Cisco and NVIDIA are partnering to bring hardware-accelerated firewall enforcement directly into AI servers using NVIDIA BlueField DPUs. By extending Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall to run on DPUs rather than host CPUs, the solution delivers 400G line-rate stateful segmentation without consuming GPU or CPU resources needed for AI workloads. Cisco Nexus One orchestrates network policy and collects Kubernetes workload metadata to generate application-aware segmentation rules enforced inline on the DPU. The architecture addresses multi-tenant AI environments where front-end network traffic requires strict inspection and lateral movement containment. Controlled availability is planned for Q3 CY26 with general availability in Q4 CY26.

5m read timeFrom blogs.cisco.com
Post cover image
Table of contents
The front-end network: The real security domainBringing security to the AI workload with DPUs“AI is transforming every industry, and the rapid rise of AI factories is driving a growing need for cybersecurity at scale across enterprise infrastructure. By embedding Cisco’s Hybrid Mesh Firewall policy into NVIDIA BlueField DPUs on AI servers, our joint customers achieve high-performance, multi-tenant, intent-driven enforcement and hardware-accelerated protection, seamlessly connected via Cisco Nexus One AI front-end fabrics.”Cisco Nexus One: Network policy orchestration and visibility for AI front-end fabricsBuilding the secure AI factory of the futureLearn more about how Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall can secure your distributed environment

Sort: