VAST Data Announcements from the Tech Field Day Showcase | Gestalt IT Rundown: March 13, 2024

Yesterday VAST Data announced what they are calling the AI Factory, and we got a detailed look at this during a Tech Field Day Showcase. VAST is collaborating with NVIDIA, Supermicro, and Run:ai to demonstrate their ability to operationalize AI at scale. Highlighting their rapid growth and partnerships, VAST Data’s architecture supports new capabilities like VAST DataBase and VAST DataEngine. Discussions cover integrating VAST Data with NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs, optimizing for Supermicro hyperscale servers, and running full-stack AI operations with Run:ai. The showcase emphasized the benefits of DPUs, power savings, and strategic partnerships. It also explored the complexities of deploying AI at scale, emphasizing the integration of data processes and the role of Run:ai in managing GPU resources.

1:04 – $1 Billion Invested by SK Hynix into AI Chip Tech

Mitch Lewis at The Futurum Group is reporting on a major new investment in chip packaging technology from SK Hynix. The investment comes in the form of high-bandwidth memory (HBM). SK Hynix HBM chips have been seeing a huge demand because of the growing number of companies exploring AI in development. HBM is critical to the operations of AI clusters with companies like NVIDIA consuming more and more for GPUs and NPUs. The company is already announced a 12-layer HBM solution and has even more complex offerings on the board in development.

4:27 – Kubernetes Distributed Cloud Firewall Revealed by Aviatrix

Cloud networking startup Aviatrix announced a new distributed cloud firewall for Kubernetes this week. The goal is to help simplify communications between clusters and workloads as well as ensuring everything stays secure. The new firewall ties in to the Aviatrix Cloud Networking Platform to allow organizations to deploy it effortlessly, especially when combined with hybrid deployments where applications are not able to be ported to Kubernetes.

8:24 – Azure Native Qumulo Cold Announced

Qumulo has announced a new cold data storage service that is cloud native for Azure users. Qumulo says the goal is to have their services available for any customer IT environment from on-prem to public cloud. The solution, known as ANQ Cold, is integrated into the Qumulo Global NameSpace which means that users can access the cold data storage tier anywhere, whether local or remote or in the cloud. CTO Kiran Bhageshpur says that ANQ Cold is a great protection against ransomware and is a very affordable archive solution.

11:26 – Russian Military WebEx Meeting Leak Confirmed by German Officials

The German Ministry of Defense faced some harsh criticisim this past week as a Webex call between high ranking military officials and other governement employees was released by a Russian news outlet. The content of the call has created a political firestorm but it has also called into question how the call recording was obtained and why it wasn’t more secured in the first place. According to reports, rather than the stored call being obtained through hacking it was due to an insecure phone line. One of the call participants was in a hotel room in Singapore and dialed into the call from a landlane phone instead of using the Webex app.

16:11 – HP Shows Off the AI PC at Amplify

HP held their partner event, Amplify, last week and our colleagues from Six Five Media were there to see how the company is advancing PCs and printers, aligning with the connective tissue of AI to enhance hybrid work. Their coverage highlighted collaboration with Microsoft, Google, NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm, and Intel, and how HP is positioned to compete in the evolving market. Of course there was also a lot of talk about the approaching AI PC wave, though we anticipate fierce competition in that market with Apple as a dark horse.

23:11 – Internet Cables in the Red Sea Seemingly Damaged

Reports came in last week that there had been some damage to several of the undersea cables that provide global internet service. Four of the cables that run through the contested Bab al-Mendab Strait off the coast of Yemen were reported to have suffered some form of damage. It had been suggested that the attack had been carried out by the rebel forces of the Houthis that have been creating geopolitical tensions in the area for months. Other reports stated the damage was caused by a ship being forced by drop anchor and drag it across the sea floor.

28:18 – VAST Data Announcements from the Tech Field Day Showcase

Watch: VAST Data Tech Field Day Showcase on the Tech Field Day Website.

42:14 – The Weeks Ahead

Security Field Day 11 – April 10 – 11

Edge Field Day 3 – May 1 – 2

Mobile Field Day 11 – May 15 – 16

AppDev Field Day 1 – May 29 – 30

The Six Five Summit – June 11 – 13

Gestalt IT and Tech Field Day are now part of The Futurum Group.

The Gestalt IT Rundown is your look at the IT news of the week. Be sure to subscribe to Gestalt IT on YouTube for even more weekly video content.