Software
Quali announced the general availability of Stack Automation on Tuesday, a deployment automation platform developed in collaboration with Cisco and sold exclusively through Cisco, designed to bring enterprise-grade speed, governance and agentic AI capability to every layer of the infrastructure stack.
The companies said average infrastructure deployment cycles still span six to 12 weeks, citing Forbes data, a pace they said hinders agility and delays time-to-value as AI initiatives, data center modernization and hybrid cloud expansion push enterprises to move faster.
Quali said networking, compute, storage, virtualization, Kubernetes, security and application software are typically deployed one component at a time by separate teams using disconnected tools and manual handoffs, a process that can span hundreds of individual actions and dozens of approvals before a single workload goes live. AI infrastructure compounds that complexity, the company said, since GPU clusters, AI frameworks, model deployments, security policy and application services all need to come together as a coherent, governed environment before any value is realized.
Stack Automation is built to replace that patchwork with a single, governed, cloud-like operating model for what Quali calls Day 0/1 planning and deployment, combining Cisco Validated Designs and Cisco security practices with Quali's infrastructure automation and agentic AI engine. The platform integrates with Cisco Intersight and Cisco Nexus Dashboard and spans GPU provisioning and AI stack deployment through continuous compliance and drift detection, according to the company. Stack Automation will also become part of Cisco Cloud Control, Cisco's unified operations platform for AgenticOps.
"Enterprise infrastructure has reached an inflection point, and the teams that will win are the ones that treat the infrastructure layer as a strategic asset rather than an operational constraint," said Lior Koriat, CEO of Quali. He said the platform addresses that challenge "across the full lifecycle, from initial deployment through ongoing agentic management," combining the speed enterprises expect from public cloud with on-premises control.
At the center of the platform is the Solutions Hub, a catalog of Cisco and third-party solutions spanning networking, compute, AI frameworks, GPU infrastructure, model deployments, security and enterprise applications, according to Quali. The Solutions Hub lets teams deploy full production environments using Cisco Validated Designs and embedded best practices rather than building environments from scratch, the company said, with validated blueprints automating Day 0 planning and Day 1 deployment to give every rollout consistent results.
Unlike automation tools that focus narrowly on provisioning, Quali said Stack Automation functions as a governed infrastructure control plane spanning the full lifecycle, maintaining consistency and security policy from initial rollout through ongoing operations while adding agentic capabilities for AI-driven design and management. The platform is also built to incorporate customers' existing Terraform, Ansible, Python, Shell and Helm investments into governed workflows, according to the company, so adoption doesn't require starting over.
Jeremy Foster, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Compute, said the goal is to remove the setup burden that currently precedes AI deployment. "Customers should not have to spend weeks assembling infrastructure before they can begin putting AI to work," Foster said, adding that the platform embeds Cisco and its partner ecosystem's validated designs into every workflow "to take customers from rack to application in hours."
General availability includes a catalog of Cisco and third-party software spanning networking, security, observability, virtualization, AI frameworks and enterprise applications, including Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco Intersight, Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco Identity Services Engine, Splunk, Red Hat OpenShift, NVIDIA NIMs, VMware, Qumulo and Veeam, with additional solutions continuing to roll out, Quali said. General availability for full-stack solutions such as Cisco AI PODs is targeted for October 2026.
Stack Automation is available immediately through Cisco, with an Essentials tier for standard software deployments and an Advantage subscription tier adding Blueprint Designer, GitOps integration, advanced customization and agentic design capabilities.
The companies said average infrastructure deployment cycles still span six to 12 weeks, citing Forbes data, a pace they said hinders agility and delays time-to-value as AI initiatives, data center modernization and hybrid cloud expansion push enterprises to move faster.
Quali said networking, compute, storage, virtualization, Kubernetes, security and application software are typically deployed one component at a time by separate teams using disconnected tools and manual handoffs, a process that can span hundreds of individual actions and dozens of approvals before a single workload goes live. AI infrastructure compounds that complexity, the company said, since GPU clusters, AI frameworks, model deployments, security policy and application services all need to come together as a coherent, governed environment before any value is realized.
Stack Automation is built to replace that patchwork with a single, governed, cloud-like operating model for what Quali calls Day 0/1 planning and deployment, combining Cisco Validated Designs and Cisco security practices with Quali's infrastructure automation and agentic AI engine. The platform integrates with Cisco Intersight and Cisco Nexus Dashboard and spans GPU provisioning and AI stack deployment through continuous compliance and drift detection, according to the company. Stack Automation will also become part of Cisco Cloud Control, Cisco's unified operations platform for AgenticOps.
"Enterprise infrastructure has reached an inflection point, and the teams that will win are the ones that treat the infrastructure layer as a strategic asset rather than an operational constraint," said Lior Koriat, CEO of Quali. He said the platform addresses that challenge "across the full lifecycle, from initial deployment through ongoing agentic management," combining the speed enterprises expect from public cloud with on-premises control.
At the center of the platform is the Solutions Hub, a catalog of Cisco and third-party solutions spanning networking, compute, AI frameworks, GPU infrastructure, model deployments, security and enterprise applications, according to Quali. The Solutions Hub lets teams deploy full production environments using Cisco Validated Designs and embedded best practices rather than building environments from scratch, the company said, with validated blueprints automating Day 0 planning and Day 1 deployment to give every rollout consistent results.
Unlike automation tools that focus narrowly on provisioning, Quali said Stack Automation functions as a governed infrastructure control plane spanning the full lifecycle, maintaining consistency and security policy from initial rollout through ongoing operations while adding agentic capabilities for AI-driven design and management. The platform is also built to incorporate customers' existing Terraform, Ansible, Python, Shell and Helm investments into governed workflows, according to the company, so adoption doesn't require starting over.
Jeremy Foster, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Compute, said the goal is to remove the setup burden that currently precedes AI deployment. "Customers should not have to spend weeks assembling infrastructure before they can begin putting AI to work," Foster said, adding that the platform embeds Cisco and its partner ecosystem's validated designs into every workflow "to take customers from rack to application in hours."
General availability includes a catalog of Cisco and third-party software spanning networking, security, observability, virtualization, AI frameworks and enterprise applications, including Cisco Nexus Dashboard, Cisco Intersight, Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco Identity Services Engine, Splunk, Red Hat OpenShift, NVIDIA NIMs, VMware, Qumulo and Veeam, with additional solutions continuing to roll out, Quali said. General availability for full-stack solutions such as Cisco AI PODs is targeted for October 2026.
Stack Automation is available immediately through Cisco, with an Essentials tier for standard software deployments and an Advantage subscription tier adding Blueprint Designer, GitOps integration, advanced customization and agentic design capabilities.
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