DDN Storage Chosen by Standard Cognition

DataDirect Networks, Inc. announced that Standard Cognition Corp. has selected DDN’s IME SSD-based storage for its autonomous checkout solution, an AI-based system that lets consumers shop and pay without scanning or stopping to check out.

By combining its complex deep-learning algorithms and cameras with DDN’s scalable AI-enabled storage platform, Standard Cognition can identify shoppers and the items they select, and automatically bill them in real time as they exit the store.

Standard Cognition – recognized by Fast company magazine in its Most Innovative Companies issue – needed a scalable intelligent storage solution that could handle continuous data acquisition from multiple cameras, deliver real-time analysis of the data, offer low-latency response for random and unstructured large data set reads, and manage complex deep-learning training algorithms. DDN’s EXAScaler ES7K File Systems Storage and IME240 SSD AI storage system provided all of that.

“DDN’s scalable, high-performance storage technologies are ideally suited for our deep-learning platform – but what really sets DDN apart is its comprehensive knowledge and expertise not just in storage but in our entire architecture, as well as its dedication to solving our most complex challenges,” said Jeff Hsu, intelligence and logistics manager, Standard Cognition. “DDN’s engineering and support teams are truly exemplary and make DDN a valued partner.“

“The Standard Cognition team set out to massively disrupt retail checkout, and has made swift progress with the world’s top retailers thanks to its solid technology and small store footprint,” said James Coomer, VP of product management, marketing and benchmarks, DDN. “Their environment exemplifies the technological and commercial needs that are creating demand for a new class of storage solutions. With our deep experience and proven technologies in AI, HPC and large-scale computing, DDN is uniquely positioned to deliver analytics and machine learning results with an efficiency and acceleration never achieved before, and push the boundaries of what is possible.“

The EXAScaler ES7K File system and IME240 SSD AI storage solution enables organizations to overcome the challenges and inefficiencies caused by I/O bottlenecks. IME scale-out, software-defined, flash storage interfaces directly to applications and secures I/O via a data path that eliminates file system bottlenecks. With DDN, Standard Cognition is realizing flash-cache economics with a storage architecture suited to deep learning and machine requirements.