Channel Brief: New HPE Storage Solutions for SMBs

IBM researchers have demonstrated a way to bring the speed and capacity of optics into data centers.

In one technical paperIBM introduced a new co-packaged optics (CPO) prototype module that can enable high-speed optical connectivity. Researchers have pioneered a new process for CPO to enable connectivity in data centers at the speed of light to complement existing short-range electrical wiring. This technology can significantly increase data center communication bandwidth, minimize GPU downtime, and at the same time drastically accelerate AI processing. This research innovation, as described, could dramatically improve how data centers train and run generative AI models, IBM said.

By designing and assembling the first publicly announced successful polymer optical waveguide (PWG) to drive this technology, IBM researchers demonstrated how CPO will redefine the way the computer industry transmits high-bandwidth data between chips, printed circuit boards and servers.

Today, fiber optic technology transports data at high speeds over long distances for commerce and communication. Data centers use fiber optics for external communications networks, but the racks inside these data centers still predominantly run communications on copper-based electrical wiring. These wires connect GPU accelerators that can spend more than half their time idle waiting for data from other devices in a large, distributed training process that can incur significant expense and energy, IBM noted.

This new approach, IBM said, could result in lower costs for scaling generative AI through a more than 5-fold power reduction in energy consumption compared to mid-range electrical interconnects, while extending the length of data center interconnect cables from one to hundreds of meters.

In addition, it could speed up AI model training, enabling developers to train a large language model (LLM) up to five times faster – reducing the time it takes to train a standard LLM from three months to three weeks, with incremental performance gains by using larger models and more GPUs. And it can dramatically increase the energy efficiency of data centers, saving energy equivalent to the annual power consumption of 5,000 American homes per day. trained AI model, IBM researchers said.

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Grab your coffee. Here’s what you need to know today.

Today’s technology, channel and MSP news

1. Cirata, Databrick’s partnership: Hadoop data transfer and integration company Cirata this week is expand its partnership with data and AI business Databricks to accelerate data migration and modernization in the cloud. Cirata is new Data Migration as a Service (DMaaS) The offering will enable easier migration and modernization of data, the companies said. Via the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, customers can leverage Cirata’s professional services to migrate legacy data infrastructures, such as Hadoop, to Databricks.

2. New HPE storage for SMBs: HPE last week introduced HPE MSA Gen7 Storage System that provides higher storage capacity, speed and data protection for SMBs at affordable prices, the company said. HPE said the new solutions offer up to 2X faster random read speeds (up to 783,000 IOPS) with a capacity of 14.1 GB/s and scalability up to 7.37 PB. There are also streamlined management features including Smart Assist, online firmware updates and the HPE MSA Health Check tool to improve system reliability. HPE MSA Gen7’s also include intuitive sizing tools so HPE partners can design customized solutions for customers.

3. Mission AI Gateway: Mission, a CDW company and US-based Amazon Web Services (AWS) Premier Tier Services Partner, announced the launch of Mission AI Gatewaya new software platform that helps companies manage and optimize their AI solutions on AWS. Mission AI Gateway combines advanced FinOps capabilities, infrastructure operations expertise, and strategic architectural guidance to ensure AI solutions are aligned with AWS best practices. The platform is integrated with mission control, Mission’s cloud service platform, to provide visibility and control across AI workloads.

4. Actively Exploited Cleo Bug: Cleo’s Harmony, LexiCom and VLTrader managed file transfer products are affected by a actively exploited zero-day vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-50623, which has been insufficiently resolved by a previous patch, according to The recorda news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Users have been encouraged to immediately apply a new patch, and Cleo also recommended immediate blocking of IP addresses exploiting the issue.

5. Sherweb buys MicroWarehouse: Sherweb this week officially announced its acquisition of MicroWarehouse (MWH)an Ireland-based cloud and IT distributor. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies said in a statement that MicroWarehouse will continue to operate as a local business unit in Ireland and retain its own brand identity.

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