Analyst(s): Camberley Bates
Publication Date: November 25, 2024
On November 18–23, 2024, Atlanta hosted SuperComputing 2024 with over 17,000 in attendance and 500 exhibitors.
What is Covered in this Article:
- HPC and AI hit the mainstream
- Key announcements and innovations
- Data storage takes the stage
- Liquid cooling is Big.
SuperComputing 2024: A Playground for the Future of Technology
Analyst Take: SuperComputing 2024 (SC24) showcased the rapid evolution of HPC and AI technology. The event highlighted breakthroughs in speed, energy efficiency, cooling, and data management at unprecedented scales, marking a shift from its traditional academic roots to a mainstream enterprise venue.
Key Announcements and Innovations
Hammerspace
Hammerspace’s Tier-0 storage innovation reclaims stranded server drives to create a shared, protected storage environment. This strategy enables faster reads and checkpoints, boosting compute efficiency by up to 10%. Their record-breaking results on MLPerf storage tests highlight their relevance in AI environments.
Hitachi Vantara
Traditionally known for its block storage solutions, Hitachi Vantara emerged with the Hitachi IQ brand, leveraging expertise from other Hitachi divisions such as rail and manufacturing to deliver AI-driven OT solutions. Collaborations with WEKA, Zetaris, and NVIDIA (via a dedicated POD) positioned Hitachi to help customers architect and execute OT solutions powered by AI.
Quantum, Inc.
Quantum extended its strong M&E market presence to HPC with Myriad, a high-speed file system born from acquisitions and further development. By integrating Myriad with ActiveScale (its object storage platform), Quantum now targets active archive workflows, bridging the gap between high-speed access and long-term storage.
Solidigm
Prior to the show, Solidigm rolled out their 122TB drive, setting the pace for the next-generation QLC and large-scale data stores that are expected to be the basis for AI. With their hyper focus on the enterprise, Solidigm has doubled down on mapping out requirements for this market and bringing the latest technology. We expect them to sell out as they have with the 61TB drive.
VAST Data
At their Cosmos Event, held at the College Football Hall of Fame with over 400 attendees, VAST Data highlighted its shift from HPC data infrastructure to the rapidly expanding generative AI space. Collaborations with Harvard Medical Systems and CoreWeave spotlighted foundational LLMs specialized for genome research, protein development, and cancer detection. With data scaling past 100 PB, VAST is aligning its infrastructure to power breakthroughs in life sciences.
vDura (Formerly Panasas)
Rebranded as vDura, this long-time player in parallel file systems introduced its first microservices-based engineering release. With a refreshed leadership team familiar with the company’s history, vDura emphasized not just speed and scalability but also durability—playfully underscored by employing a deadlift champion to “lift” 282 PB of SSDs. Expect significant performance updates and adaptability to AI and HPC workloads in 2025.
IBM, Dell, NetApp, and Pure
- IBM Storage Scale (GPFS): A mainstay in HPC, based on conversations with IBM, the GPFS continues its strong revenue growth, reinforcing its role as a high-performance file system for HPC workloads. While the scale-out file systems will encroach on the AI market, expect the parallel files systems to be very present in the larger environments.
- Dell AI Factory: Dell brought their “show on wheels,” with semitrucks showcasing the Dell AI Factory. This included PowerScale (61TB drives by Solidigm), networking, and XE 9680/40 and more server solutions tailored for AI. On the show floor, they rolled out the latest integrated racks, R5000/R7000 designed for high-density environments with air and liquid cooling. Given their expertise in designing systems, expect to see more innovation in the rack solutions.
- NetApp ONTAP: Showed off their seamless integration with Domino Volumes for NetApp ONTAP. Users can provision, manage, and share storage volumes with Domino. They also showcased their integration with Amazon Bedrock and NVIDIA NEMO. ONTAP’s capabilities streamline workflows for data engineers working across cloud and on-premises environments. Seamless definitely applies here.
Pure Storage and Portworx
Pure expanded its Gen AI Pod lineup while enhancing AI deployments with its Portworx integration for Day 1 and Day 2 operations. A few years ago Portworx rolled out a DBaaS offering, focused on streamlining DevOps operations and enabling a database deployment without ITops involvement. With AI, they have taken this capability to a new level, automating database deployment operations for some specific AI apps with KDB for finance and NEMO for drug discovery.
StorOne
StorOne, a firm out of Israel, highlighted their auto-tiering value proposition, combining high-performance solid-state drives for analytics with cost-effective HDDs. Their thought process to address the very, very active training data along data that is relatively unused but still want it accessible and affordable.
Cooling Technology: Liquid and Beyond
With AI deployments driving higher energy densities, cooling innovations took center stage. Prior to the show, the announcement on cooling tech filled the email boxes. Just two that we took time to review at the show:
- Flex acquired JetCool, advancing liquid cooling with heat sink designs optimized for high-density workloads.
- Valvoline surprised attendees with its entry into cooling fluids for processors, applying expertise from F1 racing to combat heat and corrosion challenges. Their use of isotopes in coolant formulations represents a precision approach to thermal management.
What to Watch:
SC24 marked a tipping point for the HPC and AI ecosystem. Formerly the domain of researchers, professors, and PhD students, the event is now a launchpad for enterprise-scale innovations that address the burgeoning demands of generative AI and high-performance workloads.
- Liquid Cooling Explosion: Expect liquid cooling to become a standard for AI deployments as energy densities rise.
- Mainstreaming HPC: The convergence of HPC and enterprise AI has turned SC24 into a must-watch event for future-ready tech trends.
- Security and Durability: As AI hits mainstream enterprise apps, CIOs will become more acutely concerned with AI delivery and securing the apps.
SC24 showed how HPC innovations are no longer niche but integral to solving the world’s biggest challenges, from cancer detection to AI-driven operational efficiency. The event is a clear indicator that we’re entering a new era where AI and HPC redefine what’s possible.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
The New Tier 0 from Hammerspace – Six Five On The Road at SC24
Making Dell AI Factory Real – Six Five On The Road at Dell Technologies World
Visit to Solidigm HQ – State of Storage for AI
Author Information
Now retired, Camberley brought over 25 years of executive experience leading sales and marketing teams at Fortune 500 firms. Before joining The Futurum Group, she led the Evaluator Group, an information technology analyst firm as Managing Director.
Her career spanned all elements of sales and marketing including a 360-degree view of addressing challenges and delivering solutions was achieved from crossing the boundary of sales and channel engagement with large enterprise vendors and her own 100-person IT services firm.
Camberley provided Global 250 startups with go-to-market strategies, creating a new market category “MAID” as Vice President of Marketing at COPAN and led a worldwide marketing team including channels as a VP at VERITAS. At GE Access, a $2B distribution company, she served as VP of a new division and succeeded in growing the company from $14 to $500 million and built a successful 100-person IT services firm. Camberley began her career at IBM in sales and management.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in International Business from California State University – Long Beach and executive certificates from Wellesley and Wharton School of Business.
