale’s data centers are designed to support hyperscale workloads, edge computing, and enterprise applications requiring ultra-low latency and high availability. By leveraging Affinius’ deep expertise in Cisco product deployment and lifecycle management, Corscale can accelerate time-to-market for new services while maintaining stringent SLAs.

Cisco Nexus Series Integration

At the core of the network infrastructure, Cisco Nexus switches provide high-density, low-latency, and lossless Ethernet fabric essential for modern data centers. The partnership focuses on deploying Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches in both standalone NX-OS mode and ACI mode, enabling programmable, policy-driven network automation.

Cisco UCS and Compute Infrastructure

Cisco UCS servers form the backbone of Corscale’s compute infrastructure, delivering unified management of compute, storage, and networking resources. Affinius ensures optimal configuration of UCS Manager and integration with Cisco Intersight for centralized cloud-based management and telemetry.

Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI)

Cisco ACI provides a software-defined networking (SDN) framework that automates application deployment and network provisioning. This partnership enables Corscale to offer customers dynamic multi-tenant environments with granular security policies and micro-segmentation capabilities.

Cisco Intersight Cloud Operations

Cisco Intersight is a cloud-based management platform that provides AI-driven analytics, proactive support, and lifecycle management. Affinius integrates Intersight to deliver predictive maintenance and automated workflows, reducing operational overhead and improving uptime.

2. Product Specifications

Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches

The Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches are designed for high-performance data center environments with the following key specifications:

• Switching capacity: Up to 6.4 Tbps per chassis (Nexus 9500 modular switches)
• Port density: Up to 48 ports of 100GbE per line card
• Latency: Sub-microsecond latency for low-latency applications
• Programmability: Support for NX-OS and ACI modes with REST APIs and Python scripting
• Fabric support: VXLAN, EVPN, and Layer 2/3 overlays
• Redundancy: Fully redundant power supplies and fans

Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers

The Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers provide dense compute power optimized for virtualization and cloud workloads:

• Processor options: Intel Xeon Scalable processors (up to 28 cores per CPU)
• Memory: Up to 3 TB DDR4 RAM per blade
• Storage: Support for NVMe, SAS, and SATA drives with flexible RAID configurations
• Network interfaces: Up to 4 x 10/25/40/100 GbE interfaces per blade
• Management: UCS Manager integration with Cisco Intersight for centralized control

Cisco ACI Fabric

The Cisco ACI fabric specifications include:

• Scalability: Supports up to 5000 endpoints per fabric
• Policy model: Application-centric policy abstraction with endpoint groups (EPGs)
• Security: Micro-segmentation and distributed firewall capabilities
• Automation: Full REST API support and integration with DevOps tools
• Multi-site support: Enables geographically distributed data center fabrics

Cisco Intersight Platform

Cisco Intersight specifications and capabilities:

• Cloud-based SaaS platform with global reach
• AI/ML-driven analytics for predictive hardware failure detection
• Automated firmware and software updates
• Role-based access control and multi-tenancy support
• Integration with third-party ITSM and monitoring tools

3. Features and Benefits

Enhanced Network Performance and Scalability

The integration of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches within Corscale’s data centers ensures ultra-low latency and high throughput, critical for hyperscale cloud providers and latency-sensitive applications such as financial trading platforms and AI/ML workloads. The ability to operate in ACI mode allows for seamless network automation and scalability, reducing manual configuration errors and accelerating deployment cycles.

Unified Compute and Network Management</h3