Supermicro has introduced an advanced storage solution tailored for AI applications, utilizing multiple Nvidia BlueField-3 data processing units (DPUs) alongside an all-flash storage array.

This new storage system, referred to as a Just a Bunch of Flash (JBOF), is designed in a 2U rack format that accommodates up to four BlueField-3 DPUs. These units are equipped with support for either 400Gb Ethernet or InfiniBand connections, providing significant hardware acceleration for high-performance storage and networking tasks.

In this innovative approach, Supermicro replaces traditional storage CPUs and memory components with the BlueField-3 DPU, which utilizes its 16 Arm cores to handle storage applications directly. The BlueField-3 also enhances networking efficiency through built-in support for RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), as well as GPU Direct Storage and GPU-Initiated Storage.

The architecture of the dual-port JBOF is crafted for active-active clustering, promoting high availability for both scale-up and scale-out storage solutions, such as object storage and parallel file systems. The system can support either 24 or 36 SSDs, reaching a maximum raw storage capacity of 1.105PB when using 30.71TB SSDs.

“Our optimized network and storage I/O design can fully utilize the 400 Gb/s capabilities of the BlueField-3, achieving bandwidth of over 250GB/s with Gen 5 SSDs,” stated Charles Liang, Supermicro’s president and CEO.

In collaboration with Nvidia, Supermicro is also developing a new ecosystem for the JBOF, partnering with data platform provider Hammerspace and object storage company Cloudian. This initiative aims to ensure that these storage infrastructure software platforms can operate natively on the BlueField-3 DPU.