

Hammerspace Inc., a startup that uses the Linux kernel to provide applications with faster access to data, has closed a $100 million funding round.
The company detailed today that the Series B deal was led by Altimeter with participation from ARK Invest and several unnamed backers. Ark Invest also joined Hammerspace’s previous $56 million raise in 2023. The software maker disclosed on occasion of the new funding that its customer base includes Meta Platforms Inc., the U.S. Defense Department and the National Science Foundation.
The performance of an artificial intelligence cluster is determined not only by how much data it can process but also the rate at which it retrieves data from storage. If the cluster can theoretically process 10 gigabytes of data per hour but only retrieves 8 gigabytes in that time frame, its compute capacity is left underutilized. As a result, storage performance is a major priority in machine learning projects.
Hammerspace provides a data management platform that can be used to power AI clusters. Such clusters’ storage environment usually includes multiple arrays. Hammerspace’s platform can retrieve data from several arrays simultaneously rather than only one system at a time, which boosts performance.
There are competing platforms that provide similar parallelization features. According to Hammerspace, the catch is that those platforms require customers to install proprietary data access programs, or clients. Deploying additional programs in an AI cluster complicates day-to-day maintenance and sometimes requires companies to rewrite the cluster’s existing software.
Hammerspace’s parallel data management features are powered by a technology called NFS. The technology is built directly into Linux, which in turn powers most enterprise technology environments. As a result, companies don’t have to install any additional software to use NFS and Hammerspace’s parallelization features.
The first iteration of NFS was released in 1984. To make the technology more suitable for use in modern data centers, Hammerspace has contributed a number of enhancements over recent years. The company’s platform uses those additions to further boost storage performance.
Usually, data access requests powered by NFS aren’t sent directly to a storage system but first go through a so-called NAS server. Hammerspace skips that server, which speeds up information retrieval. To further save time, data requests can also bypass the central processing units of the systems involved in the workflow.
Hammerspace says its platform can be used in not only AI clusters but also other types of technology environments. A feature of NFS called FlexFiles, which was likewise developed by the company, allows its platform to interact with many different kinds of storage infrastructure.
Performance is not the software’s only selling point. Hammerspace provides a so-called global namespace, which allows companies to manage multiple disparate storage environments as one big environment. That can simplify certain day-to-day maintenance tasks. The platform also automates the task of ensuring files are stored in accordance with a company’s cybersecurity and reliability rules.
There are scenarios where an application deployed in one data center may need to access files stored in another. That usually requires copying the files to the data center where the application is running. Hammerspace says that its platform allows workloads to access records stored in remote systems without creating copies, which reduces storage costs.
“We orchestrate data to the GPU faster regardless of where it is physically stored,” said Hammerspace co-founder and Chief Executive Officer David Flynn. “We instantly assimilate data from third-party storage so it’s ready to process faster. We deploy and scale easily and quickly so our customers can achieve their business outcomes faster.”
Hammerspace will use the proceeds from its new funding round to grow its international presence.
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