Stack Automation by Quali: Cisco offers catalog-driven deployment to cut infrastructure time from weeks to minutes

# What Stack Automation delivers

# How the Solutions Hub works

Available Cisco software at GA includes APIC, Catalyst Center, Nexus Dashboard, Catalyst 8000V, Nexus 9000v, Crosswork Network Controller, Intersight, ISE, ThousandEyes, Isovalent networking and runtime security for Kubernetes, Splunk, Cyber Vision, Secure Firewall Management Center, and Cisco Firewall for Private Cloud.

Third‑party software available includes Windows Server 2025, Rocky Linux, VMware ESXi, Red Hat OpenShift, NVIDIA NIMs, Qumulo, Veeam, VMware vCenter, Ubuntu, NetBox, Cohesity, and Dataiku, among others. The catalog will continue to expand.

Full‑stack solution deployments such as Cisco AI PODs, Splunk PODs, FlexPod, FlashStack, and VAST Data are targeted for GA in October 2026.

# Licensing and feature tiers Stack Automation is offered in two tiers:

• Essentials: Access to the full Solutions Hub catalog for standard software deployments. It is included at no additional cost for Cisco customers, with optional paid support.
• Advantage (subscription): Adds advanced customization, the Blueprint Designer, GitOps integration, and agentic design tools. Pricing is per concurrent compute unit (CCU). A one‑time service fee applies for automated full‑stack solution deployments when full‑stack GA ships.

Choose Essentials if you want validated, out‑of‑the‑box deployments. Choose Advantage if you need to customize blueprints, integrate GitOps, or use agentic features to design solutions.

# Who benefits and how Stack Automation targets three user types with different needs:

• Operators: UCS admins and IT ops staff who need validated, repeatable deployments without deep expertise across every layer of the stack.
• Practitioners: Platform engineers, SREs, and service designers who need to codify infrastructure, scale standardized configurations, and reuse existing automation tools.
• Partners: System integrators and managed service providers who need a multi‑tenant automation framework to scale services and manage complex customer environments.

Each user type can either click to deploy validated blueprints or use customization tools to extend and integrate with existing automation practices.

# Practical benefits Automating deployment with Stack Automation addresses several operational pain points:

• Faster time‑to‑value: automated rack‑to‑app workflows, BOM generation, and pre‑flight validation reduce surprises and speed delivery.
• Reduced manual effort: standard blueprints cut the need for deep, error‑prone manual configuration across many hardware and software layers.
• Repeatability and scale: codified blueprints and GitOps-friendly integrations enable consistent deployments across teams and sites.

# What to expect next Catalog expansion will continue, and full‑stack solution GA (covering complex validated stacks) is planned for October 2026. Cisco offers documentation and an FAQ for details on licensing, CCU charging, and one‑time service fees tied to full‑stack deployments.