Fore more episodes: https://www.utilizingtech.com/

Storage software running on modern hardware can deliver incredible performance and capability to support AI applications. This episode of Utilizing Tech wraps up our season with a discussion of WEKA's data platform for AI with Alan McSeveney, Scott Shadley of Solidigm, and host Stephen Foskett. Modern hardware is capable of incredible performance, but bottlenecks remain. The limiting factor for AI processors is memory capacity: GPUs are hungry for data and must be refreshed from storage quickly enough to keep them running at scale. Storage can also be used to share data between GPUs across the data center and to cache working data to accelerate calculation. The secret to scalability, from storage to applications to AI, is distribution and parallel processing. Modern software runs at incredible scale, and all elements of the stack must match. Technologies like Kubernetes allow applications to use huge clusters of workers all contributing to scale and performance. WEKA runs this way, matching the GPU clusters and web applications we rely on today.

Guest: Alan McSeveney, Field CTO of Media and Entertainment, WEKA

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠.

More episodes and seasons of Utilizing Tech: https://utilizingtech.com/

Immersion cooling requires specialized servers designed to operate submerged in a tank of coolant, but there are many benefits. In this episode of Utilizing Tech, sponsored by Solidigm, we continue our conversation on immersion cooling with Patrick Scateni of Hypertec, the leading manufacturer of immersion-cooled servers. Most of the current demand for immersion cooling is in the datacenter, but edge computing is rapidly adopting this technology thanks to the demands of AI applications. Hypertec calls their servers immersion born, since they are designed for this specific application rather than being modified for use in a coolant tank. Sustainability is growing in importance and immersion cooled solutions are much more power efficient, much closer to a PUE of 1 compared to 1.5 for a conventional air-cooled server. It also uses no water, while air-cooled data centers often use evaporative cooling equivalent to an olympic-sized pool every day or two. Immersion cooled servers can be packed closer, enabling smaller datacenters, and are cheaper, more reliable, and longer-lived than conventional equipment.

Guest: Patrick Scateni, VP of Global Sales at Hypertec

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠.

More episodes and seasons of Utilizing Tech: https://utilizingtech.com/

Modern AI servers generate a lot of heat, but the industry is ready with revolutionary technologies like immersion cooling. This episode of Utilizing Tech features Micah Jordan from DUG, discussing specialized server solutions with Jeniece Wnorowski of Solidigm and Stephen Foskett. Although it sounds exotic, companies like DUG have been using immersion cooling for decades. Once they proved the value of the technology in their own datacenter, DUG began delivering immersion cooled containers wherever they are needed, especially at the edge. This uniform and efficient cooling allows servers to work harder while also extending their lifespan and reducing the risk of component failure. DUG’s containerized AI racks are being deployed around the world closer to users, lowering the latency and enabling rapid response to demands. DUG is working with partners like Hypertec to build, certify, and support immersion cooling for end customers, achieving higher density and lower energy consumption.

Guest: Micah Jordan, Account Executive at DUG

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micah-jordan1/

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠.

As enterprises roll out production applications using AI model inferencing, they are finding that they are limited by the amount of memory that can be addressed by a GPU. This episode of Utilizing Tech features Steen Graham, founder of Metrum AI, discussing modern RAG and agentic AI applications with Ace Stryker and Stephen Foskett. Achieving the promise of AI requires access to data, and the memory required to deliver this is increasingly a focus of AI infrastructure providers. Technologies like DiskANN allow workloads to be offloaded to solid-state drives rather than system memory, and this surprisingly results in better performance. Another idea is to offload a large AI model to SSDs and deploy larger models on lower-cost GPUs, and this is showing a great deal of promise. Agentic AI in particular can be run in an asynchronous model, enabling them to take advantage of lower-spec hardware including older GPUs and accelerators, reduced RAM capacity and performance, and even all-CPU infrastructure. All of this suggests that AI can be run with less financial and power resources than generally assumed.

Guest:

Steen Graham is the Founder and CEO of Metrum AI. You can connect with Steen on LinkedIn and learn more about Metrum AI on their website.

Guest Host:

Ace Stryker is the Director of Product Marketing at Solidigm. You can connect with Ace on LinkedIn and learn more about Solidigm and their AI efforts on their dedicated AI landing page or watch their AI Field Day presentations from the recent event.

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Standards bodies don't just set technical specifications, they also drive greater understanding of topics like storage. This episode of Utilizing Tech, brought to you by Solidigm, features Dr. J Metz, Chair of SNIA and the Ultra Ethernet Consortium and technical director at AMD. Over decades of advancement, enterprise storage has evolved to be a central requirement of modern systems, especially where AI is concerned. And storage is a lot more than just capacity: It's about performance and power, connectivity and throughput, availability and reliability. Standards bodies like SNIA and UEC help raise awareness of these requirements while also setting standards to address them. Technological developments made in one area often have unexpected applications in others. This makes it even more important to foster open communication to enable ideas to spread.

Host:

J Metz is the Chair of both the Ultra Ethernet Consortium and SNIA, as well as a Technical Director at AMD. You can connect with J on LinkedIn or on X/Twitter. Learn more about The Ultra Ethernet Consortium on their website. Learn more about SNIA on their website. Learn more about AMD here.

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠⁠.

No matter how we define the edge, the special requirements for use in harsh environments drive unique product decisions. This episode of Utilizing Tech, brought to you by Solidigm, features Alistair Bradbrook, founder of Antillion, discussing edge servers with Jeniece Wnorowski and Stephen Foskett. It pays to start with the intended outcome, defining the solution based on customer needs rather than with the technology at hand. This is especially true at the edge, where unique requirements for mobility, power, ruggedness, and manageability drive novel configurations. When it comes to defense applications, AI is driving greater collection of data at the edge, yet connectivity is often inconsistent, driving increasing processing power. Yet the current CPUs can often handle inferencing in edge use cases, especially when the rest of the server, including storage, can handle high data transfer rates. Edge computers have always needed more storage capacity, and the latest SSDs can bring incredible amounts in a small form factor. Antillion is also a leader in conduction cooling, bringing liquid and immersion cooled devices to market for demanding applications. They are also working to bring disaggregated servers to market using CXL technology, a topic covered in detail on season 4 of this podcast. The edge is all about constraints, and this limitation drives incredible innovation.

Guest:

Alistair Bradbrook is the Founder and COO of Antilion. You can connect with Alistair on LinkedIn and learn more about Anitllion on their website.

Hosts:

⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠⁠.

Much of what we take for granted in the IT industry was seeded from HPC and the national labs. This episode of Utilizing Tech features Gary Grider, HPC Division Leader at Los Alamos National Labs, discussing leading-edge technology with Scott Shadley of Solidigm⁠⁠⁠ and Stephen Foskett. The Efficient Mission Centric Computing Consortium (EMC3) is working to bring technologies like sparse memory access and computational storage to life. These technologies are designed for today's massive scale data sets, but Moore's Law suggests that this scale might be coming soon to AI applications and beyond. The goal of the national labs is to work 5-10 years ahead of the market to lay the foundations for what will be needed in the future. Specific products like InfiniBand, Lustre, pNFS, and more were driven forward by these labs as well. Some promising future directions include 3D chip scaling, analog and biological computing, and quantum chips.

Guest: Gary Grider, HPC Division Leader at Los Alamos National Labs

Hosts:

⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠

⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠

⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠, ⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠ ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠.

AI applications have unique requirements for server infrastructure, so a new platform is required. This episode of Utilizing Tech features Mark Klarzynski of PEAK:AIO discussing their AI-specific software-defined storage platform with Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠⁠ of ⁠⁠⁠⁠Solidigm and ⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠. With a background in enterprise storage, the PEAK:AIO team evaluated the needs of AI users with a goal of delivering a simple and integrated solution that could scale to support the most demanding applications. The company began working in healthcare to support distributed applications before finding similar use cases in research and manufacturing. Rather than focusing on advancing technology and then finding a use case, Mark advocates focusing on the needs and possibilities and bringing technology to solve these problems. Edge servers are constrained in terms of power, cooling, and cost, and this requires new thinking, as well as new software and hardware approaches, to continue to progress.

Guest: Mark Klarzynski, Cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer at PEAK:AIO

Hosts:

⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠⁠

⁠⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠

⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠⁠Solidigm⁠⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠, ⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠ ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠.

Much of the conversation on AI is focused on power consumption and chatbots, but there are so many other positive applications for the technology. This episode of Utilizing Tech, sponsored by Solidigm, welcomes Keith Bradley, VP of IT at Nature Fresh Farms, discussing with Stephen Foskett⁠⁠ and Jeniece Wnorowski⁠⁠ how they use AI to improve crop yields and plant performance. Farming has traditionally evaluated crop performance on a large-scale basis, but AI enables Nature Fresh Farms to much more carefully tailor care to the needs of the plants. Once a tomato or pepper has been grown, Nature Fresh can use AI to classify, package, and store produce for sale. This requires a great deal of storage for active plants, and Nature Fresh Farms has standardized on solid state storage because of the incredible combination of performance and reliability it brings. It wouldn't be possible to process this much data at the edge without advanced SSDs, processors, and servers.

Guest: Keith Bradley, Vice President of Information Technology at Nature Fresh Farms

Hosts:

⁠Stephen Foskett⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠

⁠Jeniece Wnorowski⁠, Head of Influencer Marketing at ⁠Solidigm⁠

⁠Scott Shadley⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠Solidigm⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠on LinkedIn⁠, ⁠on X/Twitter,⁠ ⁠on Bluesky⁠, and ⁠on Mastodon⁠. Visit the ⁠Tech Field Day website⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠the dedicated website⁠ and follow the show ⁠on X/Twitter⁠, ⁠on Bluesky⁠, and ⁠on Mastodon⁠.

As the use of AI spreads outside the cloud and datacenter, data management and protection has never been more important. This episode of Utilizing Tech, sponsored by Solidigm, features Rick Vanover of Veeam discussing the importance of data protection with hosts Stephen Foskett⁠⁠ and Scott Shadley⁠. Data protection for backup and security is familiar in the datacenter but is not always considered at the edge. But as AI and sensors push data to the edge, we have to consider how to protect and manage it. Edge AI systems combine elements of endpoint, datacenter, and cloud technologies and often have limited or intermittent connectivity, creating a differentiated platform that challenges data protection software. Mixing these capabilities to build a useful platform is the key challenge for data protection at the edge. Data protection at the edge is different, with continuity and recovery from outages and attacks more important than long-term preservation of data, and IT pros are beginning to adjust their perspectives on the requirements for these systems as well.

Guest:

⁠Rick Vanover⁠, Vice President of Product Strategy at ⁠Veeam⁠

Hosts:

⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠, President of the Tech Field Day Business Unit and Organizer of the ⁠Tech Field Day Event Series⁠

⁠⁠Scott Shadley⁠⁠, Leadership Narrative Director and Evangelist at ⁠Solidigm⁠

Follow Tech Field Day ⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠, ⁠⁠on X/Twitter,⁠⁠ ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠Tech Field Day website⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming events.

For more episodes of Utilizing Tech, head to ⁠⁠the dedicated website⁠⁠ and follow the show ⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠on Mastodon⁠⁠.