The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For the purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on RFP documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product. Learn more about how Cisco is using Inclusive Language.
Secure, On-Premises AI for Sovereign Environments
Bring enterprise AI capabilities to your collaboration infrastructure—without compromising data sovereignty.
Cisco® AI PODs for Collaboration (also known as Collaboration AI PODs) deliver production-grade AI services as a turnkey on-premises appliance, purpose-built for defense, government, and regulated enterprise customers who cannot leverage cloud-based AI due to compliance, data sovereignty, or security requirements.
Cisco AI PODs for Collaboration provide real-time transcription services for Cisco collaboration solutions (refer to Table 5), enabling customers to unlock the productivity benefits of AI while keeping sensitive data within their controlled environment. With support for air-gapped deployments and no external connectivity requirements, organizations can deploy AI-powered transcription in even the most restricted networks.
Table 1. Features and Benefits
| Feature |
Benefit |
| Data Sovereignty |
All data processed and stored on premises; no cloud dependency or external data transmission |
| Air-gap Ready |
Deploy in fully isolated networks with zero external connectivity requirements, except licensing |
| Enterprise Scale |
Support for 700–800 concurrent transcription sessions per Collaboration AI PODs with multi-Collaboration AI PODs load balancing and fault tolerance |
| Low Latency |
~600 ms latency for real-time transcription |
| Ecosystem Integration |
Software Development Kit (SDK)-enabled integration with Cisco solutions |
● Real-Time Transcription: Automatic Speech Recognition for live closed captions/transcription with near-instant results. Available in five languages; English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.
● Secure by Design: Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 encryption, API key authentication, encrypted storage.
● Multi-POD Architecture: Scale horizontally with intelligent load balancing across multiple appliances, no clustering required.
● Load Balancing and Fault Tolerance: The Collaboration AI PODs SDK—implemented by integrations—features intelligent, built-in load balancing that automatically distributes sessions across multiple PODs using a least load and top-down approach, ensuring optimal resource utilization, seamless scalability, and continuous service availability without manual intervention.
● Logging and Analytics: Comprehensive logging for efficient troubleshooting and analytics to track utilizations/usage.
● Stateless Operations: All closed captions data is processed in-memory only and permanently discarded at session end—nothing is stored, logged, or recoverable between sessions.
● User Experience: Transcription accuracy is comparable to Webex®; however, as with all AI-based solutions, results may vary due to the inherent non-deterministic nature of AI models.
Table 2. Product Specifications
| Specifications |
Details |
| Management |
● Backup and restore
● Email notifications (via Simple Mail Transfer Protocol [SMTP])
● Alerts management
|
| Security and auditing |
● All control data is authenticated and encrypted (industry-standard TLS1.3)
● Encrypted storage
● Extensive audit logging
● Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Secure boot
● Certificate Key Types/Algorithms
◦ RSA (2048, 3072 and 4096) ◦ ECDSA (prime256v1 and secp384r1) |
| Diagnostics and Troubleshooting |
● Syslog – local and remote
● Log bundle (Encrypted)
◦ System logs ◦ System configuration ◦ Application configuration ◦ System information ◦ Crash logs |
| High Availability |
● No clustering required, achieve redundancy and fault tolerance by adding additional PODs
|
| Account management and permissions |
● Local accounts (with Admin and Support roles)
|
Cisco AI PODs for Collaboration (Collaboration AI PODs) software is optimized to run on Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS®) C240 Series AI PODs with reference configuration (refer to the ordering information section).
In terms of scale, Table 3 shows the capacity of real-time transcription service running on UCS C240 Cisco AI PODs.
Table 3. Real-Time Transcription Capacity
| Language |
Max concurrent sessions* |
| English |
800 |
| Non-English (Spanish, Italian, French, German) |
700 |
Simple, Concurrent, and Predictable
Cisco AI PODs for Collaboration (Collaboration AI PODs) use a straightforward concurrent session model. You license concurrent capacity—not consumption
One Shared AI License = One Concurrent Session
Collaboration AI PODs connects to Cisco Smart licensing to simplify purchasing, registering, and monitoring licenses. Smart Licensing is supported via direct mode only.
Table 4. License Definitions
| Term |
Definition |
| Session |
Any single meeting or call (live or recorded) being processed with AI features |
| Coverage |
Real-time transcription |
Example: With one license, run unlimited meetings throughout the day—one at a time. Need two meetings with AI features running simultaneously? Add a second license.
Cisco AI PODs for Collaboration integrate directly with Cisco collaboration solutions, delivering AI capabilities where your meetings and calls happen—without requiring data to leave your premises.
Table 5. Integrations
| Release version |
Integration |
| Version 1.0 |
Cisco Meeting Server v4.0 — Real-time transcription for on-premises meeting deployments |
Expanding the Ecosystem
Additional Cisco solutions and certified partner integrations are on the roadmap, with SDK access enabling AI across meetings, recordings, and contact center workflows.
Below are the two main steps for ordering Collaboration AI PODs hardware and software licenses. To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Home Page.
1. Select your preferred hardware platform.
a. Cisco AI PODs for Collaboration (Collaboration AI PODs) software is optimized to run on Cisco UCS C240 AI PODs spec-based configuration. No third-party servers are currently supported.
i. Under AI Services POD, pick Collaboration AI PODs
1. Pick your preferred server (with GPU or without GPU), description in Table 6.
ii. Alternatively, directly order AIPOD-COLLAB SKU and pick from hardware choices mentioned in Table 6.
Note: The Real-time transcription feature (or v1.0 of Collaboration AI PODs) does not require a GPU to function. A GPU can be added at any time as an optional, plug-and-play upgrade.
2. Select Software subscription license.
a. Collaboration AI PODs licenses are available as a subscription, under A-CMS top level SKU with monthly or yearly billing which includes Cisco Software Support Services (SWSS) bundled together.
i. Under A-CMS SKU configuration, section Cisco AI PODs for Collaboration, provide the max concurrent sessions count.
Table 6. Collaboration AI PODs Hardware/Software PIDS
| Part # |
Product Description |
| AIPOD-COLLAB |
Cisco AI PODs for Collaboration (Hardware) |
| UCSC-C240-M8-CL-G |
UCS C240 M8 2U Rack Server for Collaboration AI (GPU) |
| UCSC-C240-M8-CL |
UCS C240 M8 2U Rack Server for Collaboration AI |
| A-COLLAB-AIPOD-SAL |
Collaboration AI PODs Shared AI License (Software License) |
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Table 7. Document history
| New or Revised Topic |
Described In |
Date |
| Initial Version |
- |
May 30, 2026 |