Note: a version of this blog post was previously posted on Forbes.com.
WekaIO is partnering with NexGen Cloud, the leading UK-based sustainable infrastructure-as-a-service provider, to establish a high-performance foundation for NexGen Cloud’s upcoming AI Supercloud. This Supercloud and NexGen Cloud’s Hyperstack GPU-as-a-Service platform will leverage WEKA’s technology.
WEKA in the GPU Cloud
NexGen Cloud operates one of the world’s largest GPU fleets, all powered by renewable energy. Their AI Supercloud, estimated at $1 billion, aims to democratize AI by offering affordable, on-demand access to top-tier GPUs. The initiative addresses the growing demand for GPUs for AI model training and inference amid a supply shortage and rising costs.
NexGen chose WEKA’s data platform for its performance, low latency, and hardware-agnostic design. This software efficiently feeds data to large-scale GPU environments, turning data silos into dynamic pipelines. This enhancement allows GPUs to run more efficiently and sustainably, up to 20 times faster, improving customer experience by enabling faster data processing.
Before the announcement, I spoke with NexGen co-founder and CEO Chris Starkey. He told me that NexGen’s customers are building incredibly complex models, which require a scalable infrastructure and an equally scalable approach to moving data. He said, “WEKA helps us deliver a better experience, and we couldn’t satisfy our customers’ demands without WEKA.”
WEKA’s role is crucial in powering NexGen Cloud’s GPU environment, allowing customers to run demanding AI workloads quickly, affordably, and sustainably. NexGen Cloud’s Hyperstack and AI Supercloud offerings, powered by WEKA, aim to meet evolving AI needs, focusing on democratizing access to powerful computing resources while maintaining sustainability.
A Sustainable Story
A core element of NexGen is its institutional commitment to sustainability. The company’s cloud is built on 100% renewable energy and seeks partners with an equally dedicated approach to sustainability. As Chris Starkey said, “We want to do AI, but we don’t want to melt the planet while doing it.”
WEKA has a robust sustainability story. Its data platform feeds data more efficiently to GPUs, enabling them to run more effectively and with less energy consumption. By optimizing data throughput and reducing processing bottlenecks, the overall energy required for data-intensive AI tasks are minimized.
WEKA’s president, Jonathan Martin, told me that WEKA’s approach to managing data minimizes the amount of infrastructure required by 4-7x that of competitive solutions through its unique data reduction capabilities. This results in over 260 tons of CO2e per petabyte saved compared to traditional data architecture.
WEKA’s approach leads to demonstrable efficiency and effectiveness benefits of data processing for AI workloads, aligning with NexGen’s broader energy conservation goals and reducing the environmental impact of high-performance computing.
Analysis
The alliance between WEKA and NexGen Cloud marks a significant step in the AI data platform sphere, blending high-performance computing with eco-conscious practices. WEKA’s involvement provides the technological backbone for NexGen Cloud’s AI Supercloud and Hyperstack GPU-as-a-Service platform, which aim to make advanced AI resources widely accessible.
NexGen Cloud has committed to sustainability, running its GPU fleet entirely on renewable energy. By integrating WEKA’s data platform, they aim to revolutionize GPU utilization efficiency, significantly speeding up processes and enhancing customer experience without compromising their sustainable ethos. WEKA is critical to meeting these demands, enabling rapid, cost-effective, and sustainable AI workload processing.
This synergy between WEKA and NexGen Cloud propels AI innovation forward and maintains a responsible stance on environmental sustainability, showcasing a blueprint for future technology collaborations.
WEKA’s collaboration with NexGen is just the latest of several related collaborations. Over the past six months, WEKA announced partnerships with two GPU service providers, Iris Energy and Applied Digital, helping each organization solve generative AI data challenges.
Bridging the desire for responsible and sustainable compute against the reality of energy-hungry AI infrastructure is a tremendous challenge. Addressing that challenge while delivering data that meets the high-throughput and low-latency demands of GPU clusters seems impossible. Yet, WEKA delivers a solution that manages to do just that.
