How the Right SSD Is Shaping the Future of AI Performance

AI is transforming industries, driving exponential growth in data processing and storage demands. From large-scale model training to real-time inference, AI applications require storage solutions that deliver both high capacity and exceptional performance. Memblaze is addressing these challenges with its cutting-edge PBlaze SSDs, designed to power AI-driven workloads with unmatched efficiency.

For almost all data-driven applications, storage capacity and performance can significantly impact the overall user experience. Data must be read from SSDs, stored in host memory or dedicated memory, and made available for computation.

As AI adoption accelerates, storage requirements become increasingly complex. Different AI workflow stages demand specialized SSD performance characteristics:

Data Preparation Stage

The first step in any AI workflow is data collection and preprocessing. Data may be gathered from various sources, including web scraping, automotive cameras, sensors, edge devices, and large-scale business operations. These datasets are typically vast, diverse, and complex, requiring thorough cleaning, missing value handling, and format conversion before use.

At this stage, SSDs must offer high write speed, mixed read/write performance, high capacity density, and low power consumption to adapt to various deployment environments and enable efficient data preprocessing.

Model Training Stage

In AI training, maintaining a sufficient memory-to-GPU ratio ensures efficient data flow and maximized GPU utilization. However, as datasets grow, SSD-memory interactions intensify, requiring high-capacity SSDs with superior read bandwidth. When leveraging GPU Direct Storage, NVMe SSDs must deliver even greater performance to keep up with direct data transfers to GPU memory.

With the rising demand for high-capacity SSDs from AI model developers, PCIe 5.0 SSDs that balance high performance and large capacity have become the preferred choice. Additionally, for checkpoint saving and training task recovery, high endurance and strong write performance are equally essential.

Model Inference and Deployment

After training, AI models need real-time inference with fast data access and low latency. Unlike sequential training workloads, inference involves frequent random data access, requiring high read IOPS and minimal latency.

Edge AI and cloud-based inference demand SSDs that balance high performance, low power consumption, and scalability to accommodate expanding workloads while maintaining efficiency.

Additionally, data security is crucial, especially for enterprises deploying AI on-premises, where SSDs must protect sensitive business data with robust encryption and secure storage features.

Optimized SSD for AI Performance

AI applications require diverse SSD capabilities at different stages. While no single SSD can cover all scenarios, one constant remains: the need for higher performance, greater efficiency, and increased storage density to meet the evolving challenges of AI.

Memblaze's PBlaze7 7940 is among the first enterprise PCIe 5.0 SSDs available, offering top-tier performance and energy efficiency. With up to 14GB/s read and 10GB/s write speeds, it is engineered for demanding AI workloads. Optimized for low-queue-depth operations and tuned for QoS under heavy loads, it seamlessly supports diverse AI tasks, from Unet3D medical imaging training to processing vast datasets in large language models.

With a typical read power consumption as low as 16W, the PBlaze7 7940 sets a new standard for energy efficiency, making it ideal for large-scale deployments and edge AI applications while optimizing power consumption and reducing TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).

Additionally, it is available in a 30.72TB 2.5-inch form factor and a 15.36TB E1.S option, delivering high-capacity storage without compromising performance, making it adaptable to various AI deployment needs.

Memblaze continues to drive flash storage innovation, developing higher-capacity, higher-performance SSDs to power the next generation of AI-driven advancements.

Qiong Wu | PR Manager, Marketing Department
Mobile: +86 15810719739
E-mail: qiong.wu@memblaze.com
Address: B2-A302, Dongsheng Technology Park, No.66 Xixiaokou Road, Haidian District, 100192, Beijing China

Memblaze is the world's leading supplier of enterprise-level SSD (Solid State Drive) products and solutions. The PBlaze series SSD launched by Memblaze has been widely used in database, virtualization, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other fields, providing stable and reliable high-speed storage solutions for many customers in Internet, cloud service, finance, telecommunications and other industries.
For more information, please visit Memblaze.com

This release was published on openPR.