Parallel Works has debuted Activate AI, a control plane with integrated Kubernetes support. The company says it will simplify deployment and management of scalable AI and machine learning workloads across hybrid multi-cloud IT environments.
As AI systems grow across IT estates, managing AI workloads and the infrastructure that supports them is becoming a challenge. Parallel Works, which develops technology for managing hybrid multi-cloud computing resources, has launched a new edition of its platform for deployment, scaling and managing AI and machine learning workloads.
According to Parallals Works, the new Activate AI is the latest version of its flagship Activate Control Placker platform, which provides support for AI resource integration, Kubernetes support, and Neocloud (GPU-As-Aa-Service) providers to simplify the management of AI and ML applications and processes.
Headquartered in Chicago, Parallel Works describes a unified control plane that has been activated as an “operating system” for tuning and utilizing HPC (high-performance computing) resources, particularly across hybrid and multi-cloud computing environments. This allows IT managers to easily provision, manage and share computer resources across on-premises, cloud and hybrid systems.
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“So we're going to be a unified interface between all these different system types,” Activate CEO Matthew Shaxted said in an interview. CRN.
AI operation is a challenge due to fragmented infrastructure, high GPU costs, underutilized GPU resources, and a lack of a clear path to production-enabled AI. Parallel Works' new Activate AI offering is designed to expand the capabilities of the Activate Platform into the AI realm, and accelerate the transition from research into AI workflows to production.
Activate AI enables more efficient AI infrastructure management across hybrid and GPU-intensive deployments, according to parallel work. Organizations can run large-scale model training, inference, and simulation workloads in secure environments, including GPU-As-A-Service (GPUAAS) clouds, legacy systems, and next-generation containerized systems.
An important feature of activating AI is the ability to integrate existing Kubernetes clusters into these environments for HPC tasks.
Activate AI is integrated with third-party AI resources such as Amazon Sagemaker, Azure Machine Learning Workspace, and Open Chat APIs. Parallel Works is also partnering with several “NeoCloud” GPU infrastructure service providers, including Canopy Wave, Voltage Park and Vultr, to develop a reference architecture model.
Activate AI allows for chargeback and showback to track internal resource consumption across COBERNETES clusters. The system manages GPU resources across multiple users with dynamic partitions, allowing you to run and migrate workloads in Kubernetes, batch schedulers, and virtualized environments. It also runs and optimizes workloads across NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel AMX systems.
“Even though enterprise leaders need AI to be a competitive advantage, most companies are navigating fragmented infrastructure and increased costs that could turn AI initiatives into strategic responsibility,” Shaxted said. “Our goal is to bridge the ultimate gap between complex infrastructure and actual AI deployments, allowing systems to be accessed without the need for deep infrastructure expertise.”
GPUAAS provider Canopy Wave currently has a reference cell relationship with Activate, so it offers the Activate Control Plane system as an option to its customers, says James Liao, founder and CTO of Canopy Wave. CRN. “We believe there is a lot of common interest between the two companies,” he said.
With AI, many businesses and organizations maintain data on-site, but utilize cloud computing resources such as model training and Canopy Wave for AI inference applications. Other resources, such as front-end applications, reside in traditional CPU-based public clouds. According to LIAO, tools like activating AI to manage all these resources and workloads are needed.
“This is actually a growing need in data centers,” Riao said. “More and more people are in need of adjusting the CPU public cloud with the GPU private cloud.” AI tasks, data, internet connections, various Kubernetes clouds, and more.
In addition to GPU service providers, Parallel Works also collaborates with many technical integrators, including GDIT and Raytheon, which label the Activate platform white and provide it to public sector customers. The company is pursuing opportunities with solution providers World Wide Technologies and Cambridge Computer Solutions and IT infrastructure providers Mark III Systems and Penguin Solutions, according to the CEO.
Shaxted said the parallel work is in the early stages of developing partner programs and building partner ecosystems. The company recently began working with government solutions provider Carahsoft to discuss technology adoption with other major systems integrators.
“So the channel is new to us,” Shaxted said. “We're in the process of activating the entire channel,” Shaxted said.
