Cisco, NTT Partner On Software-Defined Infrastructure Services For ‘Future-Proofed’ AI Data Centers, Architectures

As AI places new demands on IT infrastructure, NTT Data’s new SDI services for Cisco products will help enterprises modernize their architectures and data centers, the two companies unveiled at Cisco Live 2025.

One of Cisco’s biggest channel partners, NTT Data, is working with the tech giant to launch AI-powered software-defined infrastructure services (SDI) for Cisco’s infrastructure and software products.

The new collaboration will help enterprises modernize their IT infrastructure and reduce costs at a time in which AI is placing new demands on IT infrastructure, the two companies unveiled on Tuesday at Cisco Live 2025.

Infrastructure challenges, said Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s president and chief product officer, are one of the biggest hurdles facing businesses in the AI era.

“The infrastructure requirements for AI will change quite substantially, because you will have the demand for more compute, more power, more network bandwidth. It’s almost insatiable. And right now, if you think about it, just imagine what the world could do if we weren’t constrained on infra[structure] in AI. We would be ten times as productive as we are right now,” Patel said at Cisco Live.

[Related: Cisco Secure Data Center, Nexus And Firewall Innovations Unveiled At Cisco Live 2025]

SDI services are an approach to managing hardware infrastructure, including compute, networking, and storage, by treating each as software resources. By offering SDI services for Cisco products, NTT’s AI-powered digital infrastructure services will give businesses “future-proofed” networking and security architectures and AI ready data centers, the firm said.

Ninety-four percent of C-suite executives believe legacy infrastructure is “greatly hindering” their business agility. Only 13 percent of enterprises are ready to leverage AI and AI-powered technologies to their full potential, according to Cisco’s 2024 AI Readiness survey.

AI is driving modernization of infrastructure in network, compute, cybersecurity and power for data centers, said NTT.

“While traditional infrastructure services focus on uptime and SLAs, these are no longer sufficient for a modernized infrastructure that is increasingly software-defined,” Dilip Kumar, global head of technology solutions for NTT, told CRN in an email. “NTT Data’s SDI Services aims to address that gap with its AI-Powered premium infrastructure service that provide proactive, personalized, and predictive support to optimize client infrastructure availability, reduce costs, and empower your business.”

NTT Data’s SDI Services will include outcome-success plans that outlines client goals, KPIs, and how NTT’s services can help. It will also include AI insights and service assurance thanks to smart technology, license management and analysis to help prevent expensive software issues and eliminate unnecessary expenses, and digital access, which will include a mobile app for instant updates and AI insights, Plano, Texas-based NTT said.

NTT Data, which has partnered with Cisco for more than three decades, is also offering AI-powered SDI services for Juniper Networks, HPE, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and Checkpoint.