Oracle expands HPE Juniper Networking deal to support AI infrastructure build-out

More HPE networking gear is going into Oracle data centers globally, in an expansion of the companies' existing collaboration.

The expanded deal includes a multi-year deployment of HPE Juniper Networking PTX and MX routing platforms, and QFX and EX switching platforms across Oracle data centers around the world, along with multi-year networking support services.

"Together, we are advancing a high-performance networking architecture that helps Oracle address the traffic management, power, space, and operational requirements of increasingly large AI environments,” said Rami Rahim, executive vice president, president and general manager, networking, HPE.

As things stand, HPE Juniper Networking routing and switching platforms are used to support key elements of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s (OCI) data center and edge networks. MX and PTX routers support portions of the edge network, while QFX switches power multiple layers of the regional data center fabric.

However, scale, performance, and availability are becoming increasingly important as OCI expands its AI superclusters. Large GPU clusters place significant demands on bandwidth, latency, congestion management, and fault recovery, HPE said.

Meanwhile, Oracle’s regional and edge networks need to scale to connect clusters with services, customers, and external networks worldwide.

The latest QFX switches will provide the high-density connectivity, dynamic load balancing, and advanced congestion management required for large RoCEv2 (RDMA over Converged Ethernet version 2) AI backend networks.

A common HPE Juniper Networking foundation across these domains helps simplify engineering and operations while enabling each environment to be optimized for its distinct requirements, Oracle said..

“Building AI infrastructure at Oracle’s scale requires an integrated ecosystem where every layer of the stack works together,” said Mahesh Thiagarajan, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

“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.”

HPE & Oracle eye network visibility

To help OCI keep on top of performance and resiliency as its AI infrastructure scales, the two firms are also collaborating on intelligent telemetry, aimed at delivering deeper visibility into device and fabric behavior.

This should speed up the detection of queue buildup, packet loss, traffic imbalances, and component degradation, to help OCI resolve issues faster and minimize their impact on GPU utilization 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.

“Through high-performance networking and our work with Oracle on deeper fabric visibility, we are helping OCI detect bottlenecks faster, maintain network availability, and improve the efficiency of AI infrastructure.”

As part of the agreement, HPE has issued Oracle warrants to purchase shares of HPE common stock.

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