Blockchain and artificial intelligence are no longer future technology. Recent advancements in storage, networking and application management mean businesses can leverage the advantages of these technologies for encrypted transactions and intelligent machines today. But while many executives are interested in deploying AI, few know how they could use it to solve their most immediate problems.

“Helping companies to be able to take advantage of blockchain and then position them for the future,” is the aim of blockchain and AI hosting company Core Scientific Inc., according to the company’s senior vice president of business development John Curran (pictured, left).

“We’re creating a public cloud focused on GPU-centric computing and artificial intelligence, and we’re there to help really usher in the new age of AI,” he said.

Curran and Jim Benedetto (pictured, right), chief data officer of Core Scientific Inc., spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Pure//Accelerate event in Austin, Texas.

They discussed AI-ready infrastructure and the importance of custom building data centers for the powerful graphics processing units required for AI and blockchain (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Driving as much data into the GPU as fast as possible

Traditional data centers built to accommodate central processing units can supply between five and 10 megawatts of power, far less than is required by more powerful GPUs. Each of Core’s four custom-built hosting facilities have 50 plus megawatts of power, and the company has room to expand, with about 675 megawatts of power under contract, according to Curran

“The CPU is fundamentally different than the GPU. And if you try to retrofit CPU-based data centers for GPUs, you’re not going to fully maximize the performance and the capabilities of the GPU,” Benedetto said.

Alongside additional power, Core’s “overall goal also is to be able to provide a supporting infrastructure, which is from an AI-ready design, the interconnected networking, and also the incredibly fast storage behind it,” Benedetto said. “For me it boils down to one thing … how much data can I get into those GPUs as fast as possible.”

Core+Pure+Nvidia use case results in massive performance increase

Core has partnered with Pure Storage Inc. and GPU inventor Nvidia Corp. to build out their data centers. The company chose Pure Storage because of its speed, performance and sustainability.

“A lot of other storage vendors say that they’re horizontally scalable forever, but they’re actually running different heads and in a variety of different ways. Pure is the only storage vendor that I’ve ever come across that is truly horizontally scalable,” Benedetto said.

Results have been impressive. Benedetto quoted a use case for one client that switched its GPU compute from the public cloud to Core. “They went from 14 or 15 GPUs down to two [Nvidia Quadro] GV100s in a DGX-1 and backed by Pure Storage with Arista,” he said. “And from 14 GPUs to two GPUs, they saw an 800% increase in performance.”

As well as dramatic performance improvement, the client saw increased data visibility, which means more actionable insights.

“It doesn’t just speed up things; it allows you to look at data you were never able to look at before,” Benedetto said. “Instead of having tables with 100s of millions of rows, they now can have tables with billions of rows.”

This maximizes the profit the company is able to extract from its data by providing more actionable insights to drive the bottom line.

AIRI is a tangible solution

Core is an elite-level managed service provider for Pure, and according to Curran, Core is focused on bringing AIRI to the cloud. AIRI is an AI-ready infrastructure, architected by Pure Storage and Nvidia to extend the power of Nvidia DGX systems.

“It’s a deep partnership, and it allows us to really coordinate our technical teams, our sales teams, and be able to bring this technology across the industry,” Curran stated.

AIRI is already being marketed by Core as a cost-efficient way for companies to jump the technical barriers that slow the adoption of AI.

“It’s a core solution in our facility,” Curran said. “We’re seeing customer demand to go out and really start to drive some business value.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Pure//Accelerate event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Pure//Accelerate event. Neither Pure Storage Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE