Pure Storage Joins Ultra Ethernet Consortium for AI Networking

Pure Storage has announced its membership in the Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC). As a data storage platform provider for enterprise AI initiatives, Pure Storage plans to contribute to the development and integration of UEC technology standards. The company aims to build a platform that optimizes performance for enterprise AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads using Ethernet.

Industry Context

Enterprises pursuing AI objectives often encounter challenges with existing network solutions, which can be difficult to manage and scale. These limitations can impact the flexibility and efficiency required for growing AI workloads. UEC seeks to address these issues by advancing Ethernet technology to support AI innovation.

Ethernet is increasingly being adopted in data centres due to its lower total cost of ownership (TCO), extensive interoperability, and proven reliability. It is the foundation for many of the world's largest AI clusters. The development of new Ultra Ethernet standards is expected to help enterprises maximize their AI and HPC investments while deploying performance-intensive applications.

Key Developments

Pure Storage's involvement in UEC will focus on standardizing and enhancing high-performance Ethernet for large-scale AI and HPC initiatives. This includes:

Faster Innovation: AI infrastructure powered by Ultra Ethernet is expected to reduce job completion times and increase the frequency of iterations, which can accelerate model building, training, and inference.

Cost-Effective Operations: Enhanced compute, network, and link speeds, along with lower latency and higher network utilization, will provide enterprises with high-performance AI and HPC networking and storage based on Ethernet.

Increased Customer Choice: Customers can choose between InfiniBand (IB) and Ethernet networks, allowing them to leverage their existing Ethernet investments for AI and HPC applications.

Insights

“Since its inception, Pure Storage has committed to delivering flexible, reliable, high-performance data storage technologies and services to simplify the enterprise data experience. Joining the UEC provides Pure with the opportunity to work alongside leaders in computing, networking, and storage to drive the development of a new ultra-Ethernet architecture for the most advanced AI and HPC workloads,” said Maciej Kranz, GM, Enterprise, Pure Storage 

“The UEC is a leader in driving the evolution of Ethernet technologies, accelerating innovation and setting new benchmarks for performance, reliability, and scalability in networking. As a member of the steering committee, Arista strongly supports the UEC, and Arista is excited to have Pure Storage’s deep data storage expertise, in collaboration with other industry leaders, to advance Ethernet standards and ultimately empower organizations to meet the ever-growing demands of AI and HPC,” said Hugh Holbrook, Chief Development Officer, Arista Networks 

“Ethernet stands as the leading networking technology for AI due to its unmatched performance and scalability. UEC has emerged as a unifying force, bringing together industry leaders to evolve Ethernet technology for the next generation of AI and HPC. Given the critical role of data storage and protection in a comprehensive AI solution, we are thrilled to see Pure Storage join the consortium, bringing their valuable expertise in these essential areas,” said Ram Velaga, Senior Vice President and General Manager, of Core Switching Group, Broadcom 

“Intel strongly believes in an open ecosystem-driven approach. Intel is working with its ecosystem partners and customers to adapt Ethernet for highly scalable AI / HPC fabrics. We are excited to see our valued, long-time partner Pure Storage joining the UEC and looking forward to keeping working together on joint solutions driving AI everywhere,” said Dorin Vanderjack, VP & GM, U.S. OEM & Strategic Accounts, Intel.

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