‘Oracle will deploy HPE-Juniper networking routers and switches across one of their largest AI cloud infrastructure buildouts,’ says HPE CEO Antonio Neri.
HPE has expanded a networking deal with Oracle that is expected to result in HPE Juniper multi-gigawatt networking infrastructure being deployed across Oracle’s AI data centers.
HPE is calling the multi-year global deployment one of the industry’s largest AI infrastructure buildouts.
“Oracle will deploy HPE-Juniper networking routers and switches across one of their largest AI cloud infrastructure buildouts,” said HPE CEO Antonio Neri announcing the deal during HPE’s third quarter earnings conference call. “HPE is uniquely positioned to support Oracle with a network for AI portfolio which is one of the most comprehensive in the industry.”
CRN reached out to Oracle for comment but did not hear back at press time.
In a press release, HPE Executive Vice President of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Mahesh Thiagarajan said: “HPE Juniper Networking has been an important part of our cloud architecture and now plays a key role in our AI clusters, regional data centers, and edge networks with the scale, performance, and reliability our customers expect.”
Neri said the gigawatt network infrastructure deal with Oracle will use HPE’s QFX data center switching, which is based on Broadcom’s highly regarded Tomahawk silicon, as part of a scale-out architecture.
“The scale across architecture for the Oracle buildout will include HPE’s PTX routing platform which is based on HPE’s own silicon,” said Neri. “That is a major differentiation for scalability which is our (Juniper) Express 5 (ASIC) which we designed a couple of years ago.”
That Express 5 silicon is “unique,” said Neri. “It’s very hard to do what our silicon does,” he said. “There are only two or three players that have done this at massive scale. It is a source of differentiation.”
Neri said he expects the Oracle deal to act as a high-profile network infrastructure buildout that could propel more networking AI deals for HPE.
“This proves that we have a scalable set of products that deliver the performance with the AI capabilities that everybody is now looking for with self-driving (network) operations,” he said. “We have embedded that across the entire portfolio not just in the campus and branch. If you look at our routers it is amazing what they can do in optimizing that bandwidth using that AI.”
HPE notably was the first in time to market with 1.6 terabit routing capabilities with air-cooled technology and direct liquid cooling, said Neri. “Time to market here is a very important aspect of competing and winning in the market,” he said.
HPE is betting the Oracle deal drives a “significant amount of interest” in HPE’s networking infrastructure portfolio, said Neri.
