GBM Launches UAE AI Lab With Cisco
Gulf Business Machines (GBM) has launched the UAE’s first AI Lab built on Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA. The new facility targets organisations across the GCC that want to move AI projects from experimentation into production.
The AI Lab combines computing, networking, security, and AI software in a single environment. Moreover, customers can test on-premises and hybrid AI applications before deploying them at scale. GBM says the setup can reduce deployment timelines from months to weeks.
The facility also addresses requirements around data residency, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, and low-latency processing. Consequently, it is aimed at organisations that need greater control over where AI workloads and data operate.
Secure Infrastructure for Enterprise AI
The lab uses Cisco’s pre-validated, modular infrastructure with NVIDIA technology. The architecture brings high-performance computing and networking together while integrating security across the AI stack.
In addition, the platform uses NVIDIA AI Enterprise software to support enterprise AI workloads. Cisco’s architecture also incorporates security and observability across models, agents, workloads, and data paths.
Therefore, organisations can evaluate AI applications within a controlled infrastructure before moving them into production. This approach can be particularly relevant for sovereign AI deployments, where data location and regulatory requirements remain central concerns.
Cisco describes its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA as a modular reference design for AI infrastructure and full-stack security. Furthermore, its current architecture supports applications ranging from large-scale inference to agentic AI.
Pieter Bil, CEO at GBM, said the company had addressed the gap between AI experimentation and production by creating secure, locally managed platforms for GCC organisations. He also highlighted the need to balance faster AI development with data governance and sovereign control.
GCC Focus and Sovereign AI
The AI Lab is designed to serve organisations across the GCC, not just the UAE market. As a result, GBM is positioning the facility as a regional environment for testing and deploying production-grade AI infrastructure.
Cassie Roach, Cisco’s VP of Global Partner Sales for AI Infrastructure & Connectivity, said the collaboration aims to help Gulf organisations advance their AI ambitions while maintaining control and resilience.
Meanwhile, NVIDIA sees enterprise AI moving toward inference-optimised and agentic infrastructure. Dirk Barfuss, NVIDIA’s Director of EMEA Channel, said NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software provide the performance and scale required for these workloads.
The launch also comes as Cisco expands its Secure AI Factory architecture for larger AI deployments. In August 2026, Cisco announced rack-scale systems using NVIDIA technology and Supermicro infrastructure, with the architecture targeting enterprise, neocloud, and sovereign cloud deployments.
As AI adoption moves deeper into enterprise operations, secure infrastructure has therefore become a central deployment requirement. GBM’s new AI Lab gives GCC organisations a local environment to evaluate these workloads while addressing sovereignty, security, and compliance requirements.
For the UAE, the facility adds another enterprise AI testing and deployment capability to the country’s growing AI infrastructure ecosystem. More importantly, it gives organisations a path from controlled experimentation toward production deployments using a locally managed, full-stack environment.
