Supermicro Leverages Its Heritage of Innovation to Fuel AI Era Compute
Supermicro has been a player in the tech industry for over 30 years, focusing on building breakthrough solutions for data center compute requirements. Their history as a nimble infrastructure supplier has driven them ahead as a leader in AI era compute delivery. This is why I was so excited to invite Supermicro’s Paul McLeod to the TechArena Data Insights podcast sponsored by Solidigm. My co-host Jeniece Wnorowski and I put Paul through his paces to discuss Supermicro’s perspective on AI era computing, what customers are demanding of infrastructure, and how the data pipeline is a central innovation focus for today’s deployment targets.
The changing landscape of data management in AI workloads
Paul started by discussing the history of data management across data center environments stating that traditionally, IT has involved infrastructure silos for specific storage needs, with limited data accessibility across storage solutions. Paul added that with AI this is changing. AI demands all these data types and pipeline workloads to function simultaneously. Supermicro utilizes this evolving requirement to deliver value to customers. Paul pointed out that Supermicro’s heritage includes early use of NVMe technology, giving them valuable experience in storage solutions for AI.
This has shaped by a flattening of the traditional tiered storage model. Previously, cold tiers existed for data that rarely needed to be accessed. However, with AI, fast access to almost all data has become critical meaning that the cold tier is heating up into warm tier storage where flash alternatives shine. For this transition, Supermicro's solutions have featured Solidigm’s D5P5430 SSDs. These SSDs were designed to solve the unique challenges of data center enviroments, including delivery of high-density storage high performance storage drives needed for AI training. The P5430, their premier QLC-based offering, is available in various form factors to accommodate different server designs and thermal requirements and delivering impressive capacity, reaching up to 30 terabytes. Paul noted that the technology was dialed in for Supermicro’s requirements highlighting that bottlenecks have shifted from storage to compute and network. This is made even better with key collaborations with storage partners taking advantage of underlying infrastructure to fuel even the most grueling customer requirements.
Looking ahead: The future of data storage for AI workloads
Where does the market take platform innovation next? Paul pointed out the need for continued innovation of the data pipeline to reach additional scale in performance, compute density and efficiency. As large language models scale and customers demand more compute to train algorithms, keeping the data pipeline in balance and fed with rely on continued industry collaborations with partners like VAST Data and Solidigm. Be sure to visit Supermicro and Solidigm’s websites for more information about storage and compute solutions for the AI era, and continue following the TechArena as we explore data insights.
Supermicro has been a player in the tech industry for over 30 years, focusing on building breakthrough solutions for data center compute requirements. Their history as a nimble infrastructure supplier has driven them ahead as a leader in AI era compute delivery. This is why I was so excited to invite Supermicro’s Paul McLeod to the TechArena Data Insights podcast sponsored by Solidigm. My co-host Jeniece Wnorowski and I put Paul through his paces to discuss Supermicro’s perspective on AI era computing, what customers are demanding of infrastructure, and how the data pipeline is a central innovation focus for today’s deployment targets.
The changing landscape of data management in AI workloads
Paul started by discussing the history of data management across data center environments stating that traditionally, IT has involved infrastructure silos for specific storage needs, with limited data accessibility across storage solutions. Paul added that with AI this is changing. AI demands all these data types and pipeline workloads to function simultaneously. Supermicro utilizes this evolving requirement to deliver value to customers. Paul pointed out that Supermicro’s heritage includes early use of NVMe technology, giving them valuable experience in storage solutions for AI.
This has shaped by a flattening of the traditional tiered storage model. Previously, cold tiers existed for data that rarely needed to be accessed. However, with AI, fast access to almost all data has become critical meaning that the cold tier is heating up into warm tier storage where flash alternatives shine. For this transition, Supermicro's solutions have featured Solidigm’s D5P5430 SSDs. These SSDs were designed to solve the unique challenges of data center enviroments, including delivery of high-density storage high performance storage drives needed for AI training. The P5430, their premier QLC-based offering, is available in various form factors to accommodate different server designs and thermal requirements and delivering impressive capacity, reaching up to 30 terabytes. Paul noted that the technology was dialed in for Supermicro’s requirements highlighting that bottlenecks have shifted from storage to compute and network. This is made even better with key collaborations with storage partners taking advantage of underlying infrastructure to fuel even the most grueling customer requirements.
Looking ahead: The future of data storage for AI workloads
Where does the market take platform innovation next? Paul pointed out the need for continued innovation of the data pipeline to reach additional scale in performance, compute density and efficiency. As large language models scale and customers demand more compute to train algorithms, keeping the data pipeline in balance and fed with rely on continued industry collaborations with partners like VAST Data and Solidigm. Be sure to visit Supermicro and Solidigm’s websites for more information about storage and compute solutions for the AI era, and continue following the TechArena as we explore data insights.
