Equinix and Dell Technologies want to transform AI infrastructure

Equinix and Dell Technologies are teaming up to offer a private AI solution that lets businesses train AI models in public and private clouds.

The plan is to integrate Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA technology into the Equinix global network of data centers to offer a range of products, solutions, and services in a neutral, cloud-adjacent platform, the duo said.

"Working with Equinix allows us to deliver the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA and meet the evolving needs of enterprises and our partner community," said Chad Dunn, vice president of product management, AI and data management at Dell Technologies.

"Our combined expertise in high performance computing, advanced cooling and efficient infrastructure helps ensure that customers can deploy and scale AI workloads securely and more sustainably."

As part of the deal, customers will gain access to secure and cost-effective public cloud options, colocation facilities, and their own private cloud and on-premises infrastructure.

The Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA combines Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers with NVIDIA accelerated computing, the NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet platform, NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs, Dell PowerScale F710 storage, and the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform.

The solution will be available at any of Equinix's 260+ AI-ready data centers.

"Our collaboration with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA enables enterprises to harness the power of generative AI while maintaining control over their data and supporting their corporate sustainability goals," said Lisa Miller, senior vice president, platform alliances, at Equinix.

"This solution is designed to support the most demanding AI workloads and help ensure our customers can innovate and drive outcomes."

The collaboration brings benefits for the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, by leveraging Equinix's network of data centers, claimed to offer 99.999% uptime, advanced cooling, and robust inter-connectivity.

There are more than 260 of these data centers in total, across 70 metros, with private and scalable interconnections that enable secure data transfer across an ecosystem of 10,000 enterprises, including over 2,000 networks and 3,000 cloud and IT service providers.

Equinix hits 96% renewable energy coverage across its data centers globally - 100% in the Americas and EMEA - and, it said, offers a secure, private infrastructure with full control and access to the lineage of AI models on privately hosted GPUs and interconnection.

"Understanding and applying generative AI in the enterprise requires a deep technical knowledge base, and many organizations struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of the ever-evolving landscape," commented Mike Leone, practice director, data management, analytics & AI at Enterprise Strategy Group.

"In a recent ESG study, 91% of organizations agree that working with partners has helped them see value from generative AI more quickly than expected. This collaboration between Equinix and Dell Technologies lets organizations efficiently deploy cutting edge AI technologies in some of the most advanced, high performance data centers in the world."