Intel is ready to ramp up the market for add-on cards. Their roadmap for Infrastructure Processing Units, which is what Intel calls a DPU, are focusing on a combination of ASICs and FPGAs. The ASIC model is a high-performance unit with very specific uses. The FPGA model is more programmable at the cost of peak output. The road map also lays out the future of Intel’s plans for the next three years, maxing out at a unit capable of 800 Gbps by 2025. One of the keys to getting this kind of performance is writing software for the unit. Intel has launched the Infrastructure Programmer Development Kit, or IPDK, which parallels their development of the similar DPDK for networks. All this and more on this week’s Rundown.
0:48 | Panzura Plays Phoenix
Hybrid multi-cloud data management company Panzura announced last week that they have completed a new round of funding. Their Series B is valued at $80 million. This news is significant after the company was refounded back in 2020 after being acquired from the orignal founders by private equity. Panzura focuses on object storage for multi-cloud and is looking to increase their customer base with this latest infusion of cash. Chris, what do you make of this news.
Read More: A Renewed, Refounded Panzura Raises $80M
2:59 | Oracle Owes HPE $3 Billion over Itanium
Oracle’s court woes haven’t ended this week. The US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal this week that was filed by the database giant against a ruling in favor of HPE. The lawsuit stems from an agreement back in 2011 that Oracle would continue to support a version of their flaship database running on Intel’s Itanium platform. When Oracle found out that Intel was dropping Itanium they pulled out the agreement, which caused HPE, at the time just plain HP, to sue and win a judgement of $3 billion. Oracle appealed the judgement all the way to the Supreme Court on 1st Amendment grounds. SCOTUS declined to hear the appeal, which means Orcale needs to pay up. Tom, is Larry Ellison going to have to dig deep for this one?
Read More: Oracle really does owe HPE $3b after Supreme Court snub
6:31 | Pure Picks Snowflake for Co-Io Clouds
Pure Storage announced last week that they are working with Snowflake to provide analysis for for data stored on FlashBlades. Snowflake is a huge name in the cloud data analysis game but they also realize that some data needs to stay with the customer, either due to size or data soverignty issues. By allowing Snowflake to work on FlashBlade volumes stored in co-location facilites like those at Equinix, Pure can provide speed that is almost equivalent to hosting those workloads directly in the cloud. Chris, is this a big deal for customers that want Snowfake but don’t want to get buried in an avalanche of data issues?
Read More: Pure uses Snowflake to get FlashBlade up close and cloud-adjacent with customers’ co-los
9:21 | Intel Shareholders Don’t Like Gelsinger’s Pay
Intel’s investors have issues with the way Pat Gelsinger and other execs are paid. In a filing with the SEC last week it was disclosed that shareholders voted against Intel’s executive compensation package in a 2-to-1 ratio. The vote is non-binding for Intel and was also the outcome of last year’s vote. Investors noted that executive pay is not directly tied to performance and very high when compared against regular Intel employees. The vote could also be a repudiation of Gelsinger’s attempts to revitalize the chipmaker with expansions of foundry facilities around the globe that will take investment and could negatively impact the stock price for a number of years. Tom, are the shareholders sending a message here?
Read More: Intel shareholders revolt against Pat Gelsinger’s pay package
14:17 | Intel Plans for 800 Gbos IPUs
Intel is ready to ramp up the market for add-on cards. Their roadmap for Infastructure Processing Units, which is what Intel calls a DPU, are focusing on a combination of ASICs and FPGAs. The ASIC model is a high-performance unit with very specfic uses. The FPGA model is more programmable at the cost of peak output. The road map also lays out the future of Intel’s plans for the next three years, maxing out at a unit capable of 800 Gbps by 2025. One of the keys to getting this kind of performance is writing software for the unit. Intel has launched the Infastructure Programmer Development Kit, or IPDK, which parallels their development of the similar DPDK for networks. Chris, what do you think about Intel moving swiftly in the IPU/DPU market?
Read More: Intel IPU Plans Revealed for 800Gbps IPUs in 2025
21:31 | The Weeks Ahead
AI Field Day is taking place May 18 through May 20, 2022
Cisco Live US is taking place June 12 through June 16, 2022
Cloud Field Day 14 is taking place June 22 through June 24, 2022
The Gestalt IT Rundown is a live weekly look at the IT news of the week. It broadcasts live on Facebook every Wednesday at 12:30pm ET. To watch along, “Like” our Facebook page. Be sure to subscribe to Gestalt IT on YouTube for even more weekly video content.
