Global data center giant Equinix is expanding its long-standing partnership with Nvidia, launching a new managed private cloud service aimed at helping enterprises leverage ever-growing, ever-changing AI models by moving them to Nvidia DGX SuperPOD data center infrastructure.
The new service, available now, includes DGX systems, networking and AI Enterprise software from Nvidia, while Equinix installs and operates each customer’s hardware and software as a privately-owned infrastructure whose service can be extended to the many international locations where Equinix operates data center infrastructure..
The announcement comes more than two-and-a-half years after Equinix was Nvidia’s launch partner for the latter’s AI Launchpad, which brought together Nvidia’s initial AI hardware and software for easier consumption through cloud providers. Fast forward to 2024 and a rapidly evolving AI market, where new models are constantly growing and changing with the addition of new data and parameters. Enterprise AI projects are starting to require supercomputing infrastructure, but enterprise customers still have concerns about cost, complexity, security, and data sovereignty.
“We’re trying to make sure that our customers are able to efficiently, scalably and easily deploy AI technology in a way that otherwise would take them months or quarters worth of time in order to train their own staff on the expertise required to manage an Nvidia DGX SuperPOD stack and also handle the complicated networking requirements,” said Jon Lin, executive vice president and general manager of data center services at Equinix.
Regarding data privacy and security concerns, Charlie Boyle, vice president of DGX systems at Nvidia, said, “It's super critical that you move your AI to where your data is, and enterprise data for many companies lives in Equinix [data centers].”\
He added, “Our customers want world class AI capabilities, but most of them don't have the data center infrastructure, and the expertise to build, manage and run those systems so the combination [of Equinix and Nvidia] makes a lot of sense, especially for our joint customers.”
Early access customers of the new Equinix service include large companies in biopharma, financial services, software, automotive and retail, the company said.
Aside from the DGX infrastructure, the new service offers high-speed private network access to global network service providers, enabling quick generative AI information retrieval across corporate wide area networks. In addition, it provides private, high-bandwidth interconnections to cloud services and enterprise service providers to facilitate AI workloads while meeting data security and compliance requirements. Equinix’s IBX data center professionals also provide enterprise-grade support and security as part of the service. The company did not share pricing details.