Storage Providers Join Graphcore Partner Program

Graphcore Limited announces the expansion of its Global Partner Programme to include storage system providers.

DDN (DataDirect Networks, Inc.), Pure Storage, Inc., Vast Data Ltd, and WekaIO, Inc. will provide Graphcore-qualified datacenter reference architectures. Their storage solutions will complement the advanced AI compute delivered by the Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) and Poplar Software stack.

The new partners are innovators in storage technology, and the development of systems designed to meet 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.

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.

“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,” said Victoria Rege, director of global partnerships and strategic alliances.” The addition of these trusted technology providers means that Graphcore can serve customers through an even richer partner ecosystem that now spans distributors, resellers, server and storage manufacturers, cloud service providers and more.“

Many of company’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 firm’s presence across several sectors, including life sciences, higher education, scientific research, manufacturing, finance, and public sector applications, through on-premise deployments.

Over the next quarter, Graphcore will work together with partners to publish resources for customers including reference architectures and deployment guides.

“DDN and Graphcore share a common goal of driving the highest levels of innovation in AI. DDN’s industry leading AI storage, combined with the strength of the Graphcore IPU, brings a powerful new solution to organizations looking a whole AI infrastructure and data management solution with outstanding performance and unlimited scalability.” said James Coomer, SVP for products, 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. “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 ML models, furthering adoption of AI across the enterprise data center,” said Jeff Denworth, co-founder and CMO, 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-gen technologies to our customers, keeping them at the forefront of innovation,” said Shailesh Manjrekar, head of AI and strategic alliances, WekaIO.

To join Graphcore’s Partner programme as a reseller, OEM or technology partner

About Graphcore
Its Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) hardware and Poplar software helps innovators make new breakthroughs in machine intelligence. The IPU is a processor to be designed for Machine Intelligence and offers performance advantages compared to other computing hardware, typically used in AI. The company has raised more than $730 million UK, with offices in Cambridge UK, London UK, Beijing China, Oslo Norway, Palo Alto USA, Munich Germany, Paris France, Seoul Korea and Tokyo Japan.