UPDATED 12:53 EDT / NOVEMBER 16 2023

INFRA

Dell equips its HCI portfolio to handle intricate AI workloads

Because of how well they play together, the supercomputing industry is seeing a massive artificial intelligence influx. Hardware capabilities, software support and other enablers are being built up to facilitate this pairing.

As AI hardware gains prominence, Dell Technologies Inc. has positioned itself as a leader in the industry, adapting swiftly to the changing dynamics, according to Bill Leslie (pictured), director of HCI technical marketing at Dell.

“One of the things that we saw with VxRail when it was introduced about seven years ago is it was really about how [to] offload some of the day-to-day tasks and mundane things that take up our time,” Leslie said. “Little did we know we’d be where we’re at today, where now AI is radically changing that game in many ways with some of the large language models and things of that sort as well.”

Leslie spoke with theCUBE industry analysts John Furrier and Savannah Peterson at SC23, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the fusion of AI and systems architecture as hardware meets software reconfiguration. (* Disclosure below.)

Hyperconverged infrastructure and the AI landscape

When Dell introduced VxRail, the focus was on automating routine tasks. However, the rise of AI has led to a radical transformation in workload dynamics. The integration of AI into HCI, drawing from its best practices, has been a real game-changer, according to Leslie.

“I think about four years ago we started to see more and more of the GPU introductions that would take on new workloads,” he said. “One of the things we’ve been doing with VxRail along the way is building in capabilities where we’re actually deploying those GPUs in the first-run experience [and] managing the day two experiences with the lifecycle management — those things that sound easy but can be kind of hard if you’re not focused on them all the time.”

This underscores the importance of an end-to-end workflow, considering factors such as storage, interconnects and overall throughput. VMware Inc.’s new architecture with vSAN ESA enhances both performance and cost profiles in the evolving AI landscape, Leslie added.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of SC23:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for SC23. Neither Dell Technologies Inc., the main sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE

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