Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has expanded its collaboration with Oracle to support the growth of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) AI data centres, with HPE Juniper Networking equipment set to play a larger role across Oracle’s global AI infrastructure. The expanded agreement covers the potential multi-year deployment of HPE Juniper routing and switching platforms in Oracle data centres worldwide, together with networking support services and financing capabilities.
Oracle is increasing the scale of its AI infrastructure and building larger AI superclusters that require high-bandwidth, low-latency networks able to manage congestion and recover quickly from infrastructure failures. HPE Juniper Networking already supports parts of OCI’s data centre and edge networks and could now be deployed more widely under the new arrangement.
HPE Juniper Networking expanded deployment
Under the expanded collaboration, Oracle could deploy HPE Juniper Networking PTX and MX routing platforms and QFX and EX switching platforms across its global data centre footprint. MX and PTX routers currently support parts of OCI’s edge network, while QFX switches are deployed across several layers of Oracle’s regional data centre fabric.
The latest QFX switches are expected to support the high-density connectivity required by large RoCEv2 (RDMA over Converged Ethernet version 2) networks used to connect GPUs in AI infrastructure. The systems also provide dynamic load balancing and congestion management capabilities designed for AI workloads. “Building AI infrastructure at Oracle’s scale requires an integrated ecosystem where every layer of the stack works together. 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,” said Mahesh Thiagarajan, Executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
HPE Juniper Networking: telemetry and support services
Beyond hardware, HPE and Oracle are developing intelligent telemetry capabilities to give OCI greater visibility into network and device performance. The telemetry is intended to help identify issues such as queue buildup, packet loss, traffic imbalances and component degradation earlier, enabling faster troubleshooting and reducing potential impacts on GPU utilisation and network availability. “Every microsecond matters to AI models and agents. 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,” said Praveen Jain, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Data Center and AI networking, HPE.
Rami Rahim, Executive Vice President, President and General Manager, Networking, HPE, said: “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. 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.”
The expanded collaboration builds on more than a decade of engineering work between Oracle and Juniper Networks and extends the role of HPE Juniper Networking within Oracle’s cloud infrastructure. The agreement also includes multi-year networking support services, and HPE has issued Oracle warrants to purchase shares of HPE common stock.
