Flash Memory Summit: Liqid With OSS Demonstrated Composable Infrastructure Platform With Dynamic GPU Assignment

Liqid Inc. showcased its Composable Infrastructure (CI) solution at Flash Memory Summit, demonstrating bare-metal CI paired with the Express Box 3600/3450 (EB3600/EB3450), a PCIe-based Multi-GPU PCIe Gen 3 expansion chassis series from One Stop Systems, Inc. (OSS).

Liqid CI platform

Delivering the ability to pool and orchestrate graphics processing alongside storage, networking, and compute, the demo shows how company’s CI enables users to dynamically leverage multiple NVIDIA Corp.’ GPUs aggregated on the EB-series across the application spectrum, balancing the resource alongside solid state and other datacenter elements. The infrastructure agility achieved through the first-of-its-kind configuration can scale graphics processing to meet the emerging demands of data-hungry applications in fields as diverse as artificial intelligence, IoT, infrastructure-as-a-service , HPC, digital media and entertainment, and more.

Liqid Grid – PCIe Fabric front and rear

“The Express Box PCIe expansion chassis series from OSS provides the industry’s most sophisticated vessel for aggregating NVIDIA’s powerful GPU resources to deliver breakthrough computational capabilities,” said Steve Cooper, CEO, OSS. “When coupled with innovative CI solutions from Liqid, the value inherent to the EB-series can be amplified through Liqid’s pooling, orchestration, and scaling features to drive improvements in application performance and take greater advantage of GPU technology’s transformative potential.“

OSS ExpressBox 3450

The Express Box series of PCIe expansion chassis provides independent PCIe slot subsystems that can be managed separately by different hosts. The EB-series permits IT administrators to aggregate graphics processing resources for workloads that require more GPU processing power than can be produced through installation in existing PCIe slots on servers and workstations. It is for emerging applications in artificial intelligence and other high density GPU applications that demand mission-critical features.

OSS ExpressBox 3600-P

At Flash Memory Summit, Liqid and OSS showcased how their solutions can be jointly deployed to scale-out GPU over a composable PCIe fabric, with firm’s CI providing infrastructure agility through its ability to pool, scale and orchestrate graphics processing alongside the latest solid-state technologies and other datacenter resources. The live product demonstration featured the OSS EB-series GPU expansion chassis loaded with Nvidia Corporation‘ Tesla GPUs, and deployed on the company’s Grid Composable PCIe Fabric switch, demonstrating dynamic GPU assignment over a high performance PCIe fabric.

With the firm’s CI Platform built on disaggregated resource pools, users are freed from the restrictions of the motherboard/chassis paradigm that has remained one of the final and most stubborn physical limitations of the digital world. The CI software allows IT users to orchestrate resources as needed and instantly reallocate physical resources as business needs change.

“Through partnerships with industry-leading companies like OSS, Liqid continues to demonstrate how increasingly critical GPU resources can be more effectively deployed alongside flash media and other datacenter elements to achieve exponential advancements in infrastructure agility and utilization,” said Jay Breakstone, CEO, Liqid. “With a new generation of technologies quickly steering us into the next decade of innovation, our composability solutions can be configured to scale for graphically intensive compute applications such as genetic mapping, oil and gas research, or machine learning algorithms, providing the infrastructure flexibility necessary for continued advancement in a variety of fields.“