IBM launched a storage system designed with Nvidia for artificial intelligence workloads and use of data tools such as TensorFlow, PyTorch and Spark.
The effort, called IBM Spectrum AI with Nvidia DGX, is a converged system the combines a software-defined file system, all-flash and Nvidia's DGX-1 GPU system.
Also: IBM fighting counterfeiters with world's smallest computer CNET
IBM Spectrum AI is part of a broader trend by storage vendors to go all-flash and create architectures better suited for AI workloads and machine learning. Pure Storage and Nvidia had paired up on AI-ready infrastructure with the former targeting a data hub architecture. NetApp, which now aims to be more of a data management player, and Lenovo partnered on AI systems.
Also: How IBM Watson is revolutionizing 10 industries TechRepublic
Big Blue is hoping to draft off Nvidia's popularity with open source frameworks and developers. Nvidia DGX is often a foundational platform for data science efforts delivered through the cloud or on-premise.
Key parts of the system include:
IBM Spectrum AI with Nvidia DGX is available through IBM and Nvidia resellers and designed to pair with IBM Spectrum Scale, an AI and high performance computing system. IBM's storage unit has reference architectures for AI workloads, flash, models and machine learning and combinations with AWS public cloud services as well as its IBM Cloud Object Storage, Spectrum Discover and Spectrum Scale.