Fortanix has joined HPE’s Unleash AI partner program to help enterprises run agentic AI workloads without losing control of sensitive data. The integration brings Fortanix Armet AI, built on NVIDIA Confidential Computing, into HPE Private Cloud AI deployments across on-premises, hybrid, and AI factory environments. The goal is to make it easier for organizations in regulated industries to move AI from pilot projects into production.
The combined stack uses HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 systems and NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs. Security is applied while data and models are actively being processed, not just when they are stored or moved. This matters for enterprises that handle personal, financial, or government data and cannot rely on public cloud environments for their AI workloads.
Establishing a Trust Layer Inside HPE’s AI Stack
Within the Unleash AI partner program, Fortanix is positioned as a foundational security layer rather than an add-on.
Patrick Conte, Chief Revenue Officer of Fortanix, told ChannelE2E, “Fortanix is a leading data-first security company and pioneer of Confidential Computing, enabling enterprises to protect sensitive data not only at rest and in transit, but also while it’s in use." That distinction matters for partners deploying AI infrastructure, where runtime exposure is often the hardest risk to control.
Conte emphasized that the integration goes beyond basic encryption by enforcing verification before AI workloads are allowed to run. Fortanix delivers composite attestation across CPUs and GPUs and only releases cryptographic keys after trust has been established. “Within HPE’s Unleash AI program, Fortanix serves as the trust backbone that makes Unleash AI a truly enterprise-ready platform,” he said, noting that this approach gives MSPs and systems integrators a clearer way to deliver secure, compliant AI at scale.
Confidential Computing as the Security Backbone for AI Factories
Fortanix Armet AI also aligns closely with emerging AI factory architectures, especially in government and regulated industries. As part of NVIDIA’s AI Factory reference architecture, Armet AI provides runtime encryption, secure enclave management, and controlled key release for training and inference workloads. “Fortanix Armet AI is the Confidential Computing trust platform and a core part of the security layer within NVIDIA’s AI Factory reference architecture for government and regulated AI,” Conte said.
By protecting data and models even while they are being processed, the platform changes how regulated sectors approach AI adoption. Instead of re-architecting workloads to fit cloud limitations, organizations can now keep sensitive data on-premises or in sovereign environments. Conte described this as a fundamental shift, explaining that Armet AI “removes the biggest barrier for regulated industries that can’t move sensitive data to the cloud,” turning AI from a compliance risk into a deployable, governed capability.
Enabling regulated AI factories and partner services
For partners, the joint HPE, NVIDIA, and Fortanix stack creates room for structured, repeatable service offerings. Partners can deploy their own AI or analytics applications directly on Fortanix Armet AI, running them inside fully attested and confidential environments. “Armet AI becomes the secure foundation for partners to build and operate AI offerings, ensuring that all data and models remain under customer control,” Conte said.
The inclusion of compliance automation, continuous attestation, and tamper-evident audit logging also changes the economics of delivering AI services. These capabilities reduce the manual overhead often associated with regulatory approvals and ongoing governance. According to Conte, this enables “a scalable Sovereign AI-as-a-Service model,” giving MSPs and integrators a way to deliver managed AI operations and vertical-specific solutions with less compliance friction.
Taken together, the Fortanix integration strengthens HPE’s Unleash AI ecosystem by embedding trust into the AI lifecycle itself. For partners supporting customers in regulated and data-sensitive environments, it offers a more practical path to delivering production-ready AI systems that align security, sovereignty, and scalability.
