Enabling Data Centers to Thrive in the AI Era: Pliops

In the digital world we live in, the importance of efficient data processing cannot be overstated. As entities across various industries continue to amass vast amounts of data, the ability to rapidly and effectively process this information becomes crucial for maintaining competitiveness, driving innovation, and delivering valuable insights. Globally there are various companies creating an impact in the data processing segment, but Pliops stands out from the rest. A highly innovative startup, Pliops has set a new benchmark for data center scaling and efficiency. Founded in 2017 by a team of seasoned data architecture experts, Pliops set out with a bold vision: to revolutionize AI data processing and alleviate the challenges posed by exponential growth in AI-powered analytics. Recognizing the limitations of AI compute and storage systems in handling massive data volumes, Pliops devised an ingenious solution that overcomes storage inefficiencies to massively accelerate performance and dramatically reduce overall infrastructure costs for data-hungry applications.

With substantial backing from leading investors amounting to $200 million and counting, Pliops has garnered widespread recognition for its innovative approach. Repeatedly named one of the 10 hottest semiconductor startups, Pliops has positioned itself at the forefront of the data processing revolution.

Collaborating closely with top-tier technology partners and leveraging teams in Israel and the United States, Pliops is dedicated to turning its vision into reality. By harnessing cutting-edge technologies and expertise, Pliops aims to empower organizations to unlock the full potential of their data, allowing them to extract actionable insights with unprecedented speed and efficiency. In an age where data is king, Pliops stands poised to make a significant impact, offering a transformative solution to the pressing challenges of data processing in the AI era.

In conversation with Ido Bukspan, CEO of Pliops

Q. Pliops has earned recognition for solutions that revolutionize the way that data is managed. Can you give us a brief overview of how you are causing a paradigm shift in the data center?

Simply put, our technology provides a solution for the rapidly growing volumes of data and solves the problem of slow computational performance for CPUs as well as GPUs. We radically simplify the way data is processed and storage is managed at data centers, and by doing so, we accelerate performance and reduce infrastructure costs for storage and information solutions. On the day it was introduced in 2021, our Extreme Data Processor (XDP) set a new benchmark for data center scaling and efficiency. We have been providing new levels of processing power and storage scalability for AI, Relational/NoSQL/in-memory databases, analytics, 5G, IoT, and other data-intensive applications and platforms ever since. Our technology has truly changed the landscape of what is possible.

Q. What makes Pliops a top enterprise storage company? What do you do differently or better than others?

We take a unique approach to solving industry-wide challenges surrounding exponential data growth and the need to get more from today’s and future infrastructures. This approach is truly transformational, optimizing data infrastructures and accelerating modern workloads while simultaneously reducing TCO by 50%. Our technology and products break away from the norm when it comes to moving payloads in and out of CPU and GPU applications and storage. We help maximize data center infrastructure investments by exponentially increasing application performance, data reliability, storage capacity, and overall stack efficiency.

Q. What are the biggest problems facing database and AI architects at the moment? How is Pliops solving them?

The exponential data growth I mentioned above is being pushed higher and higher by AI applications. Database and AI architects are being tasked with the enormous challenges that come with storing, processing, and making sense of vast amounts of data. Through data shaping—enabling a novel data layout to make applications faster—the solution offered by Pliops is a decisive response to the AI revolution.

Q. Why do you refer to Pliops solutions as ‘modern AI data storage options’? How are the storage needs of today’s enterprise applications and architectures different than before?

Today’s modern enterprises are data-driven. How quickly an organization can access and act upon data can make or break a business. Pliops has developed a modern data services platform that is designed to accommodate the needs of applications that constantly evolve. The widespread adoption and scalability of modern AI applications face significant challenges. Two primary factors hinder their growth:

• GPU Memory Wall: The memory capacity and bandwidth limitations of GPUs prevent them from fully utilizing their computational power.
• CPU Bottleneck as Data and Control Coordinator: The CPU serves as the central coordinator for data management and control in AI applications.

Q. What impact is AI having on data centers, and how is Pliops helping customers address this?

AI is having a significant impact on data centers in various ways, not the least of which is increased workloads and processing power. Storage requirements, scalability, and efficiency are also affected. Our solutions enable performant, dense, and reliable AI infrastructures that allow data centers to keep up with the demands AI places on data. Our Pliops XDP sits between a processor (CPU, GPU, or DPU) and high-speed NVMe storage, fundamentally altering the fixed-size access granularity typical of block devices. It empowers applications to access data at any desired granularity with remarkable speed and minimal latency.

With Pliops, architects can properly shape data infrastructure optimization and workload acceleration. We give them all of the tools needed to succeed in the AI era.

Q. Can you tell us about your product and solution roadmap moving forward?

2024 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for Pliops. Of course, AI will be an area of significant focus. We will be making announcements around collaborations with partners to offer best-in-class database solutions, AI training, and inference platforms. We are also planning to launch several innovative products in the coming year, including the latest generation of our XDP. Our solutions are consistently performing in real-life situations, and our exciting roadmap of new products and technologies is set to further enable data centers to thrive in the AI era.

Pliops AccelKV Universal Data Storage Engine is key for GPU performance and scale by both breaking the GPU memory wall and eliminating the CPU as a coordination bottleneck for storage IO. It extends HBM memory with fast storage to enable terabyte-scale AI applications to run on a single GPU.

“With Pliops, architects can properly shape data infrastructure optimization and workload acceleration. We give them all of the tools needed to succeed in the AI era.”