Technology has had a history of numerous products that were developed for one task and later they were tweaked or merged with one or more technologies for providing a better solution to a whole different problem.

We are going to talk about a similar case here that has brought a revolution in the IT industry.

The merger of High-Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence can be a good thing for the computer industry as the systems can become cheaper.

Just imagine this – the common hardware base which is the computer, network and storage when deployed for modern high-performance computing and AI systems, will bring down the research and development costs.

How?

The research and development will occur on a single system instead of two different systems. However, this is just one of the benefits that the merger of AI and high-performance computing can bring. The benefits are plenty and it becomes essential to know the reasons that triggered the HPC and AI convergence at the first place.

1. HPC and AI are Meant to Flourish

Technology has a history of expiring ideas which are not being able to cope up with the market. We have also been the witness to various technologies diminishing as and when something superior launched and seized the market. There is no turning back once users adapt to a new technology better and faster than the older one. However, with HPC and AI, this is certainly not the case. Since their inventions, they have only become more and more powerful and well-equipped.

The discovery of hyper-converged infrastructure not only allowed users like major companies to consolidate their compute, networking, and storage at one place but also equip them with the most powerful technology to manage operations at a single platform. Accepting the fact that HPC users have gathered all the knowledge and abilities to converting a workload to a large base of customers is the best option to go with right now. What must also be accepted is that Artificial Intelligence still has a long way to go and it is still in its early stages with innovation knocking on the door.

2. The Data to be Managed by HPC is increasing and AI is Helping us Understand the Data with Ease

Have you wondered what’s the use of these supercomputers? Well, there are many companies with huge workloads that have to manage data in plenty each second. Identical data has to be run millions of times to process the information and this is where supercomputers come into use. The value of HPC systems is immense which is sufficient to justify the need for the speed of supercomputers.

The data being generated at workplaces is so huge at times that many high-performance computing users even claim that it is the huge data that people in the early 90s were talking about. With the increase in the amount of data, the efficiency of supercomputers is also increasing.

AI comes into the picture when the enormous data being produced is to be transformed into an easily understood format. AI could do this job with ease on its own separate system built for that specific purpose. What’s hectic is the time and resources required to move the huge amount of data from the infrastructure where the data is being produced to the AI system. Hence, a system where the HPC and AI can be merged to save a considerable amount of time, data and resources is the practical option to go with for your company.

3. AI-based Models are capable of replacing various computational tasks in a simulation

What does a workplace require in the 21st century? Models that are huge enough to handle all the data and speed that is fast enough to read all the data being produced.

AI has enabled workspaces across the world to analyze simulation data with speed and efficiency, no doubt! Apart from this, it has also given users an option that can easily replace the expensive computational parts in a workspace.

As an example, let’s consider this. Scientists have finally been able to land themselves on a method that can efficiently replace the old system they used to study collision data. Scientists have replaced the Monte Carlo methods with generative adversarial networks (GANs). Now they have a system which can give them more accurate results while measuring particle energy.

The AI code has successfully replaced the old system by producing similar results at a faster pace.

4. The data in the Enterprises will increase which is Obvious

Enterprises are finding it hard to manage huge data and are taking resort to install numerous systems that can efficiently administer the same. Scientists have been busy in determining various data analytics techniques to help enterprises. And sadly the techniques they came up with is not proficient at times as they are totally reliant on human data-interpreting.

Human judgement is still irreplaceable but AI can help humans with working on recurring data that require a lot of calculation. Imagine your employees mishandling all the data that is flowing in your company’s servers ignoring other tasks on hand. The environment won’t only become complex, but the overall productivity will also decrease.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is making its mark in the market and the influx of data is only going to increase. With all such predictions, it becomes extremely essential for enterprises to adopt AI-enabled technology and an environment where AI and high-performance computing can work together saving the time, costs, space and also increasing the overall productivity.

5. IT Managers All over the World are Looking for Architectures that can Perform the Tasks at a Centralized Location

The history of technology has seen a change in the way data centres were created and managed after the advent of virtualization. The same applies to various IT managers as slowly and gradually, most of them are making a shift to architectures that are capable of handling complex plethora of data. If you are still lingering on with the custom architectures that have a narrow range of workload, then your enterprise might be in grave danger to get sidetracked by your competitor who has already made the move.

This must not be hard to believe after numerous companies have adopted hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) to get a more flexible architecture where they can easily manage their tasks of compute, networking, and storage all at the same place.

HPC and AI, when merged together for an enterprise, data preparation and handling can be done on a single platform easily and effectively. IT managers realize the need for a merged system.

To sum up,

We know that both high-performance computing and AI have much to offer to the world and both of these are marvellous in their work and capabilities. The potentials that AI and HPC carry with each other can be the best compliment and provide unique and unparalleled support to each other.

After you have reached this far, it is natural for you to ask about the benefits that favour the merger of HPC and AI prediction. As an industry expert, for long we won’t end this blog without answering this critical question.

1. The Merger will Provide More Efficiency

Deep Learning or DL is the faster-growing field in AI as compared to Machine Learning or ML. The success of AI can largely be credited to its efficiency in analyzing enormous data in a short period. AI can solve a wide range of problems for various industries. The merger is only going to make the process more efficient in analyzing and managing the computing all at the same place at a high speed.

2. The Merger will Give Birth to Newer and Faster Solutions

The innovations will be unstoppable and so will the data that is being produced. The merger will increase the possibility and the range of discoveries to put a faster and better solution in customer’s hands.

Data is the king and the enterprise that will be more efficient and fast in dealing with the enormous data that is about to come in will be the big player in the market. The merger of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence promises a massive gain in performance as compared to the traditional system with separate architecture for both.

GBB is an end-to-end IT Infrastructure Solutions and Services Company based in Hyderabad. We focus on helping customers transform their businesses through the innovative use of technology. We have the aim of providing our clients with excellent service by partnering with the best vendors in the respective areas.

Let me start with some questions.

Is the technology that you use at your business keeping pace with your needs or giving you frequent headaches?

Are you in search of something that is more cost-efficient and that has better redundancy?

If your answer to all the above questions is a YES, then a hyper-converged solution is what you are looking for. It holds the power to simplify the way your data centre is managed and can also provide a clever and effective way to regain your stronghold.

Understanding a Hyper-converged Infrastructure

This IT framework is responsible for the unification of the computing, storage, networking and software into a single system. A simple data centre and increased scalability are two things that can provide you with a new environment with a growth factor that your business needs!

Do you know?

According to Gartner Inc.,
Worldwide integrated systems revenue was expected to rise by 18.4 per cent from $10.2 billion in 2017 to $12.3 billion in 2018 based on previous market trends.

So what are the benefits that your business can see in adopting a hyper-converged infrastructure?

1. Reduced costs

A merger of the compute and storage will help reduce the initial footprint and investment of your new private or public cloud. The hyper-converged cloud is easier to run and maintain when compared to managing numerous components.

This reduces the need for an expensive and specialized staff.
While cost is not the only factor to consider when you design your IT solution, also you won’t be benefitting if you have the fastest data centre and not the profit margin to run it.

Hyperconvergence saves you big bucks by helping you reduce the large infrastructure purchases every year. Low-cost commodity hardware is used and the size of the data centre is made small in easy-to-manage steps.

For eg: Earlier if you had to run and manage ‘n’ number of servers, then switching to a hyper-converged infrastructure will cluster all your resources in less than ‘n’ number of servers. This will allow you to reduce the cost of entry as you will only pay for the amount of space that you need at present and not what you will need in the future.

The cost of ownership of an HCI compared with legacy infrastructure is always less.

2. Workload union

• Hyper-converged solutions unify some or all of the 3 basic hardware components of the IT stack – compute, storage and networking into a single, highly virtualised solution.
• You can improve performance by consolidating multiple tasks such as backup, deduplication all at one place. Appealing, right?
• All the workloads fall under the same umbrella and now all you will need is a safe pair of hands. Your network will become an easy place to switch VMs between different appliances, or even between data centres.

3. Data protection

Some built-in features that you get with HCI help in increasing the productivity and security of data storage at your workplace.
Features like

• snapshotting
• data deduplication

make full and secure data recovery as sure as God made little green apples!

The software-defined nature of HCI will also allow your organisation to use public cloud storage as a target for backups.

One more benefit that you get is that in case an appliance goes down, you can restore it immediately without any hassle. Your system won’t have to remain closed for a long time. For some organisations, even a shut down for a few hours can mean much. If you are among them, then hyper-converged infrastructure is for you.

An HCI will ensure that your performance and availability don’t suffer much when such a thing happens. All thanks to the scale-out model that relies on data being spread across multiple nodes throughout the data centre.

4. An automated infrastructure

Automation becomes impossible in many legacy IT infrastructures as they are so varied and complex. On the other hand, an HCI works on the principles of the software-defined data centre (SDDC), which virtualizes everything including storage, servers and supporting services. Hence automation becomes easy to implement by using management tools such as scheduling.

Working in an HCI, your IT guy won’t have to worry about creating automated structures with hardware from different manufacturers or product lines. Everything is included in a single environment.

Your business will have the privilege to stay agile and competitive when automation will help your organisation increase its efficiency.

5. Procurement and support get simple

• If you get a hyper-converged solution, then you will get one point of contact for the life – from the first inquiry to the system stand-down. You will find a single-vendor approach to procurement, operations, and support.
• Hyper-convergence is less expensive and upgrades are also simpler when compared to integrated systems.
• One manufacturer means only one upgrade in place of numerous updates that you used to do in legacy infrastructure.
• You also get the benefit of updating the software immediately to add the new features that the vendor releases – all without any need to replace the hardware.
• The reduction in all these complex processes will eventually save time and lower the operational costs for you.

6. IT staff becomes small and more efficient

• When the legacy data centre gets transformed into a hyper-converged environment, the needs of your company will change. Your business requires less staff than it did earlier.
• You will no longer feel the urgency for a specialist staff with deep subject matter knowledge for each separate resource area.
• In HCI the basic components are the virtual machines (VMs).
• The policies to use and manage these supportive resources are created by the software which lets the IT admins plan and work on a higher level.

7. Scalability becomes very easy

An HCI can be scaled easily as it is totally based on software. Remember the LEGO blocks? Hyper-converged infrastructure uses the same approach to scalability.
Each block is a self-contained unit designed to include every type of hardware that the data centre needs to maximize agility and compatibility.

You can simply connect a new node to the cluster when you want to add some additional resources to the cluster.
The hyper-converged system will also let you scale compute and storage separately. The identification and integration of the new unit will be automatic.

The manual work of specifically provisioning, configuring and deploying more storage or compute capacity will be eradicated with the help of HCI.
Some other benefits will be:

• No wasting time to create complex plans before expansion
• No opening and risking costly components

Hyper-converged solutions are taking up more space in the market and are becoming the first choice for many in place of the legacy infrastructure that was used earlier. The question for them no longer is what the benefits are. Your competitors now want to know how to take more benefits of the hyper-converged infrastructure.

To conclude:

Hyperconvergence can seem to you as a new approach, but the benefits that it can bring to you can certainly not be ignored. This can eliminate the compatibility and integration issues that arise in multi-vendor data centres and leave you only with a single vendor to deal with.

Adopting the hyper-converged solutions can help your organisation and can turn out to be just the ticket that your business needs. You can talk to our experts at GBB any time when you need assistance or help in selecting HCI over your current infrastructure.

GBB is an end to end IT Infrastructure Solutions and Services Company based in Hyderabad. We focus on helping customers transform their businesses through the innovative use of technology. We have the aim of providing our clients with the best service by partnering with the best vendors in the respective areas.