For telco AI workloads, on-prem data centers are the future, according to Dell Technologies
At the recent Telco AI Forum, Dell Technologies and silicon partner AMD announced the Dell PowerEdge XE9680 Server with AMD Instinct MI300X Accelerator and ROCm 6 open software platform. Optimized for machine learning, deep learning and gen AI workloads at scale, the server promises to accelerate computational tasks in data centers and can support training for the largest AI models.
AMD’s Director of HPC/AI Strategic Accounts Justin Ionescu and Dell’s Director of Strategic Global Partnerships Suresh Raam spoke in detail about how their partnership will aid the accelerated cloudification of telco networks in the move to 5G Standalone (SA) and the decentralization of compute from data centers to the network edge.
“AMD and Dell are very much focused on democratizing the AI space for both hardware and software,” said Ionescu. Raam added, that in order for telcos to get the most out of what AI can offer, this “democratization” should start at the data center. “From the telco lens, virtualization starts at the telco data centers, and it’s a great place to promote the network operational benefits and modernization,” said Raam.
Some of those benefits, explained Ionescu, include predictive maintenance, fraud detection and prevention, the ability to leverage analytics to reduce customer churn and identifying network congestion, hotspots and traffic patterns.
When compared to public cloud AI infrastructure, on-premise AI infrastructure offers telcos better latency, data sovereignty, security and operational savings, argued Raam. In fact, he stated that studies have shown that on-prem data centers for telcos could save up to three times in cost compared to public cloud. “And the cost drivers include … operational cost[s] related to hosting in a cloud, from leasing that infrastructure to paying down for licenses,” he added.
Dell has also observed that there are certain AI use cases for telco data centers that require millisecond latencies, such as those for near-real time or real-time network operational applications “which could not be achieved with the cloud-based architecture,” said Raam. As a result, he said that a key goal of the Dell and AMD partnership is to “build the idea that [on-prem data centers are] the future.”
Ionescu described AI as a “leading technology mega-trend [that is] pervasive from endpoint to edge to cloud” and is “propelling early adopters into very advantaged positions.”
Watch the full session and more on-demand at the Telco AI Forum website.
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