HPE and Oracle have expanded their networking collaboration to support the growth of Oracle’s global artificial intelligence infrastructure. Under the expanded agreement, HPE Juniper Networking will be deployed across Oracle’s AI data centers as Oracle builds larger AI clusters and expands its cloud infrastructure worldwide. The collaboration includes networking support services and financing capabilities.
The partnership builds on more than a decade of engineering work between Oracle and Juniper Networks. HPE Juniper Networking routing and switching platforms already support parts of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), including data center and edge networks.
Oracle’s growing AI superclusters are placing greater demands on data center networks. Large GPU clusters require high bandwidth, low latency, efficient traffic management and fast fault recovery. Regional and edge networks must also connect these clusters with cloud services, customers and external networks.
“Oracle is building AI infrastructure at extraordinary scale, and HPE is uniquely positioned to support OCI with one of the industry’s most comprehensive networking portfolios for AI data centers,” said Rami Rahim, executive vice president, president and general manager, Networking, HPE.
The expanded collaboration includes the potential multi-year deployment of HPE Juniper Networking PTX and MX routing platforms and QFX and EX switching platforms across Oracle data centers globally. Multi-year networking support services are also part of the agreement.
Within OCI, MX and PTX routers currently support parts of the edge network, while QFX switches are used across several layers of regional data center networks. The latest QFX switches will provide high-density connectivity, dynamic load balancing and congestion management for large RoCEv2 AI backend networks.
Mahesh Thiagarajan, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, said HPE Juniper Networking has been an important part of Oracle’s cloud architecture and now has a role across AI clusters, regional data centers and edge networks. Oracle and HPE are also working on intelligent telemetry to provide greater visibility into network and device performance. The technology is designed to help identify queue buildup, packet loss, traffic imbalances and component problems at an earlier stage.
Earlier detection can help OCI teams resolve network issues faster and reduce their impact on GPU usage and network availability. “Every microsecond matters to AI models and agents,” said Praveen Jain, senior vice president and general manager, Data Center and AI Networking, HPE. He said improved network performance and greater visibility can help OCI identify bottlenecks faster and maintain availability as AI infrastructure grows. The companies said a common networking foundation across AI clusters, regional data centers and edge networks can simplify engineering and operations while allowing each environment to meet its specific requirements.
As part of the agreement, HPE has issued Oracle warrants to purchase shares of HPE common stock. HPE is an enterprise technology company focused on AI, cloud and networking solutions. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure provides cloud computing and data center services for businesses and organisations worldwide.
