In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education artificial intelligence (AI), the University of Wyoming is working at the forefront of AI innovation. Using cutting-edge technology, the university is setting up an AI cluster powered by Juniper Networks’ data center fabric to interconnect NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) and accelerate the pace of its research and discovery.
AI clusters are different from traditional data centers. Compute resources are still the engine behind the ultimate output, but most AI data centers rely on GPUs rather than more common central processing units (CPUs). NVIDIA’s lightning-fast GPUs lead the market. But AI training is a massive parallel processing problem that relies on dividing up workloads and sending them out to dispersed GPU servers, so the network is essential for an efficient, economical process.
In the design of the new cluster, the university made the decision that RoCE v2 (RDMA over converged Ethernet version 2) would play a major role in the interconnection of the compute resources. After consulting with Juniper’s AI cluster engineers, the university decided to use Juniper QFX Series Ethernet switches due to their reliability in high-performance computing environments, such as new AI clusters. QFX Series switches support RoCE v2 optimized for congestion management, load balancing and high bandwidth to handle the unique characteristics of AI applications. Additionally, they ensure seamless communication among the AI cluster’s nodes, enabling researchers to focus less on network bottlenecks and GPU utilization and more on pushing the boundaries of AI.
Powering the AI Revolution with Juniper QFX Fabric
NVIDIA H100 GPUs are at the heart of the University of Wyoming’s AI cluster, delivering unmatched computational power and efficiency. From accelerating deep learning algorithms to speeding up data analytics tasks, these GPUs allow university researchers to tackle complex AI challenges and achieve unparalleled performance and scalability, ultimately delivering a superior user experience.
“Juniper is thrilled to work with the University of Wyoming to drive artificial intelligence (AI) innovation forward and ensure that AI data center infrastructure is simple, fast and economical for organizations around the world to deploy,” said Mansour Karam, GVP Data Center Products at Juniper Networks.
Juniper helps customers manage the entire AI data center network lifecycle with intent-based networking, AIOps, and 800Gb Ethernet. Open technologies such as Ethernet and our Apstra data center fabric automation software eliminate vendor lock-in, take advantage of the industry ecosystem to push down costs and drive innovation, and enable common network operations across AI training, inference, storage and management networks. Rigorously pre-tested Validated Designs gives customers an end-to-end blueprint for deploying secure data center infrastructure on their own. Please visit our AI data center solution site for more information.
