Building on the success of Graphcore’s Elite Partner Program, which includes leading channel partners, technology distributors and resellers, we are delighted to be expanding the program to include some of the world’s best known and most trusted storage system providers.
DDN, Pure Storage, Vast Data, and WekaIO will provide Graphcore-qualified datacenter reference architectures. Their storage solutions will complement the advanced artificial intelligence compute delivered by the Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) and Poplar Software stack.
The new partners are recognised globally as innovators in storage technology, and leaders in the development of systems designed to meet the unique storage requirements of AI compute, including the need for ultra-low latency access, use of unstructured data, and managing highly random, non-sequential data patterns.
Just as AI computation demands a different type of processor, with the capabilities of the Graphcore IPU, it also requires a fresh approach to datacenter storage systems, which our new storage partners are ideally placed to deliver.
Working closely with partners to qualify AI storage systems ensures that Graphcore customers can extract maximum performance and value from their IPU-POD configurations as they build and scale their AI compute capability.
Customer relationships
Many of Graphcore’s existing partner program, reseller and channel network members already enjoy longstanding relationships with the storage partners, allowing them to further extend their offering to customers with preferred system providers.
The storage partners’ deep sectoral expertise will also enhance Graphcore’s presence across several sectors, including life sciences, higher education, scientific research, manufacturing, finance, and public sector applications, through on-premise deployments.
Graphcore will work together with partners, throughout the remainder of 2021, to publish a range of resources for customers including reference architectures and deployment guides.
From our partners
Welcoming the announcement, Graphcore’s new storage partners said:
“DDN and Graphcore share a common goal of driving the highest levels of innovation in artificial intelligence. DDN’s industry leading AI storage, combined with the strength of the Graphcore IPU, brings a powerful new solution to organizations looking for a whole AI infrastructure and data management solution with outstanding performance and unlimited scalability.” said James Coomer, Senior Vice-President for Products at DDN.
“Turning unstructured data into insight lives at the core of an organisation’s effort to accelerate every aspect of AI workflows and data analytic pipelines. Pure FlashBlade®, the leading unified fast file and object (UFFO) storage platform was built to meet the demands of AI. It is purpose-built to blend bigger, faster analytics capabilities,” commented Michael Sotnick, VP, Global Alliances, Pure Storage. “Customers want efficient, reliable infrastructure solutions which enable data analytics for AI to deliver faster innovation and extend competitive advantage.”
“The Graphcore IPU, coupled with VAST’s Universal Storage, will help customers achieve unprecedented accelerations for large and complex machine learning models, furthering adoption of AI across the enterprise data center,” said Jeff Denworth, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at VAST Data. “VAST Data is breaking the tradeoff between performance and capacity by rethinking flash economics and scale, making it possible to afford flash for the entirety of a customer’s dataset. This is especially important in the new era of machine intelligence where fast and easy access to all data delivers the greatest pipeline efficiency and investment return.”
“WekaIO’s approach to modern data architecture helps equip AI users to build and scale highly performant, flexible, secure and cost-effective datacenter systems. Working with Graphcore allows us to extend next-generation technologies to our customers, keeping them at the forefront of innovation,” said Shailesh Manjrekar, Head of AI and Strategic Alliances at WekaIO.
Learn more about Graphcore's Partner Programme
IPU Hardware documentation
To join Graphcore’s Partner Programme as a reseller, OEM or technology partner, please apply here.
