Artificial intelligence (AI), powered by high-performance computing (HPC), has become an essential tool across a multitude of industries—from detecting financial fraud to energy exploration to government data analysis to scientific research. In modern business, HPC and AI are unlocking profound efficiencies and delivering new insights.
Yet, managing these clusters and cloud configurations can be complex and expensive. Success requires the right IT strategy. Based on decades of HPC and AI expertise, Penguin Solutions is making it easy for IT leaders to deploy effective HPC and AI management strategies through our tools and technology platforms.
AI and HPC Challenges
AI requires immense compute resources, and the hurdles to successful adoption are significant: platform complexity, integration, security, and resource management. While AI delivers amazing innovations, it is incredibly challenging to manage, especially maintaining cost control amid multiple cloud and hybrid environments.
AI factories can rack up costs fast. AI startups, for example, can spend as much as 80% of their capital on compute resources alone. It's not just startups, though. According to Forrester, 94% of organizations overspend their cloud budgets. Managing them efficiently is crucial to success. With multiple users spinning up clusters, you need a comprehensive strategy that optimizes workloads and avoids costly mistakes.
An effective strategy delivers the following benefits:
1. End-to-End Control, Visibility, and Reporting
End-to-end management across hybrid cloud operations is essential.
Utilizing cloud-native intelligence, a fully integrated solution for managing HPCs—including users, VMs, storage, access control, and billing—across all your clusters and clouds is required. This makes auto-scaling and efficient load balancing possible while providing real-time visibility and reporting that helps avoid unnecessary costs.
2. Cluster Specialization for Precision Workloads
Instead of using one-size-fits-all clusters for various workloads and user groups, administrators can create bespoke clusters that are suited to the needs of individual applications. Dormant clusters do not incur costs when idle, but can be activated at a moment’s notice without disrupting other workloads or user activities.
Users gain quick access to the resources they require, exactly when they need them.
3. Robust Security and Access Controls
Adding compute infrastructure complicates security challenges. Built-in support for various authentication methods must include:
- Passwords
- Two-factor authentication
- Mobile device-based authentication
- Private/public key security
- Integration with enterprise identity management infrastructure
4. Real-Time Financial Management and Analytics
Most environments, if not constantly monitored and optimized, lead to costly overruns. Every cluster and workload needs to be tagged, tracked, and managed. This provides high-level insight across clusters and clouds, providing you with detailed, accurate, and timely information about:
- Costs
- Utilization
- Chargebacks
- Showbacks
5. Software License Usage Optimization
Marketplace workflow wrappers that facilitate quick deployment and usage of a wide range of commercial and popular HPC and AI software could be used combined with dynamic cluster and hybrid cloud capabilities. This feature allows for optimized license usage and deployment flexibility, helping you manage costs without sacrificing performance and agility.
6. Cross-Organization Collaboration
Any platform’s flexible system management and data-sharing policies should enable teams from different departments or distributed teams to leverage cluster designs, research findings, and datasets. This can lead to faster results and cost savings by reducing rework and duplication of effort.
By managing budgets at department, team, or project level, you can also reduce cost overruns and excess cluster allocations.
7. Reduced HPC and AI Complexity
By spinning up and shutting down pools automatically, you get more effective resource management and cost-efficient utilization. Overcome HPC and AI complexity and optimize your clusters and cloud resources with automation.
Interested in learning more? Contact Penguin Solutions today to see how we can help accelerate deployment and provide full cost controls in AI and HPC.
