The rise of AI and the importance of data to modern businesses has driven us too recognize that data matters, not storage. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast focuses on AI data infrastructure and features Camberley Bates, Andy Banta, David Klee, and host Stephen Foskett, all of whom will be attending our AI Data Infrastructure Field Day this week. We’ve known for decades that storage solutions must provide the right access method for applications, not just performance, capacity, and reliability. Today’s enterprise storage solutions have specialized data services and interfaces to enable AI workloads, even as capacity has been driven beyond what we’ve seen in the past. Power and cooling is another critical element, since AI systems are optimized to make the most of expensive GPUs and accelerators. AI also requires extensive preparation and organization of data as well as traceability and records of metadata for compliance and reproducibility. Another question is interfaces, with modern storage turning to object stores or even vector database interfaces rather than traditional block and file. AI is driving a profound transformation of storage and data.
Solidigm and Supermicro Put “Green” in Greenfield
Supermicro and Solidigm are actively tackling the intensifying demands of AI workloads with their efficient, rack-sized storage solutions, designed to streamline AI data pipelines, as discussed at a recent AI Field Day event. They are engineering a three-tiered platform specifically to accommodate the diverse needs of AI processes—from data ingestion and transformation to training and inference—enhancing performance with high-speed, high-density SSDs from Solidigm. As AI data centers seek to become more environmentally sustainable, the partnership underscores their commitment to delivering solutions that not only meet the technical demands of AI but also pave the way for greener computing practices. Read more in this article by Andy Banta, sponsored by Solidigm.
Composing a Harmonized Infrastructure With Solidigm and Supermicro
As data center workloads become more intensive, storage struggles to keep pace with CPU and memory in terms of speed and density increases. Composable infrastructure, like that offered by Solidigm, serves as an answer by presenting resources as and when they are needed, specifically the D5-P5430 Solidigm data center SSD. It’s a storage device that communicates via NVMe over PCIe gen 4.0 and is available in a U.2, E1.S, and E3.S form factor, with Solidigm using Enterprise Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF), a design that provides better density options than standard drive form factors while also being front-loading and hot-pluggable. This sponsored article by Andy Banta looks deeper at the Solidigm P5430 SSD family.
CXL: Composable Infrastructure’s Missing Link
“CXL probably isn’t for every configuration, especially anything other than top, high-end compute systems. But it’s no hoax. It ain’t the Piltdown Man.” Andy Banta gives an entertaining explanation of CXL, the history, the current, and his thoughts on where it’s going. Read his full thoughts on his website.
The IT Industry Is Doing Better Than It Seems
Is the IT industry in trouble? This episode of On-Premise IT features Andy Banta, Nico Stein, and Geoff Burke, who will be attending Tech Field Day this week, discussing the state of the industry with Stephen Foskett. Check out the full podcast on Gestalt IT’s Youtube channel or your favorite podcast platform.
Developer Advocacy Isn’t Exactly What We Think It Will Be
Check out the latest Gestalt IT Roundtable podcast! Stephen Foskett, podcast moderator, was joined with a few Tech Field Day delegates, Andy Banta, Gina Rosenthal, and Josh Warcop, to discuss developer advocacy. Check out their thoughts here!
