Q. What is Stack Automation by Quali?
A. Stack Automation by Quali is a deployment automation platform co-developed with Cisco and offered exclusively by Cisco. It is designed to bring unmatched simplicity to the Day 0-1 Cisco
® infrastructure and ecosystem software experience, shifting from manual, component-based configuration to a fully automated, cloud-like deployment model for faster time-to-value. By prioritizing simplicity in every workflow, we enable users to achieve results in hours rather than weeks.
The platform supports two primary deployment scopes:
● Software-only: automates the provisioning and configuration of individual software layers from Cisco, such as Cisco (for example, Nexus Dashboard, Intersight®, Splunk®) and third-parties (for example, NVIDIA NIMs, Red Hat OpenShift, Qumulo), and ISV applications for manufacturing and industrial environments as well as horizontal solutions.
● Full-stack solutions: delivers turnkey, pre-validated solutions (such as Cisco AI PODs and Splunk PODs) that orchestrate the entire stack (including networking, compute, storage, and software layers) in a single, unified workflow.
Q. Who is Quali?
A.
Quali is a leading provider of infrastructure automation and agentic AI solutions that empower IT operations, DevOps, and platform engineering teams to build, provision, and manage environments with exceptional speed and reliability. Trusted by enterprise organizations worldwide to manage millions of cloud resources, Quali's platforms automate complex infrastructure deployment, enforce strict compliance policies, and proactively optimize cloud costs. By replacing manual, error-prone configurations with a governed, self-service model, Quali enables infrastructure leaders to maintain continuous network stability, safeguard sensitive data, and drive significant reductions in overall IT expenditure.
Q. Why did Cisco choose Quali to bring this solution to market?
A. Cisco selected Quali based on a proven, long-standing partnership and a shared commitment to delivering secure, scalable, and highly available infrastructure. For years, Quali's robust automation engine has powered the Cisco DevNet Sandbox, successfully providing software developers and network engineers with reliable, on-demand access to complex, real-world IT environments.
We expanded this trusted collaboration to build Stack Automation because Quali's technology perfectly supports our vision for the future of enterprise IT operations. Together, we provide a unified solution that allows infrastructure managers to:
● Accelerate deployments: compress Day 0-1 infrastructure and ecosystem software provisioning from weeks to merely hours, ensuring rapid time-to-value.
● Embed proactive security: automate the application of security settings recommended by Cisco and best practices during provisioning to help ensure consistent policy enforcement from the moment of deployment.
● Ensure seamless integration: connect effortlessly with existing infrastructure code and day-2 management platforms—such as Cisco Intersight and Nexus Dashboard—without disrupting current operations.
● Optimize budget utilization: leverage automated governance, cost-tracking, and idle resource detection to confidently manage complex hybrid environments and maximize IT budget efficiency.
Q. How can Stack Automation help my IT team?
A. Stack Automation dramatically increases your operational agility by accelerating the speed of deployment, compressing weeks-long cycles into hours. Simultaneously, it ensures high operational reliability by embedding expertise and security baselines validated by Cisco into every deployment, eliminating manual error and configuration drift.
Q. Which products and solutions can be deployed with Stack Automation?
A. The following Cisco products and solutions will be supported at GA with support for additional products on the roadmap:
● Cisco APIC (on-premises and cloud), Catalyst® Center, Nexus Dashboard (on premises and cloud), Catalyst 8000V (on premises and cloud), Nexus 9000v, Cisco Crosswork Network Controller, Cisco Intersight, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), ThousandEyes®, Splunk, Cyber Vision, Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Virtual.
Support for the following third-party and ISV solutions is planned for GA unless otherwise noted. This list is continuously refreshed, with new solutions introduced on an ongoing basis.
● Third-party software: BMaaS/VMaaS for Windows Server 2025/Rocky Linux/VMware ESXi, Dataiku, NetBox, NVIDIA NIMs, OpenShift, Qumulo, Veeam, VMware vCenter, RHEL, Ubuntu, and others.
● ISV applications: ISV applications: Certified solutions for manufacturing and industrial environments plus *Aible, *Vaidio, and others. (*Targeted for Q3CY26. Date subject to change.)
Q. Does Stack Automation work only with Cisco UCS
® servers?
A. Only bare-metal OS deployments are exclusive to Cisco UCS servers. The rest of the offered services (VMaaS, LLMaaS, Cisco and third-party applications) are available to any underlying server, as the requirements needed are based on hypervisor or container platforms and resource availability. Neither Cisco nor Quali is responsible for the underlying server installation.
Q. What is the licensing model?
A. We offer two tiers and full-stack services:
● Essentials: provides access to the solution catalog for standard deployments (excluding full-stack solutions)
● Advantage (subscription): charged per concurrent compute unit (CCU). This unlocks advanced customization, the Blueprint Designer, GitOps integration, and access to agentic design tools such as NVIDIA NemoClaw and Claude Cowork.
● Full-stack services: a one-time service fee is applied for the automated deployment of curated full-stack solutions (for example, Cisco AI PODs); available post-GA once full-stack solutions are available.
Q. How is usage for the Advantage tier subscription calculated?
A. The Advantage tier is billed based on consumption of concurrent compute units (CCUs). A CCU is a unified metric designed to measure the scale of resources being automated at any given time. Subscription usage is calculated based on the conversion ratios given in the bullet list below.
Common services and their CCU consumption ratios are as follows:
● 2 CCUs are needed for bare-metal OS deployments (requires Cisco Intersight Advantage licensing).
● 1 CCU is needed per concurrent VM deployed.
● 0.25 CCU is needed per concurrent containers deployed.
● 0.125 CCU is needed per lambda function deployed .
This model allows for flexible scaling, ensuring that customers only pay for the capacity being actively managed through their automated workflows.
Q. When will Stack Automation be available?
A. We are rolling out Stack Automation in phases. Software-only deployment capabilities are targeted for August 2026, with full-stack solution deployments (including Cisco AI PODs) becoming available in October 2026. All dates are subject to change.
Q. How can I join the full-stack beta?
Q. Where can I find more information?
Many of the products and features described herein remain in varying stages of development and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. The delivery timeline of these products and features is subject to change at the sole discretion of Cisco, and Cisco will have no liability for delay in the delivery or failure to deliver any of the products or features set forth herein.